Saturday, April 21, 2007

CASHEW CHICKEN

6 chicken breasts
bunch of diced/sliced green onions
1 1/2-2 cans of cream of mushroom
1 C of sliced mushrooms (I just used the canned stuff)
1 1/2 C sliced celery
2 TBSP butter
2 TBSP soy sauce
1 C of chopped cashews

Lay chicken breasts in the crock pot and mix all the other ingredients together and put on top of chicken and cook on high for four hours or low for 6-8 hours. Serve over rice. SOOOOOO YUMMY SOOOOO EASY!

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Cafe Rio Recipes

Cafe Rio Recipes
(not for sure that these came from Cafe Rio, but we made them last night and they sure taste awesome!)

Pork
3-5 lb Pork Loin or Pork Roast
1 ½ cans Coke (I used Sprite)
1 c. sugar
7oz can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce –provides alot of heat (or plain adobo sauce for sweeter sauce)
1 tsp dry ground mustard (heaping)
1 tsp cumin (heaping)
1 tsp minced garlic

Place the contents of the can of chilies in a bowl and cover with soda to get as much of the adobo sauce off the chilies. Remove the chilies and throw them away, or if you want the meat to be hotter, leave one or two chilies in. I left two small chilies in and the meat was perfect for us, but we like stuff HOT!. Add all ingredients except pork in a blender. Rinse can of adobo sauce with soda to get all the sauce out. Blend in blender until well mixed. Place pork in crock pot and pour sauce over it. Cook for 4-6 on high or 7-9 hours on low. Carefully turn roast over halfway through. Cook in sauce until it pulls apart and then shred. Take pork out and shred. Then add sauce to your liking. I think I only added about half of the sauce because I didn't want it too runny. Serve over rice, on a salad, or in a tortilla!

Rice
1 c. rice
2 c. water
3 cubes chicken bouillon
½ tsp dried onion
1 tbsp oil
1 fresh lime
1/4 bunch cilantro
Cook rice with all ingredients (except lime and cilantro) in pot or rice cooker. Squeeze fresh lime juice over rice and mix in cilantro before serving.

Creamy Cilantro Dressing (for a salad version)
1 envelope buttermilk ranch dressing
1 c. mayo
1 c. milk
½ bunch cilantro
2 tomatillos
½ serrano peppers with seeds removed (adds heat)

Blend in blender, let sit to thicken. Dressing continues to get hotter when it is stored in the fridge.

Make a salad by starting with a tortilla (we like the kind you cook yourself, found at walmart and costco in the fridge section). Put shredded romaine on the tortilla and top with rice, beans, meat, chopped tomatoes, and dressing. Yum!

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know most people have a CCC recipe that they love, but if not then you can adopt this one.

3/4 c shortning
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
Mix these wet ingredients then add
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
not quite a full bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips
Chill. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 400 for 6-8 minutes. Remove while still white and doughy looking.

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

Cafe Rio's creamy tomatillo dressing

I LOVE THIS DRESSING! Its so good on so many different salads!

1 large jalepeno

1 clove garlic
1 tomatillo
1 handful cilantro leaves
1 lime (juice and rind)
1 cup milk
1 cup mayonnaise
1 package Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix

Directions:
Blend all ingredients except mayonnaise in blender until all the green pieces are very tiny.Whisk the mayonnaise and chill.

Strawberry Spinach Salad

2 tablespoons sesame seeds
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup distilled white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon minced onion
10 ounces fresh spinach - rinsed, dried and torn into bite-size pieces
1 quart strawberries - cleaned, hulled and sliced
1/4 cup almonds, blanched and slivered


DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, whisk together the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sugar, olive oil, vinegar, paprika, Worcestershire sauce and onion. Cover, and chill for one hour.
In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries and almonds. Pour dressing over salad, and toss. Refrigerate 10 to 15 minutes before serving.


This is my aunts specialty! It is so yummy and fantastic for summer!

Sunday, April 1, 2007

Baked Apples with Vanilla Sauce

These were a yummy low point dessert (gotta love Weight Watchers!) Of course, they use Splenda, so if your anti, you can use sugar, (it's not that much anyway) and it's almost as low-cal!

4 apples, cored ( use Granny Smith for tart flavor, or Galas for sweet flavor)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 cup Splenda
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 oz fat-free, sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix, about 2 Tbsp
3/4 cup fat-free skim milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Core apples and peel a half inch horizontal strip around apples to help release juices during baking. Place in a 9x9 baking dish.

Combine cinnamon, ginger and splenda in a small bowl. Place 1 tablespoon of cinnamon mixture in cored-out center of each apple; sprinkle remaining cinnamon mixture over apples. Combine water and lemon juice in a cup. Pour liquid around apples.

Bake until apples are soft when pierced with a knife, about 15-20 minutes; remove fro oven and let cool.

Pour pudding mix into a medium bowl and whisk in milk to make a thin sauce. Place one apple on a plate and drizzle with sauce immediately. (the sauce will thicken if you let it sit, I found out the hard way!) Yields 1 apple adn about 1/4 cup sauce per serving.