Simple, Perfect Enchiladas

That's what the Pioneer Woman calls them. And I'm pretty sure I agree with her. Well, about the perfect part anyway. They are not quite as simple as enchiladas I've made in the past (can you really get more simple than a can of enchilada sauce, some cheese, ground beef, and tortillas?), but the additions she makes are all for the better. They're so tasty that I had them for lunch the next day and then for dinner again, too!

I served ours with refried beans, but I probably should have also made some Mexican rice to round out the meal.

Simple, Perfect Enchiladas (from The Pioneer Woman's cookbook)

Ingredients:

Sauce:

1 T. canola oil

2 T. flour

1 large can (28 oz) red enchilada sauce

2 c. chicken broth

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. pepper

2 T. cilantro, chopped

Filling:

1 lb. ground beef

1 medium onion, diced

2 cans (4 oz) diced green chilies

1/2 t. salt

Assembly:

10-14 corn tortillas

canola oil (for frying)

1/2 c. chopped black olives

1 c. chopped green onions

3 c. grated sharp cheddar cheese

cilantro, chopped

Directions:

First, prepare the sauce by whisking together the flour and canola oil in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Allow to bubble for about a minute. Add the enchilada sauce, chicken broth, slat, and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until ready to assemble.

Meanwhile, brown the beef with the onion in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Drain the grease. Add the green chilies and salt. Stir to combine, turn off the heat, and set aside.

In a small skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Lightly fry each tortilla just until soft. This only takes a few seconds if your oil is hot. Drain on a paper towel lined plate.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread 1/2 cup of the sauce in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.

Next, dip each tortilla in the sauce carefully using tongs (I had a couple of mine tear, so be gentle ;) ). Set the sauce soaked tortillas on a cookie sheet. Then, assemble enchiladas by placing some of the meat mixture, some olives, some green onions, and a generous amount of cheese on each tortilla. Roll up each one and place in the baking sheet seam side down. (Maybe it's because I'm pregnant and clumsy, but this ended up being a rather messy process. ;) I recommend having all the assembly ingredients readily accessible because your hands will get very messy.)

Once you've assembled all the enchiladas, add the chopped cilantro to the remaining sauce and pour over enchiladas. Top with a generous amount of grated cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, or until bubbly. Sprinkle extra cilantro on top before serving.

I'm pretty sure I could eat the whole pan full of these on my own if I let myself. They're addictive!

Stuffed Peppers

One of my favorite recipes so far. It came from this recipe on Allrecipes.com. I thought they were excellent, but if you'd like some meat you could add some lean ground beef (or ground turkey)! Just as a small note, I doubled the filling (except for the onions), used Veggie Shreds instead of the mozzarella, and skipped the parm. It was also super fast since it was all done in the microwave!

Ingredients:

• 2 large red bell peppers, halved and seeded
• 1 (8 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid
• 1/3 cup quick-cooking brown rice
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed and drained
• 1/2 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:
Arrange pepper halves in a 9 inch square glass baking dish. Cover dish with plastic wrap. Poke a few holes in the plastic wrap for vents, and heat 4 minutes in the microwave, or until tender.

In a medium bowl, mix tomatoes and their liquid, rice, and water. Cover with plastic, and cook in the microwave for 4 minutes, or until rice is cooked.

Stir green onions, corn, kidney beans, and red pepper flakes into the tomato mixture. Heat in the microwave for 3 minutes, or until heated through.

Spoon hot tomato mixture evenly into pepper halves, and cover with plastic wrap. Poke a few holes in the plastic to vent steam, and heat in the microwave 4 minutes.

Remove plastic, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese (or Veggie Shreds) and Parmesan cheese, and allow to stand 1 to 2 minutes before serving.

Mexican Bean & Corn Bowl

I got this from the 3 Fat Chicks Forum. I was a little skeptical at first because it looked kind of weird, but it was so good (sorry no picture)! Eli was thinking that this would make a good bean dip if you added a little of the Taco Bell restaurant sauce. You could also add some ground beef and plop it in a tortilla for a yummy burrito.

Ingredients:

1 can pinto beans

1/4 c. onion

1 tsp diced jalapeno pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

1/2 to 1 tsp cumin (to taste)

1 c. corn

1 tbsp green bell pepper, diced

1 tbsp red bell, pepper, diced

Directions:

In a skillet, with a dash of olive oil, saute the onion, garlic, and pepper (about 4 minutes).

