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!

Easy Quick Carmel Popcorn

I love popcorn with a good movie, or a good movie with great popcorn. :-)  I am traditional...I open a box labeled "popcorn."  I take out the bag, remove plastic and place in Microwave for three min. and TA DA...popcorn.  I usually buy the 94% fat free.  If I ate it all the time I'd probably buy a machine and pop it fresh,   but...its a once or twice a month treat.  I love caramel popcorn but hate the stickiness in my teeth, hands and the amount of time to make it, bake it and break it.  I found a recipe that is quick, easy, and has me enjoying caramel popcorn in less than 10 min.  Its not sticky after a few min. cooling, and it tastes even better the next day.  What I like best about it is that is not overpowering...very light.  Enjoy!

The following is what I have found to be enough for my family of 4 to enjoy:

2 bags of popcorn, or about 10-14 cups of your own fresh popped corn
Place popcorn in a very large bowl.  On the stove top, in a small pot, put one cube of butter, 1/4 cup karo syrup and 2 TBS brown sugar.  Bring to a boil on medium/high for about 3 min.  Stir continuously.  Remove from heat, let cool about 1 min and add 1 tsp vanilla.  Slowly pour over popcorn while mixing.  Mix completely, let sit about one min, divide into your bowl and serve.  Its delicious, promise.

Whole Wheat Veggie Pizza

I love pizza.  But, recently, with our diet changes, the pizza from Pizza Hut and others make me feel sick.  I am guessing it is the oil in them.  I'm not sure, but whatever it is, it makes me glad that I have my Mom's homemade dough recipe that is the best I have ever come across.  Her sauce is also very yummy.  My friends in high school used to ask me to ask my mom to make her pizza.  Thanks mom for sharing this recipe with me, my friends and now whoever reads this blog.  You'll need to plan this dinner ahead, as you need time for the dough to rise.  Enjoy!

1 1/4 C water with 1 TBS yeast and 1 TBS sugar.  Let sit for about 5 min.  Add 1/2 C butter, softened and 3 cups flour.  You can use any combination of flour.  I use 1/2 of each.  Mix and make into a nice soft ball, cover and let rise.  If you are pressed for time, you can use right away, but letting it rise for at least an hour is best.  I have even let it rise for 3 hours before.  It made it go just a little farther.

Use with your own sauce or the one below (I suggest the one below.)

1 can Tomato Soup
1 can 8 oz tomato sauce
2 TBS brown sugar
2 good sqeeezes of ketchup
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
a few shakes of Garlic powder and onion powder
1/4 c pinapple juice, but only if you already have some on hand.

Mix all together in a pot and simmer for 30 min or so.  Yummy!

Acorn Squash w/ Maple Syrup

 In the fall, we go to the Farmer's Market to enjoy getting fresh vegetables and pick out a pumpkin for the kids carving fun.  The colors are vivid and the air is crisp and fresh.  On one stand sits a variety of squash.  You know the ones I 'm talking about...bumby, small, odd shaped and very colorful.  I had always assumed they were just runts of the litter.  Squash ment for decorating only, as thats about all they could be used for.  I was wrong though, and am happy to report that Acorn squash is definitely ment for eating.

Acorn squash is green, looks like an acorn, and is very heavy.  I had no idea there was wonderful, edible food inside, until I was ready through a magazine and came across this recipe.  Steve had purchsed a few of these vegetables earlier in the week, much to my eye roll when I told him to enjoy eating his "weights."  Turns out that they are so good.  They are a little hard to cut through, but inside is quite a bit of food.  Steve baked his with absolutely nothing on them, and they were pretty good, a little sweet, and a nice smooth texture.  Andrew and I had the ones from the recipe below, and they were wonderful.

One Acorn squash is enough to feed two people.  Its actually more than enough.  Use it as your main course. Its a beautiful presentation and is sure to not disappoint.  This recipe was for four of us.  Do the following:

Cut the Acorn squash, lengthwise.  Remove seeds.

Spray a little butter around the edges and middle.  Take about a TBS of brown sugar (you could use less, but I wouldn't suggest more) and sprinkle it around the sides and a little in the middle.  Gently press down on it to ensure it will stay on the squash.  Take about a TBS of maple syrup (I used sugar-free) and drizzle it onto the squash.  Place a bit of tinfoil around each squash and place in a shallow pan that has a little bit of water in it.  Place in a 350 degree oven for 45-60 min.  Remove from oven when its soft when a fork is placed into it and carefully remove the tinfoil.  Let cool for about 5 min before serving.  We would spoon up a bite, dip in slightly in the syrup "puddle" and then take a bite.  It was so good and such a pretty piece of dinner!  This is defeinatly one that I would make for guests when I want to look fancy.  I served this with a left over oil-free stir fried rice recipe.  We were very full at the end of the meal, and cost wise, I would estimate it be about $1.50 a plate.  This ones a keeper. :-)

Pumpkin Bread

I love the pumpkin bread at Great Harvest.  It is so good and oily.  The chocolate seems to melt in my mouth.  It is also almost $4 per loaf, which I'm not a big fan of.  I had a 1/2 can left over pumpkin mix from my husbands last nights creation, and so I used what I already know with my banana bread, and mixed up two loaves of pumpkin heaven.  Goes great with apple cider and a good movie.  I suggest everyone try it!

