What I got at Ranch Market

[AlwaysAgnes]

Usually I just send my husband to buy cactus pads for the tortoise, but I decided to go along today. Here's what ended up in the cart:

2 pkgs Napalitos (cleaned cactus pads) 1.67 each
1# pkg Goya long-grain brown rice 1.59
Celery .79
4 Limes .33
1 pkg 40ct. Fresh-made corn tortillas 2.29
6 White Rose Potatoes (2.51#) 3.24
2 Ball Squash (1.30#) 1.68
4 small Hass Avocado 1.98
1 really big Mango 1.25
2.34# bag of fresh roasted Anaheim chiles 5.83
------
Total $22.73

I'm thinking maybe some kind of tacos for supper....

[Vegankit]

Sounds like you were leaning texmex with these ingredients.

I've never tried nopales - never even seen them sold. I'm always curious to try new foods, but I read where they have a mucilaginous texture. What do they taste like? How will you prepare them?

[AlwaysAgnes]

Sounds like you were leaning texmex with these ingredients.

I've never tried nopales - never even seen them sold. I'm always curious to try new foods, but I read where they have a mucilaginous texture. What do they taste like? How will you prepare them?

The cactus pads are for my Sulcata tortoise. I've never made/cooked fresh nopales. I've only eaten the ones in a jar. They do have a little bit of a slimy-slippery-slickery texture when cut. Not too bad, though. The jarred ones of course probably taste like pickles more than anything. I tasted it for you. I would say raw cactus tastes "green" and a little bit tangy. The green taste is a little like green beans. It's not off-putting or bitter in flavor. To me, raw napales tastes better than raw green beans. If you can eat okra, you probably can eat cactus pads.

Ranch Market is largely a Mexican grocery store, so it's not unusual that my impulse purchases leaned that way. I still don't really know exactly what I'm doing for dinner. Something to eat with those corn tortillas, hopefully. I just cooked two pouches of Success tri-color quinoa. Why? Hell if I know. Quinoa isn't really my thing. My brain is a little scattered.

So, there ended up being 16 roasted chiles in the bag I bought. Most of the skin was removed already, but I still had to stem and de-seed them. I did that (without gloves because I'm a madwoman) and chopped them and divided them into four sandwich bags. I froze 3 of the bags. There's still one bag left on my kitchen counter taunting me.

[Vegankit]

I think I'll pass on the nopales, thanks. Corn tacos are wonderful - you can fill them with almost anything, add some spicy salsa and enjoy.

As for okra - can't stand the slime but I discovered if I oven bake it - that gets rid of all slime. Once baked I toss it in to a curry dish at the last minute to reheat and serve.

[AlwaysAgnes]

I ended up making a taco filling out of quinoa, black beans, corn, Mexican gray squash, onion, cilantro, lime and adobo spice. I roasted a diced sweet onion and two diced squash in the oven at 450 for 6 minutes, then added about 8 oz or so of corn and some adobo spice and roasted 6 more minutes, then added a can of rinsed/drained black beans and roasted 6 more minutes. Then I dumped all that into the big bowl with the cooked quinoa and added the roasted anaheim chiles along with the zest and juice of a lime and about 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro.