Sour cream and molasses Found!

Well, sort of. I used Chancaca as a molasses replacement. Chancaca smells exactly like molasses. It comes as a sugary solid and you melt it in water. I'm still working on consistency but I think it will do quite well. I use the double pack of chancaca with about a cup of water.

My other small victory was finding a good sour cream substitute. I used cream with a couple teaspoons lemon juice and made beef stroganoff which seemed like heaven to taste...but it may be partly because I had given up hope. Never give up hope!