Tortillas

3 cups flour

4 1/2 Tbs. oil

1 1/2 tsp. salt

*Mix together with hands then add:

1 cup really hot water (heat up in microwave)

*Mix again really well with hands. Tear off golf-ball-size pieces of dough and roll out into a circle (easier said than done) on a well-floured surface. Cook in skillet on stove for a couple of minutes.

Taco Pizza

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoonActive Dry Yeast
• 1-½ cupWarm Water
• 4 cupsAll-purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoonKosher Salt
• ⅓ cupsOlive Oil
• 1 can(14 Ounce) Black Beans
• 1 teaspoonTaco Seasoning (prepared, Or Make Your Own)
• 4 wholeCorn Tortillas, Sliced Into Thin Strips
• ½ cupsCanola Oil, For Frying
• 1 cupGrated Sharp Cheddar
• 1 cupGrated Monterey Jack Cheese
• 1 headGreen Leaf Lettuce, Sliced/shredded Thin
• 2 wholeRipe Tomatoes, Diced
• ½ cupsCilantro Leaves
• ¼ cupsSour Cream
• 3 TablespoonsHot Sauce (more To Taste)

Preparation Instructions

Make the pizza dough: Mix yeast with warm water and set aside for 8 to 10 minutes. Mix flour, salt, and olive oil in a mixing bowl. With speed on low, drizzle in yeast/water mixture. Allow to mix until totally combined. Cover bowl with a towel and set bowl in a warm, draft-free place. Allow to rise for 1 to 2 hours.

Pour black beans into a saucepan. Add seasonings to taste and heat up beans over medium-low heat. Use a potato masher to mash the beans to desired texture. Continue cooking/heating beans over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until no longer runny (should be the texture of refried beans. Set aside.

In a small skillet, heat canola oil over medium heat. When hot enough to fry, drop in the tortilla strips in batches, frying quickly and removing from oil with a fork when crisp–about 30 to 45 seconds per batch. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Set aside.

Place oven rack in the bottom position in the oven. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Remove half the pizza dough from the bowl. Place remaining half in a large plastic bag and refrigerate, saving for another use. With hands, spread pizza dough on an oiled baking sheet, making sure it’s relatively thin. Spread layer of refried beans all over pizza crust. Sprinkle mixed grated cheeses over the top. Place pan in the oven (in the bottom half of the oven) and bake for 9 to 12 minutes. Watch it to make sure crust doesn’t burn.

Remove pizza from oven. Sprinkle on shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and cilantro leaves.

Mix together sour cream and hot sauce, adding enough hot sauce to make the mixture pourable. With a spoon (or you can put it in a pastry bag) drizzle mixture over finished pizza.

Sprinkle with tortilla strips. Cut into squares and serve immediately with good quality salsa.

Peanut Butter Cup Trifle

Peanut Butter Cup Trifle

Source: The Sisters Cafe

1 (9x13) pan of baked brownies, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 (5.1 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding

3 cups milk

½ cup creamy peanut butter

2 tsp vanilla

1 (8 ounce) container thawed Cool Whip, divided (or use homemade whipped cream)

20 peanut butter cups, crumbled (do not buy bite sized; you could get away with less...but why?)

6-8 peanut butter cups to garnish.

Combine pudding and milk. Beat for 2 minutes. Add peanut butter and vanilla, beat until smooth. Gently fold in 2 cups cool whip or homemade whipped cream.

Layer in trifle dish ½ the brownies, ½ the crumbled peanut butter cups, ½ the pudding mixture. Repeat. Top with cool whip and peanut butter cups. Chill at least 4 hours before serving.

Cafe Rio Rice/ Sauce/ Pork/ Chicken

These recipes are all Yum YUM YUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!

Everyone has their favorite Cafe Rio recipes. These are mine:

Cafe Rio Lime Cilantro Rice 

2 cups uncooked rice
4 cups water (mixed with 1-3 tsp chicken bouillion)
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp butter

Saute garlic and butter until soft, don't let it burn! Add rice and cook for a minute or two, on medium heat. Add water and bouillion mixture, and remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. After it begins to boil rapidly, reduce heat to low and cover with lid. Stir occasionally, and let simmer for about 20 minutes. (I did this recipe in half for the two of us and we had leftovers.

Cilantro-Lime Ranch aka Crack:

I made the first recipe tried it cut in half. Did about
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 cup mayo
1/4-1/2 cup chopped cilantro
A slosh of milk ( about 1TBSP)
2 TBSP mild green enchilada sauce (YES I know weird)
1.5TBSP hidden valley ranch powder
1TBSP lime juice
1 roughly chopped clove garlic
Threw it all in a blender. Placed it in a container and it thickened up in the fridge in a few minutes. In my opinion I think it's the closest recipe to the Cafe Rio dressing and no crazy peppers or anything! Feel free to add more sour cream, cilantro or lime juice to taste.

I need to remember some mustard next time. Totally tasted it in my last cafe rio.

Sweet Pork:

1 pork butt

Salsa

Brown sugar

?a dash of crushed red pepper

Pour ingredients over pork roast and cook on low for 8-10 hours until it easily shreds with a fork.  Add more salsa/ brown sugar to your liking.

