Pork Barbacoa ~ Cafe Rio Style

Ingredients:

4-5 lb. pork roast

21 oz. Dr. Pepper or Coke, do NOT use diet soda

1 c. brown sugar

3/4 c. white sugar

1 clove garlic, minced

7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (only use sauce unless wanted desire spice and blend 2-3 of the chilies)

6+ oz. salsa

1 t. dry mustard

1 t. cumin

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

Recipe:

1. Place roast in crock pot, cover halfway with water and cook on low for 12 hours.

2. After 12 hours, drain water from pork.

3. Mix remaining ingredients together in a separate bowl. Do so until sugar dissolves.

4. Add mixture to the roast and cook on low an additional 4 hours.

5. Take out roast and shred. Add back to sauce and cook for 2 more hours.

Rating: 4.5 of 5

I thought this tasted like the real deal. Definitely having more of this in the future.

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing ~ Cafe Rio Style: Take 2

A few months back we tried to make Cafe Rio's famous "house" dressing. It was pretty good, but not quite there. So, here is a different recipe attempting to catch the same flavor as Rio's. Also, this version is was less labor intensive....not that there is that much to do when making a dressing, though.

Ingredients:

1 pkg. dry Ranch Dressing

3 T. salsa verde

1/8 t. Tabasco

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/4 c. mayonnaise

3/4 c. sour cream

1/2 grated lime peel and juice, to taste

Recipe:

1. Blend above ingredients in blender. Thin with milk if needed.

Rating: 4.75 of 5

I actually think this comes pretty darn close. I think it probably would have been spot on if I hadn't added as much lime juice as I did. I haven't had it on the salad yet, so it might taste more like it when all is added together. Either way, it's good. This one looks more like Rio's than the other recipe.

Source: Our ward's RS. I don't know where they got it from though.

Baked Ziti

Ingredients:

1 lb. dry ziti pasta

1 onion, chopped

1 lb. lean ground beef

2 (26 oz) jars spaghetti sauce *

6 oz provolone cheese, sliced

1 1/2 c. sour cream

6 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

2 T. grated Parmesan cheese

* I say use your favorite kind of sauce. Tonight we had meat flavored.

Recipe:

1. Cook pasta until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.

2. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat.

3. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x13 baking dish.

5. Layer as follows: half of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream, half of the sauce mixture, remaining ziti, mozzarella cheese, and remaining sauce mixture. Top with Pramesan cheese. *

6. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheesees are melted.

* Haha....as if I did that. I just started throwing things in and mixing it around. It turned out great. Actually the mozzarella and Parmesan ended up as the top layer and was really good.

Rating: 4 of 5

This was basically a ziti version of lasagna. We like noodles and we love cheese in this family. So, that basically hit the spot.

Source: Allrecipes.com

White Bread Rolls

Ingredients: ** To be layered in the order listed.**

1 c. water

2 T. oil

2 T. sugar

1 1/2 t. salt

3 c. bread flour

2 1/4 t. yeast

Recipe: **This is a bread machine recipe, although it can be adapted to handmade as well.**

1. After putting the ingredients into machine select the DOUGH setting.

2. Remove the dough from the machine. Punch down.

3. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces. Round into smooth balls. *

4. Place in a greased muffin pan. Cover; let rise in warm place until about double, 25-30 minutes. **

5. Bake at 400 degrees for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Remove from muffin pan; cool.

* Because I was making these rolls for sandwiches I just divided the dough into 8 equal parts. It didn't effect cooking time.
** I actually just placed them in a 9x13 baking dish instead.

Rating: 4 of 5

We thought these rolls were super good. Soft, delicious. What else do you say about bread?

Source: Magic Chef Automatic Breadmaker Recipe Guide, pg. 13.

Barbecue Chicken Sandwiches

Ingredients:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts *

1 1/2 bottles of barbecue sauce **

bread rolls ***

mozzarella cheese, shredded

* I used frozen chicken.

** I used honey barbecue. It's my favorite.

*** I made homemade rolls found here.

Recipe:

1. Place chicken in crockpot. Pour sauce on top.

2. Place on high for 3-4 hours, or low for 6-8. *

3. Shred chicken, if desired.

4. Place in rolls and top with cheese.

* Because I had put my chicken in frozen I placed it on high for 3ish hours, shredded the chicken, then placed it on low for another 2-3 hours.

