Sunday, May 2, 2010

Cafe Rio Pork or Chicken Salad!!!! WONDERFUL!

I got all these recipes from except the chicken from:
http://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/2007/11/jared-and-i-love-cafe-rio.html
So I used raw Tortilla shells from Costco for these and fried them up!  I love them!

Pork-
2 pounds pork (we use boneless pork rib meat)
3 cans Coke (NOT diet)
1/4 c. brown sugar
dash garlic salt
1/4 c. water
1 can sliced green chilies
3/4 can enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness but any will work)
1 c. brown sugar

Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.

Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry) or on low for 8 hours. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.

In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little.

Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it!
.
You know me I never follow exactly!  I added the spicy stuff from the food processor straight into the crockpot with the marinade, I liked that it wasn't covered in enchilada sauce, but it had the taste!

RICE:

I am not going to share the recipe, you can follow the link and find it, because I like the lime rice recipe that Patti has already shared on this blog much MUCH better!!
BLACK BEANS

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/3 c. tomato juice
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. fresh chopped cilantro

In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro. (**NOTE** we added a can of corn, drained, to the beans with a dash of cumin and chili powder, it was AWESOME! We recommend doing this even though it's not "traditional Cafe Rio")
 
And the MOST important part!

The Cilantro Lime Dressing!

1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not BUTTERMILK)
1 c. mayonnaise
1 c. buttermilk
2 tomatillos, remove husk, diced
1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime
1 jalepeno (we like it SPICY so we kept the seeds in it, if you like it mild, just remove the seeds)

Mix all ingredients together in the blender. That's it!

We also did Avocados instead of guacamole, shredded cheese & some of my homemade salsa.

It was perfect!  and I am excited to have it again today!!! 

of and for the chicken I used this recipe:
Chicken

5 lbs chicken breast- boneless skinless
Some zesty Italian dressing
1 Tbsp chili powder, I used crushed red pepper
1 Tpsp cumin
3 cloves garlic, minced
Mix all ingredients together in a large crock pot.
Cook on high for 5-7 hours. Remove chicken and shred with fork. Reserve a small amount of juice and pour over shredded chicken to keep moist. Keep warm.  I also added most of a can of caffeine free Pepsi after I shredded it, and returned it to all juices it cooked in!  :)


1 comment:

Our family said...

Made the pork last night. Mmmmmm! It was a different recipe than I had. I don't know which I like better, so I guess I"ll just have to make it twice as often