Seniorita's Specialty Foods

When I first began to consider eating a predominately local diet I thought I would have to give up the convenience of quick low-effort meals so I am always happy when I discover foods that break that misconception. I am finding that there are Montanans out there that have taken the time to perfect and distribute ready-to-eat (or at least ready to heat up) foods that are not only very tasty but also use local ingredients when available.  One such example is Senoritas Specialty Foods in Manhattan.

Vickie Perkins started Senoritas in 1989 by selling fresh salsas at the Bozeman Farmer’s Market. They now make 24 products from their flagship salsas to bean dip to, my reason for this particular post, their tantalizing tamales.  I came across the tamales in the frozen food section of the Good Foods store when I was looking for a quick dinner one night.  What I found was a delicious meal that required very little preparation and one that I could feel good about buying in my quest to eat local. 

As I corresponded with Peter from Senoritas, I was delighted to discover a company that shares my passions about promoting local food, not simply to promote themselves but to promote as many local growers and producers as possible. Senoritas proudly uses Lifeline Produce and Lifeline Dairy, Spencer Valley Eggs, Wheat Montana, Trevino’s Tortillas, Meat Montana, Fisher Spices of Bozeman, Bozeman organics and products from the Western Montana Growers Co-op in their products. I’ve got a wealth of blog topics just from this list! 

When explaining the reasons for buying local, Peter says “the drive and enthusiasm comes from, ‘Why are we only able to buy food from out of the state and/or out of the country? Why are our best agriculture/ livestock products all being shipped out of Montana?’ Let’s think what we can do locally to help our citizens right here in Montana.”  I couldn’t agree more, Peter.

It sounds like Senoritas has hit on one of the main reasons I choose to eat local in that the ingredients are fresher and you aren’t consuming unknown mystery ingredients large “foreign” companies use to keep foods preserved over time and distance.  You may pay a little more for a package of two of Senoritas fabulous tamales than the 24 pack of Jose Ole’s frozen taquitos at Albertsons but the health and taste rewards are so much greater.  Ok, I confess, I really did buy Jose Ole’s but it was only for a comparison taste test. To sum up the results, all I’ll say is that I easily recognized the food within a Senorita’s tamale.  I don’t know what the hell you call what was in those taquitos.  I love Peter’s saying “pay a little more today for healthier food and pay a lot less later for health care”.  The ex-sorority girl in me is dying to put that on a T-shirt!

Visit http://www.senioritasspecialtyfoods.com/ for a complete list of products and where you can find them including farmer’s markets.  Steam up a pair tonight for a quick delicious meal that actually makes you feel good about “convenience foods”.