Alternative Sweet Pork that I actually liked the flavor of the best. But I am not always willing to use soda in my dinner recipes. But this is the closest recipe I've found to the actual thing; which by the way I found in comments on this recipe that a manager from a Cafe Rio said that Coke is the way to go. But they have a whole crazy process and list of things I'm just not as dedicated to do. I modified this recipe a bit to what I could find for cheap and eyeballed a lot of the ingredients.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds pork (pork shoulder or butt bone in is fine you just cook it till it's falling off the bone anyway)
• 1 can Coke (NOT diet)
• dash garlic salt
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 can diced green chilies (I did not add these)
• 3/4 (10oz) can red enchilada sauce (I use Old El Paso brand, medium spiciness but any will work) {For my recipe I used  a small ?8oz can of ?El Pato (Mexican tomato sauce that has chilies in is).}
• 1/2 c. brown sugar

Instructions

• 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. {I did not do this. I put the pork in the crock pot and went to the next step.)
• Add 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 shred pork. (We like to shred in our kitchen aid. But not too much otherwise it's like dog food.)
• I like to just add the rest of the sauce and seasonings as I mix the pork. Think it's delicious that way. You could finish it off in the crock pot too and that would be yummy as well. 

Lime Chicken from The "I don't cook" syndrome cookbook (so not really a "cafe rio" recipe, but it was very tasty!)

1/2 cup lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup minced cilantro
1/2 tsp salt
1 clove garlic, minced
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Mix all ingredients and let chicken marinade in the fridge for several hours. Cook chicken however you like, grill, stovetop, or oven.

Green Enchilada Sauce

Green Enchilada Sauce (Kate's Knockoff Cafe Rio Recipe)
Recipe by Our Best Bites

2-3 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion, minced
5-6 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
2 green peppers, chopped
1-2 jalapenos, seeded and membranes removed if desired (and I desire. Always.)
1 1/2 lb. tomatillos, husked and quartered or halved
1/2 bunch cilantro, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 tsp. cumin
4 c. chicken broth
2-3 Tbsp. sugar (optional and to taste; the sauce Cafe Rio uses seems to be slightly sweet, so if I'm using this sauce for enchilada-style burritos, I generally add a little sugar, but for everything else, I leave it out.)

In a large saucepan or stock pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute onions and garlic until tender and fragrant.

While onions are sauteeing, combine tomatillos, green peppers, jalapeno peppers, and cilantro in your blender. Process until smooth; you may have to do it in batches and/or add some chicken broth to make things blendable.

Pour the tomatillo mixture over the onions and garlic and add chicken broth, salt, pepper, and cumin. Simmer 15 minutes-1 hour, depending on the consistency you want. I usually turn the heat to high and boil it uncovered until I reach the consistency I want; it makes things go a lot faster. The sauce can also be simmered in a slow cooker all day.

Serve over tacos, as an enchilada sauce, inside burritos, or as a dip for chips.

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

Easy and quite delicious. The guiltless part helps too!

Guiltless Alfredo Sauce
2 C low-fat milk 
1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
2 T flour
1 t salt
1 T butter
3 garlic cloves
1 C grated Parmesan cheese

Toss the milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender.

Process until smooth and set aside.

In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat and add garlic. Stand above the pan (but not close enough to scald your face) and inhale. Ahhh...butter and garlic. Okay, now get cooking again. Let the garlic saute for about 30 seconds, you don't want to burn it. It should be nice and bubbly like this:Then add milk mixture to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more. It should be much thicker now.

When it's nice and thickened remove the pan from the heat. Add the cheese, stir it up and then cover immediately. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using. It will continue to thicken upon standing. Also, if you have leftovers in the fridge, the sauce will thicken almost into a solid. Just re-heat and add a little milk and it will be back to normal again.

Monte Cristo

B first tried one of these in Panama. I heard about them in him exec but they always sounded so weird. Be NOT afraid! Such a delightful combo of fruity, sweet and salty. The flour in the French toast makes it super smooth. 12/10

Monte Cristo Sandwich

Ingredients:White sandwich bread
Thin sliced deli ham
Swiss cheese, sliced
butter
2 eggs
1 C milk
2T flour
Strawberry Jam (or raspberry works too)
Powdered sugar
optional: dijon mustard or maple syrup

Whisk flour and milk and then add in eggs and whisk until well-blended and place in a shallow dish. Now this isn’t rocket science- basically you want to put the cheese and the meat on the inside of the bread, then dip both sides of the sandwich in the egg/milk mix, then grill in a hot buttered skillet until the bread is browned and toasty and the cheese inside is melted. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with Jam. Done.

However, I’ll tell you how I find it easiest to do. When I tried to build the sandwich first, and then dip it, it was hard to keep everything together and I had egg stuff dripping all over. Apparently I'm not as coordinated as Dawn is because that's how she did it and it looked effortless!

Soo...I dip one side of one piece of bread in the egg mixture and place in a hot, buttered skillet. Then immediately build the sandwich on the bread in the pan, starting with the cheese on the bottom, then meat, then cheese again. (This way, the cheese melts and "glues" the sandwich together.) Then I dip one side of the 2nd piece of bread in the egg and place it on top (egg side out).

Let the sandwich sizzle for a few minutes until the bread on one side is nice and brown, and flip.

To serve, slice in half and sprinkle with powdered sugar. I like it served with the classic strawberry jam. I place a little bowl on the side, but you can just grab a knife and slather some on the inside too. When I had these at my friend's house in addition to the jam, she also had maple syrup and Dijon mustard (not to be eaten together- just to pick one or the other!) So it’s really up to you and your preference.