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.

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!

Robin's Groundhog Stew

(again sorry no picture, but this stew was really good, so I wanted to share.
to serve 12 people

2 lb. stew meat (I cut it into smaller pieces)
6 red potatoes diced
3 onions chopped
1.5 lbs. baby carrots chopped
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
3 cloves garlic minced or garlic powder
1 cup beef broth
1 cup water
1 lipton onion and mushroom pkg
salt and pepper
2 TBS worcestershire sauce

in greased crockpot cut veggies, layer into crockpot with s &p
add stew meat on top and s&p again
mix all the liquids pour on top of meat and veggies
cook on low for 8-10 hours

you can serve these with Bride's biscuits (recipe to follow)

Chili Chicken Tacos

It's a new day with more new recipes! I'm going to try and post a couple recipes each day until I'm caught up. :)

This one was another Chef Britta masterpiece. I've had a lot of success with her recipes.

Chili Chicken Tacos
Ingredients:
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs (I used breasts because that's what I had)
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1/2 c. salsa, plus more for serving
1 to 2 T. canned chipotle chiles in adobo, chopped (a little goes a long way!)
1 T. chili powder
1 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
hard and or soft taco shells
other toppings, as desired (tomato, cheese, sour cream, lettuce, cilantro, etc.)


Directions:
Combine chicken, sliced garlic cloves, chiles, salsa, chili powder, salt and pepper in slow cooker. Cover and cook on high for four hours (or on low for eight hours). Shred chicken with two forks (it falls apart easily). Serve with desired toppings.

This chicken is really quite spicy, but it's yummy! The chipotle chiles are what makes it spicy, so if you want it to be more mild, you can put fewer chiles in. I put a whole 2 tablespoons in, maybe even slightly more, because I didn't know how spicy they were. And it was pretty intense! ;)

Here's a link to the original recipe (she has some great pictures of the process, you should check them out!): Chili Chicken Tacos.

Country Captain Chicken

It's been so long since I made this recipe! I haven't been very successful with the slow cooker recipes like I used to be. I have a bunch of recipes I want to try though, so hopefully I bring it out again soon!

This recipe, like most slow cooker recipes, was nice because I could put it together and let it cook itself. It had a little more prep than some other recipes that I've made, but it was a really good dinner. It had a surprising flavor, and both Paul and I enjoyed it.

Country Captain Chicken
Ingredient:
4 boneless skinless chicken thighs (I actually just used two boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into pieces)
2 T. flour
2 T. oil, divided
1 c. chopped green bell pepper (I just chopped up one smallish pepper)
1 large onion, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped (I actually forgot to put this in when I made it)
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 c. chicken broth
2 c. canned crushed tomatoes
1/2 c. golden raisins*
1 1/2 t. curry powder
1 t. salt
1/4 t. paprika
1/4 t. black pepper

*Paul doesn't like raisins. But I had a feeling they wouldn't seem like raisins once they were cooked for hours and hours, and I was right. They really added to the meal, so I recommend putting these in even if you are apprehensive.

Directions:
Coat chicken pieces with flour, set aside. Heat half of the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bell pepper, onion, celery, and garlic. Cook and stir for about five minutes or until onion starts to get tender. Place vegetables in the bottom of your slow cooker. Heat remaining half of oil in the same skillet over medium-high heat. Add flour-coated chicken. Brown for five minutes on each side. Chicken will not be fully cooked, but it will finish cooking in the slow cooker. Add chicken pieces to the slow cooker. Pour broth into the still-hot skillet. Cook and stir, scraping off bits of chicken or vegetables at the bottom of the skillet. Pour into slow cooker. Add tomatoes, raisins, curry powder, salt, paprika, and black pepper. Gently stir the spices into the tomatoes to disperse them into the mixture. Cover. Cook on low for 3 hours. Serve over rice.


Like I said, this recipe had a surprising flavor. It was very interesting and yummy. I highly recommend giving it a try at least once.

Creamy Italian Chicken

I am way behind on posting recipes! This is a recipe that I tried a couple weeks ago and it turned out great! It had a really good flavor and the chicken wasn't dry like I thought it might be. Plus, it's a crockpot recipe and is very easy. Basically, I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately the night that I made it we were in a hurry and forgot to take a picture of it until I had eaten half of it so it's not the best picture. So, if any of you try it, you could take a better picture of it and we could replace this one.

Also, I served it with mashed potatoes and cooked carrots on the side. The recipe tells you to serve it over noodles or rice. I think it would be good that way, but Becca likes mashed potatoes more.

Creamy Italian Chicken
Ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix
1/3 cup water
1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) cream of chicken soup
1 can (4 oz.) mushroom stems and pieces, drained

Directions:
Place chicken in crockpot. Combine salad dressing mix and water; pour over chicken. Cover and cook on LOW for 3 hours (I flipped them halfway, but the recipe doesn't tell you to do that). In a bowl whisk together soup and cream cheese until blended (soften the cream cheese first). Stir in mushrooms. Pour mixture over chicken and cook for 1 to 3 hours longer or until chicken juices run clear. Serve over rice or noodles.

* When I bought a salad mix envelope I was confused because there were different sizes. It's supposed to be about 1.25 oz. Also, I put more like 1/2 cup water. I put a little extra because it didn't seem like very much water.

* Like I said, it was good with mashed potatoes. We used the yummy sauce as gravy. But just a warning, it was a pretty heavy meal that way.

Slow Cooker Mushroom Beef Stew

Another successful slow cooker recipe! This was very yummy (even though it's not very beautiful to look at), and it smelled good all day long as it was cooking.