Add cumin and the pinto beans. Take a spoon (I use a potato masher) and mash about half of the beans. Heat through and then remove from heat.

In a small pot filled with water, combine and cook the corn and peppers. Drain and remove.

In a bowl, combine the beans and corn mixture. Add salsa if you'd like!

"Cafe Rio" Sweet Pork Salads (Complete Recipe)

I finally did it! I've been wanting to try and recreate Cafe Rio salads at home for quite some time. Then, I got a huge craving (really huge, pregnancy style) for them a few weeks ago which was only partially satisfied by going to Chipotle. At that point I knew it was only a matter of time before I decided to be brave and give it a try.

There are a lot of recipes out there that claim to replicate various aspects of the Cafe Rio salad (a quick google search for Cafe Rio recipes will give you a glimpse of what is out there), so after looking at a bunch of them, I decided to try the recipes at Favorite Family Recipes because she had collected all the recipes in one place (the pork, rice, beans, and dressing). Also, I've made things from FFR before, and they've always turned out well!

These recipes absolutely did not disappoint! It was amazing. I took my first bite, and it was like I was back in Provo. Maybe it was a little bit enhanced for me because I'm pregnant, but it was seriously good stuff!

Here's the complete recipe! (Click on the individual components for recipes.)

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salads

Ingredients:

large tortillas (I hear the uncooked ones at Costco are really good, but I've never tried them)

grated cheddar cheese (a small handful for each tortilla)

Cilantro Lime Rice

Black Beans

Shredded Sweet Pork

lettuce (not iceberg, I just bought a bag of romaine)

Pico de Gallo

parmesan cheese

tortilla strips (you can buy these at a grocery store next to the croutons in the produce section)

Creamy Tomatillo Sauce

Optional:

cilantro for garnish

lime sections for garnish

guacamole

sour cream

Directions:

Place one tortilla in the bottom of each serving dish (oven safe). You can buy foil dishes like Cafe Rio uses at the grocery store, but we just went with metal pie tins that I had on hand. Sprinkle a small handful of cheese on each one and bake at 375 degrees for about five minutes, or until cheese is melted. Scoop a generous amount of Cilantro Lime Rice and Black Beans on top of the tortilla.

Next, add the shredded pork. If you're silly like me (or if you just really miss Cafe Rio) yell "Extra Meat!" when making your husband's salad. ;)

On top of that add a generous amount of lettuce. And then top it all off with a scoop of pico de gallo, some tortilla strips, a sprinkling of parmesan cheese, and a sprig of cilantro for garnish. Serve with tomatillo sauce on the side so that (if you're me) you can keep adding it to your salad as you go because you can never get enough. ;)

I was in a big hurry to eat, so please ignore the sauce splatters and other messes in my pictures. I usually try to avoid showing off the messy-after-cooking kitchen in my pictures. My excuse this time is that Paul was the photographer, and he just doesn't notice these things. ;) Hopefully you will all forgive me once you give these amazing recipes a try!

Oh, and big thanks to Erica over at Favorite Family Recipes! She has provided all of us non-Utah residents a great service by mastering these recipes for us.

Note: I gave this recipe a 1-2 hour time length because I decided not to count the slow cooker time. It was a rather big production, but in the end, I put most of it together in two hours. And I know I'll be a bit faster next time (not looking up recipes at the last second and all that). Enjoy!

Pico de Gallo

I was just going to chop up some tomatoes and onions for our salads last night, but at the last minute, I decided that I wanted to find out how to make pico de gallo. I did a quick search on allrecipes.com. I found a recipe that was easy, highly rated, AND I happened to have all the ingredients on hand. It was supposed to refrigerate it for at least 3 hours before serving, and I only had 1 1/2, so I just threw it together as fast as I could.

I'm glad I did it, though. It was delicious and just added to the authenticity of our whole makeshift "Cafe Rio" experience. :)

Pico de Gallo

Ingredients:

3 roma tomatoes, diced (I only had two, and we survived ;) )

1/4 onion, diced (the recipe specified red onion, but I had a white one and it worked fine)

1 1/2 T. fresh chopped cilantro

1/4 jalapeno, seeded, diced (I just stole a tiny bit of the jalapeno I used for the tomatillo sauce)

juice from 1/4 lime (I just used what I had leftover from the lime I used for the rice)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 pinch garlic powder

1 pinch cumin

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and refrigerate until needed (at least three hours according to the recipe, but it was still good after 1 1/2). Feel free to taste and add spices as desired.

