Cafe Rio Pork

This is the best homemade Cafe Rio I've had.  The recipe I used to use was just cooking it in a crock pot with brown sugar and soda I think. This one is marinated, then cooked in coke and water, and finished with more of a "sauce" I guess you could say. 


Recipe from here:  https://www.favfamilyrecipes.com/cafe-rio-sweet-pork/

Ingredients

• 2 pounds pork (we use boneless pork rib meat)  --- I used like 4lb sirloin roast.
• 3 cans Coke (NOT diet)
• 1/4 c. brown sugar
• dash garlic salt
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 can diced green chilies
• 3/4 (10oz) can red enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness but any will work)
• 1 c. brown sugar

Instructions

• 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. (I used a bigger roast, so I put it in a bowl and poured Coke in until it was covered.)
• 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!

We made salads and tacos.  I discovered uncooked CORN tortillas last year and use them all the time.  I don't usually like dry, fall apart easily regular ones, but these are to die for! So much better than even the flour ones.  http://www.tortillaland.com/tortillas/corn-tortillas 

I use this recipe for dressing: http://ourbestbites.com/2009/03/creamy-lime-cilantro-dressing/ 
This last time I didn't have green salsa on hand, so I left it out and it's still a decent version.

Bacon and Brussels Sprout Salad

Andy's sister has made this for me a couple times and I finally got the recipe. Whenever I make it, I eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. 

You will need a mandolin. Don't even try thinly slicing the sprouts yourself. They have to be shaved. I found this one for $10 on Amazon. The next day I saw it at Target for $20.

Recipe from HERE.

Bacon and Brussels Sprout Salad

Author: Pinch of Yum

Serves: 8-10

 

Ingredients

For the dressing:

• juice of one lemon
• juice of one orange
  
  
• 2-3 tablespoons apple cider (not vinegar, just regular apple cider! for sweetness!)
• 1 shallot, minced
• ½ cup olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt and pepper to taste

For the salad:

• 4 dozen brussels sprouts
• 1 cup almonds
• 6 slices cooked bacon, crumbled or chopped
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (Asiago or Gruyere are also good)

Instructions

1. Combine the lemon juice, orange juice, apple cider, and shallots in a small bowl. Add the olive oil in a steady stream and whisk for a minute or two, until it becomes creamy-looking.
2. Slice the brussels sprouts with a mandoline, taking care of your fingers! and slicing them as thin as possible. This works best when you hold the stem, slice from the top, and stop with a little bit left at the bottom, discarding the remaining bottom stem part since it's not very leafy anyway. The thinner the shreds, the better the salad! Toss the shreds and loosen them with your fingers to they separate and fluff a little bit.
3. Pulse the almonds in a food processor until finely chopped.
4. Toss the brussels sprouts, almonds, bacon, cheese, and dressing together. Serve immediately or within a few hours of tossing.

Wing Night

buy the big bag of popcorn chicken from Costco.

Sauce 1: Sweet and Spicy
1/3 cup Franks Hot Sauce
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 T water
heat on the stove until saucy

Sauce 2: Garlic Parmesean
1 cube of butter
sauté 1ish clove of minced garlic (or garlic powder)
add 1/2 cup of parmesean
heat on the stove until saucy

Sauce 3: Ranch Dressing

serve with carrot and celery sticks

Balsamic Reduction

This is a lame post, but I loved it.

I've been so into goat cheese lately. Especially beets and goat cheese. If beets are on the menu at a restaurant, I ALWAYS order them. Anyway, as I was eating my daily dose of B&GC (we'll call it) the other day, I was thinking a balsamic vinaigrette would be yummy on it. But I didn't want to make a dressing. So then I thought of making a syrupy reduction --- it's way easier than boiling on the stove.

1.Put however much vinegar you want in to a mug (about 1/2 cup) with a couple pinches of sugar.
2. Heat/boil in microwave until it begins to thicken, just a few minutes. Then let cool (it will thicken as it cools).
3.Smother this yummy goodness all over everything, especially beets!

Cilantro Lime Dressing

I got this recipe from Andy's sister. I've tried her's, but haven't actually made it myself. I think it's yummy. It's pretty thick. She served it to put on a green salad and over black beans/corn mixture. I LOVED it on the black beans and corn. Very simple and easy peasy side dish. I'm not sure if she follows the recipe exactly or how much evoo she actually puts in it. I think she mentioned she puts a little bit of mayo in it too ?? Also, I really, really like Costco's canned corn (Kirkland brand). It's not frozen, Cottonwood Diary corn, but for being canned corn, it's really good. And better than any other store bought frozen corn too.

• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup chobani 0% plain yogurt
• 1 avocado
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tbsp white vinegar
• 1 bunch fresh cilantro, roughly chopped
• 1 tsp sea salt

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth.
2. Continue to add olive oil 1 tbsp at a time as necessary to create a smooth finish.

lunch salad

I'm sure you have all had this salad, but here's a reminder, I like to have this one for a low cal option.

Here's what I put on it, but feel free to add whatcha like.

Lettuce or spinach
feta or blue or gorgonzola (don't go crazy with cheese or your low cal salad won't be low cal anymore)
fruit, anything--apples, pears, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, today I used pomegranate seeds
nuts, I usually use pine nuts, just a few.  Easy, no chopping, but almonds and walnuts are good too, even pecans.
hard boiled egg.  I like to use 2.  Don't skip this, or you will get hungry.  I usually only use 1/2-1 yolk.  I used to only do whites, but if I add some yolk I stay full longer

top with poppy seed dressing.  I prefer mine homemade.   If I am calorie counting, or trying to drop pounds, I always measure my dressing.  I usually use about 1 tablespoon.

here's a recipe:

Poppy Dressing (I always half this recipe)

3/4 to 1 cup olive or canola oil

½ cup raspberry wine vinegar (this is hard to find.  I used red wine vinegar for a long time, but I just recently found it again.  It really is yum with the raspberry)

¾ cup sugar

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. dry mustard

1 tsp. poppy seeds

¼ cup green onions (optional)

To make this an easy option for lunch, I hard boil about 3 days worth of eggs.  I also cut up a whole bunch of lettuce or buy the spring mix at the store.