Cafe Rio Salads/Burritos

Meat:
2 1/2 lbs Pork Tender thawed (roast style)
Mix:
1 1/2 C brown sugar with
1 1/2 C salsa
1 can coke
(just do equal parts of brown sugar & salsa - how ever much you think you need/want)
Put pork in Crock-Pot and pour mixture over it. Cook it on low for 7 hrs (or until meat is cooked). Shred pork and cook an additional 30 min minimum. The pork will absorb all the juices.
(I substitute chicken because I like it much better than pork, usually I do about 6 large chicken breasts. I also though it was really sweet at first so I started using diet coke and it helped a lot)

Cafe Rio Rice
3 cups rice
6 cups water
4 tsp. chicken bouillon
1 Tbs. butter
1/2 onion chopped
4 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1 can diced green chilies
1/2 tsp. salt
Saute onion and garlic with the butter until the onion is soft. Add the rice and water and all other ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover with a lid, and simmer for about 15-20 minutes.

Creamy Cilantro Tomatillo Salad Dressing
1 package dry Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing
1 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 cup cilantro
2 cloves garlic
3 tomatillos (skin off)
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Put all ingredients into a blender. Chill before serving and it will thicken.

For those of you that haven't had a Cafe Rio Salad.......Serve in a bowl with warm tortilla. Layer rice, beans, pork, romaine lettuce, crushed tortilla chips, and dressing.

Calzones

You will need:
frozen bread dough
pizza sauce
pizza toppings
mozzarella cheese

Directions:
Thaw out the bread dough, but not to the point where it starts rising. Cut the dough into fourths. Roll each fourth out into a long oval shape. Spoon a generous amount of pizza sauce onto half of the dough leaving about a quarter of an inch around the edge. Put your favorite pizza toppings on top of the sauce and then cover with cheese. Fold the empty half of the dough over on top of the cheese and toppings. Take a fork and smash the edges around the half oval, sealing it shut.

Place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Baked Ziti Casserole

1 lb lean ground beef
1 can (26oz) four cheese spaghetti sauce
1 can (6oz) Tomato Paste
No-Stick cooking spray
8 oz dry ziti pasta, cooked according to the package directions
1 cup (4 oz) shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brown the hamburger in a large skillet; drain. Stir in spaghetti sauce and paste, blend well.

Spray an 8x8-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Spoon 1/2 cup meat sauce into bottom of dish. Top with half of the pasta, half of the remaining sauce and 1/2 cup cheese. Repeat layers, starting with pasta and ending with cheese.

Bake uncovered, 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Island crockpot chicken

8 oz can pineapple chunks in heavy syrup

2 lbs chicken part (we just did chicken breasts)

1 can chicken broth

1/4 c vinegar

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp soy sauce

1 clove garlic minced

1 green pepper cut into squares

3 tbsp cornstarch

1/4 cup water

Directions:

drain pineapple and reserve liquid. Put chicken parts in bottom of slow cooker. Mix together pineapple syrup, chicken broth, vinegar, brown sugar and soy sauce. Heat until brown sugar dissolves. pour over chicken. heat on high 1 hour. Add pineapple chunks, garlic and green pepper. Cover and cook on low 7-9 hours (we did high for 4 hours). Half an hour before serving mix together corn starch and water add to slow cooker.

We served over rice and it turned out very good!

Creamiest chicken noodle soup EVER!

This soup was SO good.

Ingredients:
left over rotisserie chicken OR 2 large chicken breasts (we used the lemon pepper rotisserie chicken)
2 chicken bouillon cubes
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 small onion (we only used onion flakes because of who was eating the soup)
2 qts broth (we used two cans of chicken broth plus filled up with water until it covered the chicken)
1 can undiluted cream of chicken soup
2 c. uncooked egg noodles
1 tsp salt
2 whole carrots chopped

Boil chicken in broth, water and bouillon until chicken is tender enough to almost fall off the bone, you will need to pull some off.

Dice celery, onion and carrots. After the chicken is done boiled, drain out the broth into a bowl and separate chicken from the bone. Once separated put chicken back into the pot and add the broth from the bowl. Add the celery, onion and carrots along with the undiluted cream of chicken soup, egg noodles and salt. I found that it needs some pepper, so for pepper lovers out there, add some pepper to taste.

Meatballs and noodles

At least that was the original name of it, we will need to come up with a new one.

Half way through making the meatballs you need to start cooking the noodles. We used spaghetti noodles, boiled them in a pot and then cooked them over the stove in a little bit of oil and worcestershire sauce.

Making the meatballs:
1lb hamburger
3/4 tbsp chopped onion
1/2 c bread or cracker crumbs
1/2 c milk
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 can cream of mushroom
8 oz cream cheese
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce

Mix hamburger, onion, crumbs, milk, salt, pepper and 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce together. Form into meatballs and brown in a skillet. (This is where I realized the recipe calls for too much milk, they were too soggy to keep as balls in the pan. I cooked them all the way through and added the sauce, them crumbled them to be more like chunky ground hamburger.) Pour off fat.

Combine cream cheese and soup. Pour over meatballs. Simmer on low heat about 30 minutes. Combine meatballs with noodles and 1 tsp of Worcestershire sauce if desired.

Because it turned out to not be meatballs we decided that this "meatball mixture" would also be good on hamburger buns, so try it! It was still really good just on the noodles.

Chicken Alfredo Pizza

This really was the best homemade pizza we have ever had.

Dough:
1 cup warm water
1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
3 cups all-purpose flour

To make the dough: pour warm water into a small bowl and stir in the yeast until dissolved. Allow to rest until yeast foams, about 5 minutes. Mix the vegetable oil, sugar, salt, rosemary and garlic powder together in a mixing bowl. Stir in the yeast mixture and gradually stir in the flour. Gather in a loose ball and knead until a smooth ball forms. Cover and let rest 1/2 hour.

Chicken:
2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves, roasted (we steam our and shred it)
1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix the seasonings with the chicken after the chicken is cooked and shredded.

Garlic Butter:
(the first time we made this pizza we used this but it was too greasy for our liking so we haven't used it since)
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pinch dried rosemary
1 pinch salt

To make garlic butter: melt the butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Blend in the garlic, rosemary and salt. Cook, stirring constantly, until garlic is tender but not browned. Remove from heat, cover and set aside.

Alfredo Sauce:
There was a recipe for this, but I just picked up a few packets of dry Alfredo sauce from the store, made those up and used them. Still turned out sooo good and saves time!

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

To assemble the pizza: spread dough out on a prepared pizza stone (I used regular pizza pan, but have to add a couple minutes to the timer) Top with cooled garlic butter, covering entire crust. Next spread with Alfredo sauce (if necessary, warm to spreading consistency.), leaving crust edges. (I fold over edges so there is a bigger crust) Top with chicken, turning to coat with sauce. (I never turn to coat and still tastes delicious) Then sprinkle one cup of mozzarella cheese on top. Bake in preheated over for 20 minutes, or until bottom crust is lightly browned. Remove from oven and let set for 2 to 3 minutes before cutting.