Rating: 4 of 5

The chicken was so tender! We really, really liked this recipe. So simple. So good. So cheap. Because the bread was homemade and fresh out of the oven, it added a melt-in-your-mouth goodness to the taste.

Heart Attack BLT

Ingredients:

bread *

tomato slices

lettuce leaves

bacon

mayonnaise

*I used homemade Italian Cheese bread. I really liked the extra flavor.

Recipe:

1. Toast bread.

2. Cook bacon.

3. Spread mayo on bread then layer with lettuce, tomatoes, and bacon.

Rating: 3.5 of 5

We liked this version of the BLT. There was a lot of bacon (which is why I called it the Heart Attack BLT). I like being able to actually taste bacon when I have a BLT. Definitely not on the healthy list, but so good. I think next time I won't toast the bread as much....I just wasn't sure how long it needed to be toasted since the slices were so thick!

Source: my brain....who doesn't know how to make a BLT?

Satay Chicken Pizza

Ingredients:

1 T. vegetable oil *

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, chopped

1 c. prepared Thai peanut sauce **

1 bunch green onions, chopped

4 small pita breads

4 slices provolone cheese

* I used olive oil. I like the taste better

** I used Melissa Black's Thai Chicken peanut sauce. That recipe is coming later this week!

Recipe:

1. Heat oil in a skillet over high heat. Saute chicken pieces in hot oil for 6-7 minutes. Do not overcook!

2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

To Assemble Pizza:

1. Spoon peanut sauce on each pita, followed by chicken, green onions, and slices of cheese.

2. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet and bake in oven for 10-12 minutes, until cheese is melted and bubbly.

3. Let stand for 1-2 minutes outside of oven before you cut with pizza cutter.

Rating: 3.75 of 5

This was good and I liked it, but I thought it was missing something. I think it would have been good with cilantro, but I think the taste I was looking for was something sweet....like pineapple. I don't know. It was still good. And easy to put together.

Source: allrecipes.com

Philly Sandwhiches

Ingredients:

Spread:

1 c. mayonaise *

2 cloves garlic, minced

Filling:

1 T. olive oil

1 lb. beef round steak, cut into thin strips **

2 green bell peppers, cut into strips ***

2 onions, sliced into rings ****

4 hoagie rolls, split lengthwise

mozzarella cheese *****

1 t. dried oregano

* I only used about 1/4 c.

** I actually bought a 1 lb. Philly meat package from Wal-Mart. It comes with 4 slabs of meat, but as you cook it, the meat falls apart and eliminates the task of thinly slicing the meat.

*** I used about 1/2 of a large green pepper and 1/2 of a red pepper.

**** I definitely didn't use 2 onions. I only used about 1/2 of an onion.

***** I ditched the mozzarella and went with provolone slices.

Recipe:

1. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise and minced garlic. Cover, and refrigerate.

2. Preheat oven to 500 degress.

3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Saute beef until lightly browned. (I drained the oil and juices before the next step.)

4. Stir in peppers and onion, and season with salt and pepper. Saute until vegetables are tender, and remove from heat.

5. Spread each bun generously with garlic mayonnaise. Divide beef mixture into the buns. Top with cheese and sprinkly with oregano.

6. Place sandwiches on a baking pan. Heat sandwiches in oven until cheese is melted or slightly browned.

Rating: 4.75 of 5

For a homemade Philly....I don't know if it gets any better. So, so, so good. While it was a more expensive meal (by our standards), each sandwich was about $2.00 which is cheaper than you're going to get it elsewhere. I really liked the garlic spread and thought it added just the right taste to the sandwich.

Source: from AllRecipes.com.

Hawaiian Haystacks

Ingredients:

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 can chicken broth *

3 c. cooked, cubed chicken

steamed rice

* I just made 1 c. of chicken broth with a bouillon cube.

Toppings:

Chow mein noodles

pineapple chunks or tidbits

cheese

oranges

green onions, diced

peanuts

green pepper, diced

Recipe:

1. Mix soups together and simmer.

2. Add chicken and simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Ladle chicken sauce over rice and add toppings.

Rating: 4 of 5

Either this was really good or we just haven't had haystacks in years! We added some extras to the toppings, like cilantro (WAY good) and red peppers. Super good and felt really good to eat after an intense workout. You know how after working out you don't want any thing heavy? Well, this is dense, but not heavy.

Source: Somewhere off the web. I don't have it written down because I looked it up on the ipad.