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.

Blonde Texas Sheet Cake

Brea and Darrell came over for dinner on Sunday so of course I had to make a dessert :) I've been looking at this one for awhile now but knew that I needed to make it sometime when I had more people around than just Mom and I. It came together really easy--not very much work at all! We forgot to add the vanilla and almond extracts to the cake batter :( but it still had some flavor, we ended up adding more flavoring to the icing to compensate (just add till you get the flavor that you like). We really liked how moist the cake was, but we didn't like that the icing took awhile to solidify. I would suggest making it the night before you need the dessert (it tasted even better the next day) or putting it in the fridge for awhile too (Brea and Darrell did that and liked it even better).

Blonde Texas Sheet Cake
Recipe came from Sugar Betty
Blonde Texas Sheet Cake

1 cup butter
1 cup water
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk (sour cream works as well)
1 teaspoons almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

Frosting:

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup buttermilk

4 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

pinch of table salt

1 cup sliced almonds, toasted

For the Cake: Preheat oven to 300º. In a small saucepan bring butter and water to a boil. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add hot butter mixture to dry ingredients and stir. Add buttermilk, eggs, almond and vanilla extracts to the cake mixture, blending well. Pour the cake batter into a greased jelly roll pan and bake for 30 minutes or until done.

Let cake cool for 20 minutes while preparing frosting, but remember to frost the cake while it is warm.

Frosting: In a small saucepan, bring butter and buttermilk to a boil. In a separate bowl, add 3 cups powered sugar and a pinch of salt. Add hot mixture and almond extract over the powdered sugar and whisk until the frosting is smooth. The frosting will thicken as it cools. Add more powdered sugar, if needed, to help make a thicker frosting.

If adding nuts, you can add them too the frosting before pouring over the warm cake or you can sprinkle them over the warm frosting as it cools. Cut into desired squares and serve. This cake stores well for a few days.

*Remember it cools fast and sets up quickly.

Copycat JDawg Sauce

Erin has been telling me for the longest time that I need to go with her and try JDawgs in Provo. I was struggling a little bit with the idea of spending $3-$4 for a hot dog, but she assured me that it wasn't just the hot dog but their special sauce. I still haven't actually been to JDawgs (despite the fact that it was only a block and a half from my apartment) but when I saw this copycat version of it I knew that I had to try it. It was good...I still don't think that it's worth the money that they charge-but hey I now have a recipe I don't have to!


Copycat JDawg Sauce
Recipe came from Peachtree Cooking
Copycat JDawg Sauce

3/4 C ketchup
3/4 C barbeque sauce
1/4 C honey
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp onion power
Mix together and enjoy!

Cranberry-Orange Chicken Salad

I showed this recipe to Mom and she just knew that this is what she wanted to make for our dinner on Sunday, we had about 30 people so had to 5x the recipe. It went over very well as we had only about a cup left of salad mix by the end of the night. We just cheated and bought Costco rolls to serve with the salad, some people made it into a sandwich and others just ate it plain (I've been using it for a wrap filling too!). It was really good, I wasn't so sure at first with the cranberry sauce, but it adds a great twist to the salad.

Cranberry-Orange Chicken Salad
Recipe came from Eat It Up
Cranberry-Orange Chicken Salad

2 cups cooked chicken, chopped into bite size
1 cup celery
1/3 cup chopped green onions
Zest of 1 medium orange
1/2 cup craisens
1/2 cup light mayo
1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard or coarse grain mustard
2 tablespoons jellied cranberry sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Croissants or rolls
lettuce leaves

1. In a medium bowl, combine chicken, celery, green onions, orange zest and craisins.
2. In a separate, smaller bowl whisk together mayo, mustard, cranberry sauce, salt and black pepper. Add the chicken mixture and toss to fully combine. *This salad is best if refrigerated for several hours before serving.
3. Just before serving, add the toasted pecans/walnuts. Serve on toasted buns (with a touch more mayo if desired)and with a leaf of lettuce.

* Combine this with fruit salad and some veggies for dipping and you are set!

Cake Balls

I'm sure you've heard of Bakerella and her amazing cake balls and cake pops. For Christmas Mom bought me her book "Cake Pops" I was so excited to get it and ready to try it out. Brea and I made some for Valentine's it was a lot of fun and a great learning experience. For the family dinner we wanted to have a bit of a variety, I made these again but I wanted to have something that my Grandma could have (aka GF), we decided to try the cake balls again. I think they turned out really good and pretty too!

Cake Balls
Recipe came from Bakerella
Cake Balls

1 box cake mix (cook as directed on box for 13 X 9 cake)
1 can frosting (16 oz.)
1 package chocolate bark (regular or white chocolate)
wax paper

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.
2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)
3. Roll mixture into quarter size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. You can get even more if you use a mini ice cream scooper, but I like to hand roll them.)
4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.)
5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package.
6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

I also only melt a few pieces of chocolate bark at a time because it starts to cool and thicken. It’s easier to work with when it’s hot.

Limeade Punch

We had a family dinner on Sunday and I wanted to make a drink, we were planning on having water but I wanted to add something else. I found this one, I just noticed that they had mentioned some twists that you could make it like Sonic Cherry Limeade (which I LOVE!), I wish that I had seen it to do but it was still delicious. It suggested adding frozen raspberries but we didn't have just that so we added a Costco mix that had raspberries, blueberries, and marionberries. Another blog shared this recipe for Cherry Limeade that I might be trying soon.

Limeade Punch
Recipe came from The Girl Who Ate Everything
Limeade Punch

1 (12 ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate
1 (2 liter) bottle Sprite
frozen rasperries or sliced limes for garnish
ice

Pour the frozen limeade concentrate in a large bowl and add the Sprite. I like my punch on the tart side so I add about 3/4 of a bottle of Sprite. Add ice, sliced limes, and frozen raspberries if desired.

Got Sonic Fever? Turn it into cherry limeade by adding the juice of 1 (10 ounce) jar of maraschino cherries. Add an additional can of frozen limeade for some extra tartness and garnish with the reserved maraschino cherries.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

These were my first enchiladas...ever! They were so so delicious! I thought that the chicken was a little dry so the only changes I would make was to have doubled the amount for the marinade. I also didn't have extra marinade at the end like it said I was supposed to, so I just threw some more honey and lime in with the heavy cream and green enchilada sauce. I liked that this recipe was so simple but still had so many flavors.

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

Recipe came from The Girl Who Ate Everything

Honey Lime Chicken Enchiladas

1/3 cup Honey

1/4 cup Lime Juice

1 Tablespoon Chili Powder

1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 pound Chicken, cooked and shredded
8-10 flour Tortillas

1 pound Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded

2 (10 oz) cans Green Enchilada Sauce

1/2 cup Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the honey (their tip: spray your measuring spoon with cooking spray before measuring out the honey), lime juice, chili powder and garlic together and toss with the shredded chicken. Let it marinate for at least 1/2 hour (or toss together in aZiploc bag and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours).

Spray a 9X13 pan and a 9X9 pan with cooking spray. Pour enough enchilada sauce on the bottom of each baking pan to create a thin layer on the bottom. Fill flour tortillas with chicken and shredded cheese, saving about 1 cup of cheese to sprinkle on top of enchiladas.

Mix the remaining enchilada sauce with the cream and leftover marinade (you might not need to use all of the enchilada sauce depending on how saucy you like yours). Pour sauce on top of the enchiladas and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes until brown and crispy on top. I served mine with sour cream, pico de gallo, rice and black beans.