*Note: The original recipe is called "Wild Mushroom Beef Stew" and calls for shiitake mushrooms. Shiitake mushrooms were way expensive, so I just got regular ones. It was still yummy. :)


Slow Cooker Mushroom Beef Stew
Ingredients:
1 1/2 to 2 lbs. beef stew meat, cut into 1 in. cubes (we bought ours already cubed at the grocery store)
2 T. flour
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1 1/2 c. beef broth
1 t. Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, minced (I used two ;) )
1 bay leaf
1 t. paprika
1/2 package sliced mushrooms (or 4 shiitake mushrooms, sliced...see note above)
2 medium carrots, sliced
2 medium red potatoes, diced
1 small white onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, sliced

*Side note: I thought all the different words used for cutting things up in this recipe were humorous. Sliced, diced, chopped...ha ha ha. Okay, maybe I'm just silly. ;)

Directions:
Place beef in slow cooker. Mix flour, salt, and pepper in a separate bowl. Sprinkle over beef and stir to coat beef evenly. Add all remaining ingredients to the slow cooker and stir to mix well. Cover. Cook on low 10-12 hours, or on high 4-6 hours (I did about six hours on high). Stir stew and remove bay leaf before serving.

I just love slow cooker recipes! So easy! This was a nice, fall meal. Very warm and comforting. We had bread and butter with ours, but I wish I had thought of making homemade rolls. That would have been even better. :)

Three-Bean Turkey Chili

I really enjoy slow cooker meals. They usually take very little hands-on time, and I love the feeling of a meal just cooking itself. This recipe is another good one for the slow cooker.

Three-Bean Turkey Chili
Ingredients:
1 lb ground turkey
1 small onion, diced
1 can (28 oz) petite diced tomatoes, juice included
1 can (15 oz) garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (15 oz) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (8 oz) tomato sauce
1 can (4 oz) diced green chiles
1 to 2 T. chili powder

Directions:
Brown turkey with onions in a skillet on medium-high heat. Cook until onions are tender and turkey is no longer pink. Drain the fat. Pour into slow cooker. Prepare to make use of your can opener. ;) Pour all three cans of beans into a colander and rinse well. Add beans, and all remaining ingredients to the slow cooker. Mix well. Cover and cook on high for 6-8 hours.


There are a few things I especially liked about this recipe. Using ground turkey instead of beef was a nice change of pace (although beef would work just as well). I've never used garbanzo beans before, and Paul and I both decided they were very yummy. And, like I said, it was a very easy recipe. You can serve it over rice (that's how Paul likes his chili), with cornbread, or on its own. We sprinkled cheese on top, and we also would have added a dollop of sour cream, but we didn't have any (shocker!). Good stuff!

Fiesta Chicken

This is the easiest dinner I've made in a long time. The active preparation time was less than ten minutes, and that was only because I defrosted the chicken enough to be able to cut it into smaller pieces. You can even put the chicken in frozen.

Fiesta Chicken

Ingredients:
2 lbs. chicken pieces (that's what the recipe calls for...I actually just used about 1 lb)
1 1/2 c. uncooked rice*
1 jar (16 oz) salsa
2 jars water
1/2 bag (1 lb) of frozen corn

*We used Japanese short-grain rice and it was pretty mushy in the end. It's probably best if you use long grain.


Directions:
Pour uncooked rice in the bottom of your slow cooker. Place chicken pieces on top of rice. Pour salsa on top of chicken, and then pour on the two jars of water. Sprinkle corn on top. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours (on high for about four). Stir together before serving. We topped ours with sour cream. :)

Overall review:
This recipe was just too easy not to post here, but it really wasn't that amazing taste-wise. It was mushy (like I mentioned--probably due to the type of rice I used), and it tasted a little bit bland. I bet with a little tweaking (adding spices or using a different type of salsa) it could be quite yummy. FYI- I used Pace Picante Medium Salsa.

Slow Cooked Pork Chops

You should all be very proud of me. ;) I did something with this meal that I have never done before. I took a recipe and completely changed some ingredients in it. I've made tiny changes in recipes before (in amounts or with something small and safe like the breaded pork chop recipe), but usually I don't mess with the spices because I don't know enough about them to know what is good. This time I did a bit of research online and made adjustments accordingly.

I got the original recipe here (another cooking blog I've come across). I first made it for Paul on Father's Day this year. Paul liked it, but I didn't like the dijon mustard taste. I thought it wouldn't come through, but I could still taste it. So, this time I tried to find substitutions for dijon mustard online with no success. Then, I found a couple recipes for homemade dijon mustard. I took some key spices from those recipes and used them instead of dijon mustard in this recipe. It turned out pretty good! The spices I added gave a good flavor, and it was nice not to have to taste the mustard.


Slow Cooked Pork Chops
Ingredients:
4 thinly sliced pork chops
salt and pepper to taste
1 apple, diced
1 medium onion, diced (the original recipe calls specifically for a yellow onion, but this time I used a white one because I prefer white onions)
1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
1/4 c. brown sugar
3 garlic cloves, minced*
2 bay leaves*

*These are the ingredients I added. The original recipe calls for 1 T. dijon mustard instead.

Directions:
Place diced apple and onion in the bottom of your slow cooker (CrockPot). Season both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper. Place the pork chops on top of the apples and onions (mine overlapped a little, it depends on how big your slow cooker is). In a separate bowl mix together the vinegar, brown sugar, garlic and bay leaves. Pour over the pork chops in the slow cooker. Cook on low setting for 4 hours. Remove and discard bay leaves before serving.

The main thing I like about this recipe is that the pork chops are so tender. They just fall apart with a fork. Overall, though, it's not my favorite recipe. I'm going to continue to look for slow cooked pork chop recipes, though.