Cafe Rio Recipes

Cafe Rio Pork

1 small bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
3 cloves garlic—minced
5-7 lbs pork butt

Directions:

Cook all together in a crock pot for 7-10 hours, shred meat, and cook 1 additional hour.

Café Rio Rice

3 cups water
3 t chicken bouillon
4 t garlic–minced
½ bunch cilantro
1 can green chiles—or equivalent fresh
½ onion
3 c instant rice

Blend cilantro, green chiles, and onion together in food processor. Place all ingredients, except rice, in pot on stove and bring to a boil.  Take pot off burner, add rice, and cover for 5 minutes.

Café Rio Dressing

1 ranch dressing packet (make as per recipe)
2 tomatillos (tomato like vegetable with a husk around them)
½ bunch of cilantro
1 clove garlic
Juice of 1/2 lime

Use a food processor to blend all the ingredients well. Refrigerate.

Serve with black beans, lettuce, tomatoes, sour cream, cheese.

My Favorite Soup--Broccoli Cheese Potato Soup

A friend at BYU made me this soup on a very cold, snowy Sunday. It was so delicious that, of course, I asked for the recipe. Twelve years later, it is still my favorite soup, and now I think it is Cameron's favorite soup--he ate 3 bowls of it tonight!

5 c. cubed potatoes
2 c. carrots, cubed diagonally
1 c. onions, chopped
1 ½ c. celery, chopped
10 oz. frozen broccoli
6 tsp. chicken granules (I used chicken bullion cubes)

8 T. butter
4 T. flour
2 c. milk
1 lb. cubed Velveeta
1 T. dry mustard
½ t. pepper

Bring water to a boil and dissolve chicken granules or cubes in water. Cook potatoes, carrots, onions, and celery until tender (about 20 minutes). Sometimes I add more water if the veggies absorb most of it.

Add broccoli towards the end, a couple of minutes before you add the cheese mixture. Broccoli will get mushy if you cook it too long.

Meanwhile, in another pan, melt butter and add flour. Gradually add milk. As it thickens, add Velveeta, dry mustard, pepper, and salt to taste. Pour all of this into steamed vegetables and broth.

Sour Cream Chili Bake

This is the recipe that got Matt to eat chili! I didn't use the word chili (which Matt has always refused to eat) when serving this dish, and Matt loved it! And kids will eat anything with Fritos on top of it. I got this recipe from my favorite food storage blog.

1 lb. Ground Beef
¼ c. Chopped Onion
1 can (16 oz.) Kidney Beans, Drained
1 can (15 oz.) Tomato Sauce
1 envelope Taco Seasoning mix
1/4 c. Dehydrated Onions
1 can of Corn, Drained
1 c. (4 oz.) Shredded Cheddar Cheese
3½ c. Fritos
1¼ c. Sour Cream

Cook ground beef and onion until meat is browned and onion is tender; drain. Stir in beans, tomato sauce, taco seasoning, corn, onion and ¾ C. cheese. Sprinkle 2 ½ cups Fritos in bottom of 8×8 baking dish. Cover with Chili. Bake at 350 degree for 20-25 minutes. Spread sour cream of chili. Top with remaining corn chips and cheese. Bake 3-4 minutes longer.

Hot Dog Mummies

A Clark family Halloween tradition!

8 refrigerator breadsticks

8 hot dogs

yellow mustard

Separate breadsticks and cut in half lengthwise. Wrap two lengths around each hot dog, leaving a space for the face.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes or until the breadstick wrapping is golden brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Add yellow mustard eyes just before serving. Makes 8 mummies.

Paulette's Shortcut Potato Soup

Paulette, my aunt, told me how to make potato soup ages ago. Potato soup (and oyster soup) are a family tradition for brunch on Christmas morning.

Wash, peel (if desired), and dice potatoes. Boil for about 20 minutes and drain. Add 1 can Campbell's condensed cream of potato soup (or season with onions). Add enough milk to cover the mixture. Add a couple tablespoons of margarine. Heat and thicken with potato flakes (I like a thick soup).

Bean and Cheese Burritos

This is a recipe from my childhood. My mother used to fry these burritos, and we would dip them in a mixture of ketchup and Texas Pete hot sauce. I've started making them again because it is a very budget-friendly meal.

I can make about 8 burritos with one small can of fat-free refried beans and 1 to 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese. Instead of frying them, I spray both sides of the burrito with nonstick cooking spray and cook them on a skillet until they are golden brown on each side (see the picture). The kids are crazy about them, and our family of 5 eats all 8 burritos in one meal!

Fish Sandwiches

I came up with this dish by using a technique I saw on the Food Network Channel (and tweaked some myself). Our family is tired of eating salmon, so we've switched to tilapia. The technique could be used with any kind of fish. The whole family loved this recipe.

4-4 oz. tilapia filets (we buy the 1 pound bag in the freezer section at Wal-Mart for around $3.50-there are 4 individually vacuum-packed tilapia filets in them)
flour in dipping bowl
1-2 eggs, cracked and whisked in dipping bowl
Italian-style breadcrumbs in dipping bowl
rolls (we prefer Sister Schubert's yeast rolls you can buy in the freezer section at Sam's Club)
tartar sauce

Thaw the filets per package directions. Dredge them in flour. Dip them in egg mixture and then coat in breadcrumbs. Place them on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Spray the tops of the filets to get the fried effect. Bake them at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes (I think) and place them on rolls with tartar sauce. Yum-o! Everyone loved the recipe.

Glazed Ham Slice

This sweet glaze jazzes up that leftover ham. If I don't have a large ham slice, I use smaller pieces-it tastes the same! I also serve the pineapple slices separately with the meal because we do not like warm pineapple.

1 fully cooked ham slice (about 3/4 pound and 1/2-inch thick)
1 can (8 oz.) sliced pineapple
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
2 TBS. honey
1 TBS. steak sauce
1 TBS. Dijon mustard

Drain pineapple, reserving the juice. Set aside 2 pineapple slices, refrigerating remaining slices for another use. In a bowl (or just mix together in skillet), combine cornstarch, pineapple juice, honey, steak sauce, and mustard until smooth. Add honey mixture to skillet. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat; cook for 1-2 minutes. Add ham to skillet; heat ham slices through by cooking for a couple of minutes on each side. Top ham with reserved pineapple slices. Makes 2 servings.