"Cafe Rio" Style Pork Burritos

One of our favorite restaurants is Cafe Rio.  They have the best pork burritos!  In an effort to save money, we have not eaten there in a while, but we have been missing it!  I had a pork roast in my freezer and decided that I wanted to try to recreate the pork burritos that you can buy there.  I looked online to see if I could find a recipe, and I found several.  This recipe is what I did with it, which was kind of a combination of several different recipes.  It didn't taste exactly like Cafe Rio, but it was REALLY good!

"Cafe Rio" Style Pork Burritos

Pork Roast
Coke
2-3 TBSP Brown Sugar
1/2 packet of Lipton Onion Soup

Put the roast into the crockpot and set it on low.  Pour a cup of coke over it and add the brown sugar and soup.  Cook for 8 or so hours, or until it can be shredded.

When the roast is cooked, shred it.  (I dumped the coke mixture out of my crockpot and put the shredded pork back in.  You could easily put it into a sauce pan to finish.)

Add the following:
1 cup or so of Coke
2 TBSP Brown Sugar
1/3 cup Salsa
1/2 can Tomato Sauce

Let it simmer on low for 20 or so minutes.


Rice:

In the meantime, I put my rice cooker to use.  I cooked the rice in chicken broth and added some chopped Cilantro.  Next time I am going to add some green chilies and lime, as the rice was pretty bland.


We like our burritos without the beans, but you could easily add in black or pinto beans!  :)

To assemble:

Warm tortillas.  Fill with rice, pork mixture and cheese.  Roll up and place in an oven-safe pan. Put some green Enchilada Sauce on top.  Top with cheese and broil on high until cheese is melted and bubbling.

 Here is the final product, and it was tasty! My husband told me that it was even better the second day!!

Yummy Chicken Alfredo/Pesto Tortelloni

My hubby went on a business trip a few years back, and they had a pasta bar at the office he went to where they could pick their own sauces and ingredients to put with their pasta. He loved it! When he got home, he told me about this yummy pasta that he had. This is my attempt at re-creating it!

Mushrooms, sliced
Onion- sliced into thin strips
2 cloves garlic, minced
Chicken, cubed (For the two of us, I usually just do 1 chicken breast or 3 tenders)
2 TBSP oil
1 package of Tortelloni pasta (We like the 3 cheese flavor)
1 package of pesto sauce prepared per instructions
1/2 cup butter
1 cup cream (or fat free half and half works too)
Parmesan cheese to taste

Cook the chicken in a pan with oil. When it starts to brown, add in the vegetables. Saute until done. In the meantime, boil some water. Cook the pasta according to the directions. Drain. In the same pan, melt 1/2 cup of butter. Pour in cream and stir. Add in desired amount of Parmesan cheese to make it taste like alfredo sauce. Pour pasta into the alfredo sauce. Mix in desired amount of pesto. Add chicken/vegetables and stir together. I like to top it with shredded Parmesan. Enjoy!!

Mexican Lasagna

My mom used to make this when I was young. She calls it Tortillas and Eggs, but when I made it for my husband, he told me that I should change the name to Mexican Lasagna because that sounds more appetizing! :) My 2 year old had about 3 servings of this the night I made it.

1 pkg. flour tortillas

1 group green onion

6 eggs

1 can olives (chopped)

1 cube margarine

1 can enchilada sauce (I really like the Rosarita brand the best)

1 pt. sour cream

1 ½ c. grated cheese

Cut 1 pkg. flour tortillas into 1” squares. Combine tortillas and ¾ cube margarine in frying pan. Cook till margarine is absorbed and tortillas are a light golden color. Remove tortillas from pan. Using the remaining ¼ cube of margarine, scramble 6 eggs till still slightly runny. Combine tortillas and eggs and cook till eggs are set. Put tortillas and eggs in the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan. Top with 1 pt. sour cream, 1/8-1/4 cup green onions (reserve a few for very top), 1 can chopped olives, 1 cup mild enchilada sauce and about 1 ½ cup grated mild cheddar cheese for the top. Put the remaining onions on the top. Put in a 350 deg. oven till cheese is slightly bubbly. Remove from oven and let set at least 10-15 minutes before serving.

Ham and Potatoes

My hubby came home from work the other night with a whole bunch of ham that was left over from his work Christmas party. I have been trying to figure out what to do with it because I don't want to waste free food! I came up with this in a hurry, as I had a busy night, and I must say that it was delicious!!

Ham and Potatoes

2 Cups Ham, cubed
7-8 Potatoes, peeled and cut into thin slices
3 TBSP butter
3 TBSP flour
Garlic Salt
2 cups milk
1 tsp. chicken bouillon (or more to taste)
1 cup Shredded Cheese- I used cheddar

Place the potatoes and ham in a greased casserole dish. Mix about half of the cheese into the ham and potatoes. Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add the flour and mix. Gradually add the milk while stirring. Heat until it starts to thicken. (If it gets too thick, add more milk) Add in some garlic salt and chicken bouillon to taste. Pour sauce over potatoes. Put remaining cheese on top. Bake at 350 for an hour or until potatoes are done.

Chicken Enchiladas

I was trying to think of a good recipe to put on here as my very first recipe! I decided to share my favorite chicken enchiladas. This recipe came into our family when our 5 year old daughter was born. A really nice neighbor made these for us so that I would not have to cook right after we came home from the hospital. They were so yummy that I had to have the recipe!

8 6-inch tortillas

3 T. flour

½ c. chopped onion

1 (8 oz) carton sour cream

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 c. chicken broth

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 (4 oz) can diced green chili peppers, drained

¼ t. pepper

1 c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese

2 T. butter

2 c. cooked chicken (To save time, I buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, and shred it)

Sauce: Cook onion, garlic, coriander, and pepper in butter until onion is tender. Stir flour into sour cream; add to onion mixture. Stir in broth and chili peppers all at once. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in ½ cup of the cheese.

Filling: Stir ½ of the sauce into the chicken. Place about ¼ cup filling atop each tortilla; roll up. Arrange rolls, seam side down, in a lightly greased pan. Top with remaining sauce. Bake covered in a 350 deg. oven about 35 minutes or until heated through. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake uncovered 5 minutes more or until cheese melts. Let stand 10 minutes.

Optional: garnish with sliced olives, green onions, or chopped tomatoes.