I was in Lee’s Market near Benson, North Carolina about a week ago. I go there especially to buy their Pepper Bacon. I don’t recall the weight of the package, but the price is usually around $14. The strips of bacon are probably a foot long and I can either cut them in half or into third lengths. I then have enough bacon to freeze two containers (I like using the reusable clear plastic containers, with the red plastic tops that the Hillshire Farms Deli Meats come in.) and have a third container to use currently. I like this bacon with my fried apples, my waffle, and/or my scrambled egg (that I cook in my onion cooker, in the microwave.). I also like liver pudding/mush (Penders | Larrys) with my egg for breakfast. I’m currently using the Larry’s version which seems just as good as Pender’s. Neese’s Liver Pudding is packaged differently and has a different flavor & texture, and I like Neese’s when I am making a sandwich.
Okay, so I use a whole introductory paragraph about me being at Lee’s Market and fail to mention that I bought a large container of Taco Seasoning. It’s always a “crap shoot” when you buy something like this as to whether you’re going to like the flavor or not once you taste it. I liked the flavor of this taco seasoning. *Buying coffee provided the same type of problem. It doesn’t matter what the name of the coffee is, it is whether it tastes good to you or not. I went through several packages of coffee (at about $9 each) before I found one that I liked. I bought the Starbucks brand, “Breakfast Blend” at Walmart and it has a good flavor to me. So, I like the flavor of this taco seasoning.
It’s heading toward 4 am this morning (a Saturday) and I’ve already prepared several items for my Mexican Taco Lunch today. The total calories for this lunch is spot on at 900 calories. I had a small ripe avocado so I mashed it up, and added some S&P and chopped up some sweet bell pepper and some sweet onion, and added just a little lime juice to hopefully keep this guacamole from turning brown. Oh, I think I also added just a few whole cumin seeds. I also opened a can of Pinto beans, mashed them up and heated them to use as refried beans. I had some “unlabeled” spice, that I finally decided was probably ground cumin that I added to the refried beans. Why unlabeled? I had bought several packages of spices from the Indian Market in Apex a month or so ago, and I didn’t label the container to which I transferred this spice. Another spice of which I did cut out the name of the spice and included it in a different container was Amchur, which is ground Mango. It is tart. I also plan to chop up some lettuce and a few tomatoes, but I prefer not to put tomatoes in the refrigerator before their use. I think the cold changes the flavor of a tomato making it less flavorful. I only plan to use one small flour tortilla for this meal, but with all the other items, and a little sour cream and Mexican Cheese blend, those 900 calories should be delicious and worth it.
I like Mexican food, burritos, tacos, fajitas, rice & beans, chips & salsa, guacamole, some sweet chopped onion and sour cream. But, I haven’t quite got it right at home. I have most or all of the ingredients but the flavors haven’t quite “got there” yet.
Since I wrote the above paragraph, I have found at least two Hispanic/Mexican themed meals that are both satisfying and repeatable: Black Beans & Quinoa is one, and my Mexican Meal is the other. Both of these include homemade guacamole, which may be blended with either sour cream or plain Greek yogurt, chopped cilantro & diced onion. The Black Beans & Quinoa are the base in one meal, homemade refried beans (either Pinto or Black Beans) pureed or smushed are the base in the Mexican Meal. The third element in the Black Beans & Quinoa is homemade salsa (not cooked, which includes diced tomato, diced onion, chopped cilantro, lime juice, etc.) and the Mexican Meal has ground beef, diced tomatoes w/ green chilies, onion, cilantro and select sweet or hot peppers, and this mixture is cooked on the stove top.
Bill Gibson, II 