At home, I have an arsenal of spices. Oops. Knew I forgot to buy something! The salsa added flavor, but after suffering through a couple bland meals, I sent Hubby down to the bar to get a little salt for the week. Salt is great, but gets a little lonely without a few spices. We needed a little spice in our vacation plans and we were really missing nuts. (Yeah, I know, that sounds pretty funny, but I’m being literal here.)
We both love to walk and had already purchased the heavy stuff, so we took off on foot to Sam’s Club in Playacar, a couple miles from our hotel. The walk takes you past some cool Mayan ruins and beautiful homes along the golf course.
It was fun to compare the Mexican Sam’s to ours. It was surprisingly similar, but more expensive for most items. Probably because they were imported from the U.S. We did find nuts but about had a heart attack when we saw the price – about $25.00 for a bag that costs $10 in the states – not a deal. In the snack section, we discovered some reasonably priced, overly salted, lemony peanuts. I could add those to a salad for some zing and extra protein. We also found beautiful red tomatoes and a big bag of ripe avocados.
The best discovery was the Canadian Chicken Seasoning. It was savory, slightly orangey made everything taste really good. No need to add chicken.
We alternated between spinach salads with onion, avocados, beans and salsa and cooked meals with various combinations of all the different items we had in the kitchen. My favorite combo of the week was the lentil stew.
Lentil Stew
1 cup lentils
2 cups water
1 16 oz jar pasta sauce
8 cups raw spinach
½ cup chopped onion
1 tbs olive oil
2 tsp Canadian Chicken Seasoning
Pinch Salt
In covered sauce pan, boil water. Add lentils, bring to boil, cover, turn down heat to simmer and stir occasionally until soft.
In soup pan, sauté onions in olive oil until brown. Add pasta sauce, spinach, seasoning and salt. Cook on medium heat until spinach is soft. Add cooked lentils. Allow ingredients to simmer together for about 10 minutes and serve with your favorite cracker, or if you’re lucky enough to find some, tortillas nopales. Serves 4 as a main dish.