Next time I will take the time to dice the tomatoes and onion really evenly so that it looks prettier. I was in a big hurry this time. :)

Here's a link to the original recipe (notice that I halved it): Pico de Gallo.

Creamy Tomatillo Sauce (Cafe Rio)

Recipes for this dressing are pretty consistent around the internet. While I found huge variety in the recipes available for the other components of a Cafe Rio salad, this dressing was almost the same everywhere. For that reason, I was pretty confident that it would taste just right.

And guess what? It did! :)

Creamy Tomatillo Sauce (Cafe Rio)

Ingredients:

1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (TRADITIONAL not buttermilk)

1 c. mayonnaise

1 c. buttermilk

2 tomatillos, husks removed, diced

1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

juice from 1 lime

1 jalapeno, seeded and diced*

*If you want your dressing to be spicy, you can leave the seeds in. We prefer the sauce to be mild.

Directions:

Place all ingredients in a blender and mix under sauce is smooth. Refrigerate until needed.

For me, this is what makes the salads so awesome. It's the component that ties it all together. I just love it! Oh, and this recipe makes quite a bit of dressing. I'm not sure what we're going to do with all of it or how long it saves, but I'm definitely going to try it out on pretty much anything we eat with a Mexican flavor over the next week or two!

Here's a link to the original recipe on Favorite Family Recipes: Creamy Tomatillo Sauce.

Shredded Sweet Pork (Cafe Rio)

The sweet pork at Cafe Rio was Paul's favorite. As far as meats at Cafe Rio go, the sweet pork was more at the bottom of my personal list. But again, when you search for Cafe Rio recipes, it's the sweet pork that shows up pretty exclusively. Oh well! I will keep looking, of course, and I hope to someday find a good steak or chicken recipe.

Until then, enjoy this recipe for shredded sweet pork, Cafe Rio style!

Shredded Sweet Pork (Cafe Rio)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. pork*

Marinade:

about 2 1/4 c. (or 1 1/2 cans) Pepsi (not diet, but we were good since I'm pregnant and bought caffeine free and it works just as well)

1/4 c. brown sugar

To cook the pork:

2/3 c. (or 1/2 can) Pepsi

garlic salt

1/4 c. water

Sauce:

2/3 c. (or 1/2 can) Pepsi

1 can diced green chiles

3/4 can enchilada sauce

3/4 c. brown sugar

*I read that you should NOT use a pork roast for this recipe. The pork should be a more fatty cut. We used boneless pork shoulder ribs, but I also heard that pork butt works well.

Directions:

Place pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag and add 2 1/4 c. Pepsi and 1/4 c. brown sugar. Marinate in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight (I chose overnight). Remove pork from the bag and place in slow cooker. Discard the marinade. Pour water and 2/3 c. Pepsi over the pork. Sprinkle with garlic salt to taste. Cook on high for 3-4 hours (or on low for 8 hours) until pork can be easily shredded. Remove pork and shred (I find this easiest to do in a pie tin with two forks). Empty excess liquid from the slow cooker and place shredded pork back in it. Prepare sauce by mixing 2/3 c. Pepsi, enchilada sauce, green chiles, and 3/4 c. brown sugar in a blender until sauce is smooth. If it seems too thick, add more Pepsi (mine was not too thick). Pour sauce over shredded pork and cook on low for 2 more hours. (Although now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure I left mine on high...oops!)

Wondering what Paul's verdict was? He said the flavor was spot on, but the texture was slightly different. I can only assume this is because Cafe Rio uses a different cut of meat. All in all, though, Paul absolutely loved it. I thought it was yummy, too. :)

Here's the original recipe on Favorite Family Recipes: Shredded Sweet Pork.

Black Beans (Cafe Rio)

Now, both Paul and I prefer pinto beans on our Cafe Rio salads. For some reason, though, the only recipes I have found have been for black beans. I will continue to look around for a good pinto bean recipe, but in the mean time, this one works pretty well!

I can't vouch for it's authenticity, since I really can't remember what the Cafe Rio black beans are like, but these are yummy and flavorful.

