Copycat Cafe Rio Sweet Barbacoa Pork

Cafe Rio, Costa Vida, etc. if you haven't tried it you're missing out. I made this copycat version back in January for my roommates and it was super yummy. It takes some time so if you are planning on making it remember to think about it a day or two before you want to eat it (or just go to Cafe Rio :D). I'm making it again this week...can't wait (my mouth is just salivating thinking about it)!

Copycat Cafe Rio Sweet Barbacoa Pork
Recipe came from Favorite Family Recipes
Copycat Cafe Rio Sweet Barbacoa Pork

2 pounds pork (we use boneless pork rib meat)

3 cans Coke or Root Beer (NOT diet)

1/4 c. brown sugar

dash garlic salt

1/4 c. water

1 can sliced green chilies

3/4 can enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness but any will work)

1 c. brown sugar

Put the pork in a heavy duty ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 c. of brown sugar. Marinade for a few hours or overnight.

Drain marinade and put pork, 1/2 can of coke, water, and garlic salt in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours (or until it shreds easily, but don't let it get TOO dry) or on low for 8 hours. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork.

In a food processor or blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, chilies, enchilada sauce and remaining brown sugar (about a cup, you can add a little more or less to taste..). If it looks too thick, add more Coke little by little.

Put shredded pork and sauce in crockpot and cook on low for 2 hours. That's it!
Serve as meat for burritos, salads, nachos, enchiladas, quesadillas, etc.

Crockpot Lasagna

My apartment was asked to make a lunch for some of the leaders at church today as they have to stay for several hours and don't have time to go home and eat. We were asked to do some sort of crockpot dish so that it would stay warm for whenever they had a free moment to dash in and eat. I got to looking for some kind of crockpot dish that would involve lots of other things besides the crockpot (such as tortillas, rice, noodles, etc.) and found this recipe for Crockpot Lasagna. I'm a little bummed as I'm trying a new recipe and not tasting it before giving it away to others but it smells good and looks good so I'm going to have to go with faith that it is ;).

*Update: There ended up being a little leftover so I did get to try it. It was pretty good, the only change that I would make is to make a little more of the cottage cheese/egg/milk mixture. I felt like there wasn't very much and it was a little dry because of that.

Crockpot Lasagna

Recipe came from Tasty Kitchen

Crockpot Lasagna

1 pound Hamburger (browned)

1 whole Onion, Diced

2 cloves Garlic, Diced

1 jar (24 Oz. Jar) Spaghetti Sauce

½ cups Water

1 can (14.5 Oz. Can) Petite Diced Tomatoes

½ teaspoons Italian Seasoning

½ teaspoons Dried Parsley

½ teaspoons Salt

¼ teaspoons Pepper

8 ounces, weight Mushrooms, Sliced (optional)

2 cups Ricotta Cheese (I was too cheap so used cottage cheese)

¼ cups Milk

1 whole Egg

5 ounces, weight Shredded Parmesan Cheese

2 cups Mozzarella Cheese

1 pound Lasagna Noodles

1. Brown hamburger, onions and garlic. Drain grease and set aside.
2. Mix spaghetti sauce, water, and tomatoes together in a bowl. Add Italian seasonings, parsley, and salt and pepper. Dump meat into the sauce. Add mushrooms if using them.
3. Combine ricotta cheese, milk and egg together. Add parmesan and mozzarella cheeses, mixing completely.
4. Line the bottom of the crock pot with 1 cup of sauce. Place uncooked noodles on top of the sauce, completely covering the bottom. Add cheese mixture on top of noodles. Top with 1 ½ cups of sauce. Repeat two more times, ending with sauce. Add a handful of cheese to the top.
5. Cook for 4 hours on low heat.

Chicken Nachos

I have to admit I was a little nervous about this recipe, I've never done much with Velveeta, not because it isn't good but it was not something that I grew up using. This recipe came together really well and quickly, I adapted it from a crockpot recipe, I had planned on doing it in the crockpot but ran out of time and did it over the stove top. It was a little spicy, if you aren't a fan of that omit the Rotel.

Chicken Nachos

Recipe came from A Year of Slow Cooking

(adapted from) Chicken Nachos

2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts

1 package Velveeta

1 Can Rotel (diced tomatoes and green chilies)

Bag of Tortilla Chips

Other Nacho stuff: beans, sour creams, onions, olives, tomatoes, etc.

1. Cook chicken (I boiled)

2. Cube Velveeta and put in sauce pan with rotel over medium heat.

3. Add chicken to Velveeta mixture as it begins to melt, turn heat down a little.

4. When Velveeta completely melted and warm put on top of tortilla chips along with other yummy toppings!

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chili

It was my turn to make dinner! If you don't realize I read probably somewhere around 20 different cooking blogs regularly and I found another one yesterday, as I was looking through what they had made before this little number jumped out at me and sounded delicious (or as my roommate likes to say DE-LISH!). I ran to the grocery store and grabbed the ingredients this morning and threw it in the crock pot before I left for work. Because it was my first time trying the recipe I followed it exactly and didn't make any changes. It was really good but there are a couple of things that I would do a little differently next time I make it, it was really meaty, I would scale it back to 2 or 3 chicken breasts instead of 4; and it felt like there wasn't a lot of it besides the meat so I would probably put in another can of corn and at least one more of beans. This recipe was really good but I think it could be made even better by making those little changes.

Recipe came from Sprinkled With Flour

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chili

Slow Cooker Chicken Taco Chili
Prep: 5 min; Cook: 8 hr; Servings (1 cup): 10

1 onion, diced (optional)
1 16-oz can black beans
1 16-oz can kidney beans
1 8-oz can tomato sauce
1 8-oz can corn
2 (14.5-oz) cans diced tomatoes w/chilies
1 packet taco seasoning
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp chili powder (can reduce this amount for less spiciness)
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 package shredded cheddar cheese

~ Combine beans, onion, corn, tomato sauce, cumin, chili powder, garlic, taco seasoning in crockpot.
~ Place the chicken on top and cover.
~ Cook on low for 8-10 hours or on high for 6-8 hours.
~ Before serving, use a fork to shred the chicken, and stir to mix.
~ Serve over cooked rice and top with shredded cheddar cheese.

Tip: This is also great topped with fresh cilantro, sour cream, and jalapenos. It keeps very well in the refrigerator and tastes even better the next day. For additional flavor, squeeze a little fresh lime juice (to taste) into the meat and stir.