Cafe Rio

As close to the real thing as it's gonna get...

our favorite restaurant back in utah was Cafe Rio. i still CRAVE it. alot. this is as close to that as it's ever gonna get for me. i think i need to take a trip back there just to eat the real thing again. one day. a girl can dream, right?


so in the meantime this is what i have to do. make a tortilla. layer it with rice, bean, lettuce, pico, maybe some guac, some crushed up tortilla chips, AND the DRESSING!!!


Phenomenal.

it is quite a bit of work but it is oh so worth it. so just do every single recipe. you'll be glad you did. it makes a good amount. definitely enough for lots of leftovers depending on how many you are serving.

ENJOY!

Cafe Rio Shredded Pork

Ingredients:

2 lbs. pork

3 cans coke (each can is about 1 ½ cups)

¼ cup brown sugar

Garlic salt

¼ cup water

1 can green chilies

¾ can enchilada sauce (Old El Paso - Medium - red)

1 cup brown sugar

Directions:

1. Put pork and 1 ½ can coke and ¼ cup brown sugar in ziplock bag.

2. Marinate overnight.

3. Drain.

4. Put pork, ½ can coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high overnight (or until it falls apart).

5. Drain and shred.

6. Blend ½ can coke, chilies, sauce, and brown sugar.

7. Pour over meat and cook in crock pot 2 more hours on low.

Café Rio Dressing

Ingredients:

1 cup buttermilk

½ cup light mayo

¼ cup sour cream

¼ cup milk

2 packets Hidden Valley Buttermilk Ranch packets

2 tomatillos (quartered)

½ bunch cilantro

½ juice of lime

1 jalapeno (no seeds)

½ tsp. garlic

Some salt

Directions:

1. Blend everything together.

Café Rio Rice

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked rice

1 tsp butter

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp lime juice

1 can chicken broth (15oz)

1 cup water

1 Tbs. lime juice

2 tsp. sugar

3 Tbs. cilantro

Directions:

1. Combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. juice, broth, and water.

2. Boil.

3. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes.

4. Remove from heat.

5. In a small bowl combine juice, sugar, and cilantro.

6. Pour over rice and mix.

Café Rio Black Beans

Ingredients:

2 Tbs. olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp. cumin

1 can black beans - rinse and drain

1 1/3 cup tomato juice

1 ½ tsp. salt

2 Tbs. cilantro

Directions:

1. Cook garlic and cumin in oil over medium heat.

2. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt.

3. Stir till heated through.

4. Before serving stir in cilantro.

Pico

Ingredients:

4 tomatoes

1 onion

¼ bunch of cilantro

2 cloves garlic

½ tsp. lime juice

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

Directions:

1. Chop and combine all ingredients.

Alice Springs Chicken

I'm a chicken kind of girl. Even when we go to places with oh so yummy steak I still prefer chicken. At Outback they have a menu item called Alice Springs Chicken. It is chicken with mustard, mushrooms, cheese, and bacon - sound delicious? It is!

It's so yummy I tried my hand at it at home and it turned out quite well. The picture is somewhat unappealing but trust me - you won't be disappointed if you give it a try!

Each chicken tender with the toppings is 3 WW points! Not too bad if I say so myself :)

Ingredients:
- chicken (I use the tenders - approximately 2 oz.)
- mustard (I use spicy brown mustard)
- fresh mushrooms (I use one package of the already sliced ones)
- cheese (for mine I used 1 slice of WW cheese for everyone else's I used shredded cheddar)
- bacon bits (I use the real kind that comes in a bag - they're soft and only 25 calories for 1 TBS)

Directions:
1. Brush both sides of chicken tenders with spicy brown mustard.
2. Bake in oven at 350 until cooked through.
3. While the chicken is cooking saute the mushrooms in a pan lightly coated with nonstick cooking spray.
4. When the chicken is done move it to a cookie sheet, top with mushrooms, cheese, and lightly sprinkle with bacon.
5. Pop it back in the oven until the cheese is melted.

Enjoy!

Caramel/Chocolate Pretzel Rods

One of my good friends showed me how to make these caramel pretzels and my family and anyone else who has tried them has been in love ever since! They are super easy, super cute, and super yummy!!! They even make cute pretzel bags (found at Michael's or JoAnn's) to wrap them in :)

I think these are around 4 points per pretzel rod.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb of caramel (I bought mine at a local cake store. You just tell them how much and they cut off a huge chunk for you.)
- Long pretzel rods (sometimes I break them in 1/2 to make smaller ones.)
- 1 lb melted chocolate (my family prefers white for these)
- Sprinkles or melted chocolate to drizzle on top for decoration

Directions:
1. Take a small section of caramel and roll it between your hands to make a long snake (like you used to do with play dough)
2. Wrap it around the pretzels.
3. Take a spoon and drizzle the chocolate over the pretzel until it is covered (i do this over the saucepan that the chocolate is in)
4. Lay on wax paper.
5. Drizzle chocolate or pour on some sprinkles for decoration.
6. Let harden in fridge.

Enjoy!

Pot Pie

I love pot pie but had never attempted making my own until I saw this recipe over at SweetPea Recipes. Here is the recipe with my alterations in italics.


Although this seams like a somewhat healthy recipe I was shocked when I figured out the points. For an 1/8 of the pie it was 9 points. The crust is what kills it. So I ate 1/2 a serving or could just eat part of the crust (even though that is always the best part!)

Ingredients:
- 1 double pie crust (I used the off brand and it turned out delish)

- 2 cans Cream of Potato soup

- 1 c. frozen mixed vegetables (I used at entire small bag)

- 2-3 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (I used 2 cups of leftover shredded turkey from Thanksgiving that had been in my freezer)

- thyme

- sage

- salt & pepper

Directions:
1. Mix the last everything together.
2. Press bottom crust into pie pan.
3. Put the filling in.
4. Top with other crust and seal the edges.
5. Cut slits into the top of the crust.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Cover crust edges with aluminum foil for first 20-25 minutes, then remove.

Pizza Sauce

On Valentine's Day we had a day of hearts! After seeing this over at brown paper packages I decided to make some heart pizzas for dinner that night.



I used a tube of pizza dough from the grocery store that I just rolled out and cut using heart cookie cutters. Then I topped it with pizza sauce, cheese, and baked it until the dough was done.

I had never made pizza sauce before and found out it was really quite easy and ended up being really yummy.


I searched allrecipes.com for different recipes and they all were pretty similar.

Here's what I ended up doing:

- 1 can (8oz.) of tomato sauce (next time I will also add in tomato paste to make it a thicker consistency)
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon of dried basil
- 1/2 teaspoon of minced garlic

Mix together and let it sit - the longer the better!

Enjoy!