Black Beans (Cafe Rio)

Ingredients:

2 T. olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. ground cumin

1 can black beans, rinsed

1 1/3 c. tomato juice

1 1/2 t. salt

2 T. fresh chopped cilantro

Directions:

Heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cumin and stir for a minute or two (until the garlic becomes aromatic). Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Stir frequently until heated through. Add cilantro just before serving. Serve with a slotted spoon to drain off excess tomato juice.

Notes: I think the key to this recipe is to only cook it until the beans are heated through. I cooked mine too long, so the tomato juice started to thicken and didn't drain off as easily when I served them. This means that the beans should probably be the last thing you prepare for the salads. Also, I'm not sure the cilantro is necessary in this recipe. It didn't seem to add much to me. There's a lot of cilantro in these salads elsewhere, so if you would like to cut back on it in one area, this would be a good one.

Again, I got this recipe from FFR. The original can be found here: Black Beans (Cafe Rio).

Cilantro Lime Rice (Cafe Rio)

We ate well in the Peterson household last night. Oh yes. We had Cafe Rio salads! I'm going to post each recipe that I used separately, and then I'll post a complete recipe with links to the individual recipes so that they can be easily found and accessed in the future.

And believe me, you will want to access these recipes in the future. ;)

So, here's the recipe for the rice. I got it from Favorite Family Recipes, but adapted it to use my rice cooker (she cooks the rice on the stove). If you don't have a rice cooker feel free to follow her recipe, which can be found here: Cilantro Lime Rice.

Cilantro Lime Rice (Cafe Rio)

Ingredients:

2 c. (the smaller cup used specifically for our rice cooker) uncooked rice - we used Calrose, because that's what we always have, but her recipe specifies long grain

1/2 T. butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. fresh lime juice

1 can chicken broth (14 oz)

1 T. fresh lime juice

3 T. fresh chopped cilantro

2 t. sugar

If needed: water

Directions:

Rinse rice in rice cooker. Add chicken broth, garlic, 1 t. lime juice, and butter. If needed, fill to 2 c. line with water (the chicken broth filled our rice cooker right to the 2 c. line, so I didn't need to add water). Push the 'cook' button and walk away. (Oh, how I love my rice cooker!) Once the rice is done cooking, combine the remaining lime juice with the cilantro and sugar. Pour over the cooked rice and fluff it to combine.

Easy Empanada Salad

I found this recipe on a blog of someone from my old ward. She posts recipes on her blog from time to time and this one looked particularly easy and interested me. So we gave it a try and it was quite good and very easy!

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef
1 packet taco seasoning
half of a small onion, chopped
1/4 c. frozen corn (I used a little more)
1 package Grands Biscuits
salad ingredients

Directions:
Brown beef with onion then drain excess fat. Mix in taco seasoning according to package and add frozen corn. Simmer until slightly thickened. Flatten biscuits out until about 6 inches in diameter. Scoop a heaping spoonful of meat mixture into the center of the biscuit, then fold it over and press the edges to seal it (I wet my finger and ran it around edge before folding it over and then I pressed it shut with a fork around the edge). Place empanada on a greased cookie sheet. Once all of them are finished, bake the empanadas at 375 degrees for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve over lettuce and whatever salad ingredients you want. We served ours with lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, black beans, salsa, and sour cream (Brian had his with ranch). Yum!!

Chicken Enchilada Soup

This is actually a recipe that my sister got from someone on her mission. It is definitely the easiest soup I've ever made and it's way yummy! It also makes a ton (serves about 8-10 people).

Ingredients:
1 can (29.2 oz) enchilada sauce
1 can (8 oz.) tomato sauce
2 cans chicken broth
2 uncooked chicken breasts*

Spanish rice (Lipton works well but you can use another brand)
1 can black beans
2 cups corn (I just did one can of corn last time)

Directions:
Put the first 4 ingredients in your crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours. Remove chicken, shred/cut and return to pot. Prepare spanish rice. Add beans, corn, and as much rice as you want.

Garnish with all kinds of yummy things like: olives, green onions, tortilla chips, cheese, avocado, and sour cream.

*Avocado tastes amazing on this! I don't really like avocado when I'm pregnant and I really like it on this.
*The recipe says to put as much of the rice as you want. I ended up putting most of it in last time I made it because it was for a lot of people.
* If your chicken breasts are small you can do three. I did two large chicken breasts both times I made it and it turned out great! The chicken goes a long way.
*I bought mild enchilada sauce both times I made this because that's all they had in the big can so I added a little cayenne pepper with the sauce and it just gave it a little kick. That's definitely not necessary though.