Ingredients:
-1/2 c butter
-2 eggs
-1 c brown sugar
-1/2 c white sugar

Mix these items together until creamy and add the following:
-1 1/4 c white flour
-1/2 c whole wheat flour
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1 tsp cinnimon
-1/2 tsp. nutmeg
-1/2 tsp. salt

Mix these items together and then add 8 oz canned pumpkin and 1/2 c water and 1 cup chocolate chips.  Mix and pour into 2 bread loaf pans.  Bake about 30 min. at 350.  Yummy Yummy!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know, they are not healthy. But, if your going to have a cookie, do it right. Stay away from the Oreos and Keeblers that have who knows what in them that makes up a cookie. Make them yourself and give most of them away. Nothing says your a great neighbor better than a plate of freshly made cookies. It only takes about 25 min. to mix up the batch, wait for them to cook, and transfer one to your plate.
These are very soft and chewy. The secret is to take them out of the oven when they look like they are not done. Seriously, check after 6 minutes and there after every minute until they are just slightly brown around the edges; take them out when you think they should bake for one more minute. Makes about 3 dozen.
I have family members who make different desserts with the effort to reduce calories. My sister has a brownie recipe that calls for Diet Coke. My mom adds bran to chocolate muffin mix. My brother makes a sugar-free cheesecake. I'm all about calorie reduction. But when it comes to desserts, I have the opinion that if your going to eat it, eat it. But just eat one, or half a serving, or just one bite. Remember your going to give most of them away anyway, right? Here is a fabulous recipe I found in a Martha Stewart Living magazine. It has been my staple for years.

Mix 1 cup unsalted butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup brown sugar and 2 eggs in a bowl until you get a smooth texture. Add 2 1/4 cup of flour, 1/2 tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp of salt. Combine and then add 2 tsp. vanilla. Empty a pkg. of semi-sweet chocolate chips into the batter and hand mix in. Place onto cookie sheet one drop at a time and bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 min. Cool on a rack if you can keep your kids out of them long enough to do so. Pour yourself a cup of milk and enjoy a moment with your family as you laugh about the bit of chocolate that shows on your teeth when you smile. A cookie won't kill you, but all the cookies might. Keep yourself in check and enjoy your life.

Brown Rice Chili

Its a happy day when your teen-ager walks into the kitchen, lifts the lid off the pot and happily says, "Hey, we're having rice!" Rewind 6 hours earlier to me standing in the middle of the kitchen, opening the refrigerator for the 4th time as I try to figure out what I should make for dinner. I have started thinking about dinner in the mornings while the kids eat breakfast. It has really cut down on my stress when 3 pm rolls around. I had left over rice, kidney and black beans I had been cooking for what seemed like 2 days, some veggies and a few bread sticks. Chili, I thought. It's cold outside and this might hit the spot. I haven't had chili without the goodness of beef in it, so this recipe was a new experience. It turned out really good, a little more spicy than I like, but Andrew claimed the left overs for his lunch at school. Could there be a better ending to a Sunday? Here is the recipe in all its teen-ager glory:

Ingredients:

3 cups kidney beans

1 c black beans

2 cups water that the beans have cooked in

1 c chopped or canned tomatoes.

1 medium onion, chopped small

1 green pepper chopped

2 cups brown rice<

2 tsp. cumin

1/1 tsp. chili powder

1 beef bullion cube

2 Tbs. brown sugar

Salt and pepper to taste

If you used canned beans, don't rinse first and add 1 or more cups of water to the consistency that you like. Also, if you like a more vinegar chili, add it at this time. I don't care for the flavor, and Steve easily adds it to his own bowl. Add all the ingredients into a crock pot, turn on the lowest setting and your done until dinner. Do return an hour or so later and stir to mix up the beef bullion cubes. Let the flavors meld for about 4 hours. I served mine with breadsticks. Back in the day I used to think I had to plop on some sour cream and sprinkle with cheese. The flavors are so good in this that you won't even know your missing the added fat. You probably won't even get the question of, "Where's the Beef?"

Ryans meal was a plate with a pile of rice, a pile of beans, and a breadstick. Compromise yes, but he left the table eating what I made for dinner and he didn't even cry!