Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad

I love Cafe Rio's sweet pork salad.  I don't love the price of $10 + extra if you add on anything such as sour cream or guacamole.  I have searched the web over and read many reviews on different peoples recipes.  I finally found one that I thought would work, took out of it what I didn't think I"d like and it was perfect.  I got it off of a blog called Familyfavorites.com.  Here is what I took from theirs.  Enjoy!


Pork
5 lbs. boneless pork.  Marinade overnight in 2 cups Coke and 1/4 cup brown sugar.  Sounds wierd, I know.
Next day, take your pork out, place in clean crock pot, add in 24 ounces coke mixed with 1/2 cup brown sugar and cook on high for about 1 1/2 hours.  Drain liquid when done and pull pork apart.  Return to crock pot and add the following blended mixture:  24 oz coke, 16 ounces enchilada sauce (spicy if you like spicy pork), 1 can green chilis.  Pour over pulled pork and cook on low for 2 to 3 hours.  Your done.  Enjoy.


Black Beans
I soak 2 cups black beans overnight, and then cook them the following day, starting in the morning, as they take a long time to get soft.  If you have a lot of water in them when finished, drain a little.  Add 1 cup tomato juice, 2 tsp. cumin, 1 tsp onion powder.  Mix and let rest until time to eat.  You can continue to simmer on your lowest setting on the stove if you'll be eating within the hour.


Rice
Add 3 cups chicken broth and 2 cups brown rice and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, cover and they should be done in about 40 min.  Add 1 cup tomato juice, 2 cloves minced garlic.  Stir and let rest until time to eat.


Salsa (my way anyway)
2 diced avacados
6 diced tomatoes
1 diced onion
Cilantro to taste.  I like a lot.


Cilantro Dressing
1 cup fat free mayo
1 cup milk with 2 Tbs. Vinegar (unless your fancy and you have some buttermilk...I never do.)
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 TBS Ranch dressing Mix or a packet, whichever you have
2 TBS lime juice
You can add tabasco sauce if you'd like to make it spicy, but I say yuck to that.


To assemble, have your tortilla hot and ready.  Place in a pin tin or on a plate, scoop out some yummy sweet pork, add your beans and rice, top with a handful of romaine lettuce, add the salsa, use a cookie scoop to plop on some sour cream and quacamole and sprinkle with tortilla strips.


You can put out the dressing in a gravy boat and let everyone have all they want.  Its nice that for once you don't get charged .50 to have a little more.


Cost wise was around $30 for all my groceries, certainly not $10 per plate.  This fed 4 adults and made 8 burrito style dinners (the kids didn't want the salad on it and it was a whole lot easier to serve that way.  We fed them and then got them the heck out of the kitchen so we could enjoy the meal.)  Steve then got to enjoy 2 days of left overs.  Perfect dinner and perfect leftovers.  I hope you enjoy like we did, and add your own style to enjoy it even more!