Thanks Jamie, for such a great recipe!

Lime Chicken Tacos

(This is Jennie's post, but there was a bug or something so I re-posted it for her)

This is it, folks! After this one, I'm all caught up with posting recipes! I hope I can stay on top of it from now on, because it's overwhelming when I get all backed up like that. Phew!

We had these tacos for dinner last night, and I really enjoyed them! (It may have something to do with the fact that I have been a big slacker lately with dinners and we've been eating a lot of fast food, leftovers, and throw-together meals. It was nice to have a real dinner again! I should do that more often. ;) Ha ha.)

Anyway, I found this recipe at Favorite Family Recipes, and I think it may be my favorite of the recipes I've tried from that site. The chicken had a great flavor. It wasn't overwhelmingly lime flavored, and the cilantro wasn't too much either. It was delicious and had a bit of a kick. :) A nice change from regular old tacos.

Lime Chicken Tacos
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. chicken, cubed
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
juice of 1 lime
2 t. sugar
1 t. salt
1 t. pepper
4-5 green onions, chopped (I didn't have green onions, so I used 1/4 of a white onion, chopped)
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 T. fresh cilantro, chopped (or to taste)
flour tortillas
toppings

Directions:
Saute chicken in a skillet for a few minutes (until white on all sides). Meanwhile, mix together the other ingredients (vinegar, lime juice, sugar, salt, pepper, onions, garlic, and cilantro) in a small bowl. Pour over chicken and cook for 10-20 minutes, or until chicken is done. For me, this was when the liquid had almost all evaporated (about 17 minutes).


Serve on tortillas (or shells--Paul doesn't like soft flour tortillas) with toppings of your choice. We used cheese, tomatoes, avocado, and sour cream. And they were REALLY good. :)


Here's a link to the original recipe: Lime Chicken Tacos.

Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas

I'm going to finally catch up on posting recipes today. I haven't made anything new (that turned out well, anyway ;) ) lately, so it's a good chance to get caught up.

I can't remember when I made these enchiladas, it was that long ago, but they were very yummy! Because of my previous experience using canned chipotle chiles for Chili Chicken Tacos, I knew they were quite spicy. So, when I saw that the recipe called for 1-2 tablespoons of them, I definitely knew I would be using a scant 1 tablespoon. ;)

Another Chef Britta hit!


Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients:
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 T vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 t. ground cumin
1 to 2 T. canned chipotles in adobo, minced
1 can (14.5 ounces) chicken broth
1/2 c. water
6-inch flour tortillas
2 c. grated Pepper Jack cheese

Directions:
Boil chicken* until done (about 15 minutes). Drain and shred chicken with two forks. Set aside. While chicken is cooking make the sauce. In a medium saucepan heat oil over medium heat. Add garlic and cook for about a minute. Add flour, cumin, and chipotle chiles and cook for another minute, whisking constantly. Whisk in chicken broth and water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5-8 minutes (until sauce thickens slightly), whisking occasionally. Season with salt and pepper. Pour 1 cup of the sauce over the shredded chicken and stir to combine.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pour 1/4 c. sauce into the bottom of an 8x8 baking dish. Assemble enchiladas by filling each one with chicken and sprinkling with cheese. Then, roll them up and place them seam down in the baking dish. Pour over remaining sauce and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake until cheese bubbles, about 20 minutes.

*Chef Britta's recipe has you steam the chicken in one inch of boiling water in a skillet with a tight fitting lid. I don't have a skillet with a tight fitting lid, so I just boiled the chicken and it worked fine. If you would like to try it Chef Britta's way, you can follow her directions.

Anyway, these enchiladas were delicious! I liked that they were different from traditional enchiladas. Quite exciting. As usual, here's a link to the original recipe on Chef Britta's blog: Chipotle Chicken Enchiladas.

Also, I decided we should have a Mexican label. Eventually, I'll go back and label past Mexican recipes, but for the future you guys can all start using it. :)

Tostadas

This is a meal idea and not really a recipe. Brian introduced me to tostadas after we were married and I really like them. It's a great alternative to tacos and they're just as easy.

We take a tostada shell and spread refried beans and then guacamole on top of that. That works as a glue to hold it together. Then we add taco meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and sour cream. You can be creative and add what you like! We pick them up and eat them like pizza. And hey, tostadas sound a lot cooler than tacos.