Apple Feta Salad

This is Chelsea's Recipe, but a favorite of everyone - even the pickiest eater.

Romaine hearts

Chopped apples,

Crasins

Feta

Almonds

Toss together and pour on Salad Dressing - usually 1/2 of a recipe is good for a large bowl of greens.

Vinegar & Honey Dressing

1/2 C Olive Oil

1/2 C Red wine vinegar

1/2 C honey

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1-2 tsp minced garlic

Combine in blender.

Mock Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salads

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad - photo from http://www.caferio.com

While Chelsea was visiting I volunteered to serve lunch to the elementary staff I have been working at the past year (with her help of course).  Both Chelsea and Melanie spent time helping with food and especially cookies while I was working.  The staff enjoyed it and several asked for a recipe, so here it is.  I combined from a few different sites, for what I liked best.

For an authentic Mock Cafe Rio Salad layer as follows:
Large Tortillas with melted shredded cheese
Rice
Black Beans
Sweet Pork
Romaine Lettuce
Pico de gallo (just combine diced tomato, onion, and cilantro)
guacomole
Sour Cream
Tortilla Strips (deep fry strips of corn tortillas) or crushed chips
Creamy Tomatillo Ranch

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork Salad - photo from http://www.caferio.com

Shredded Sweet Pork  Salad with Rice and Beans

 

(Sometimes when I don't want to take the trouble to do this first part, I just slow cook the roast, shred and then add the sauce for the sweetness - it's not as marinated, but it still tastes good.  We often use it for Sweet Pork Quesadillas (see note below).

3-5 lb pork roast

1 c brown sugar
1 c Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp salt
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp garlic powder
2 Tb dried minced onions

Cook all ingredients in a crock pot on low all day (abt 8 hours). One hour before serving, remove roast and shred it. Dump out all cooking juices and place shredded pork back into crockpot and add...

 1 c brown sugar

1 c red enchilada sauce
Serve in Salad, burritos, or quesadillas.

Here's an alternative recipe that I tried, but didn't think it was as flavorful -

• 2-3 lbs. boneless pork (carnitas, shoulder etc)
• 1 12 ox. can Coke
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1 10 oz. can enchilada sauce
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 1 small can diced green chilis
• 3/4 C brown sugar

Instructions

• Marinade pork for at least 2 hours or overnight in can of coke and 1/4 C brown sugar.
• Pour pork and liquid into crock pot and cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.
• Remove meat and shred. Discard liquid
• Put meat back in crock pot and add enchilada sauce, garlic, green chilies and brown sugar.
• Cook for 30-60 more minutes. If there is excess liquid drain some off.

Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

1 package of Hidden Valley buttermilk Ranch Dressing. (prepare according to directions)

2 tomatillos (they look like green tomatoes, but they are NOT!  You may substitute 3 Tbsp of prepared salsa verde)

cilantro (1/4 bunch)

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup lime juice

1/8 tsp. Tabasco

Combine all together in blender and let thicken.

 Place all ingredients in food processor or blender and mix well. Refrigerate for 1 hour before serving.

 

Cilantro Lime Rice

2 c water

1 c. uncooked rice (long-grain, white rice)

2 cubes chicken bouillon

2 tsp garlic, minced

1 Tb canola oil

2 Tb fresh lime juice

1/2 bunch of cilantro
1/2 onion
1/2 can green chilies

2 tsp. sugar

3 Tbl fresh chopped cilantro

In a saucepan combine oil, garlic, 1 Tbl. lime, chicken bouillon and water. Blend cilantro, onion, and chilies in food processor. Combine all with rice and Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. (I combine with rice and put in my rice cooker.) When rice is cooked;iIn a small bowl combine 1 Tbl. lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.

Garlic Black Beans

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1/3 c tomato juice
2 cloves garlic, minced (1 tsp)
1 tsp cumin
2 Tb canola oil
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tb chopped cilantro

 Heat oil then add cumin and garlic until garlic begins to pop. Add rest of ingredients and serve warm.

** Sweet Pork Quesadilla from Costa Vida is actually what convinced me to search for and make my own sweet pork recipe.  My boys are not big on salads, so we often make quesadillas instead.  I cook a pork roast for sunday dinner and then with the leftover roast I add equal amounts of red enchilada sauce and brown sugar.  Broil a tortilla topped with cheddar cheese.  Top with warm meet, fold in half, and top with sour cream and pico de gallo.  Delicious!

Sweet Pork Quesadilla - photo from http://www.costavida.net

**The meat freezes well.   Make a large roast and divide into smaller portions and freeze.  Makes dinner easy. 

Cookies for Dessert - Chocolate Toffee Sugar Cookies

 Recipe can be found at Our Best Bites.

Rainbow Jello Salad - Happy St. Patrick's Day

Yeah, I know St. Patrick's Day was a week ago, but hey I am trying here. The weeks seem to be filled with so many things to get done that I don't have much spare time. There are actually like 5 other things that I SHOULD be doing right now, but oh well. :)

In case you didn't know, we're Irish. My mom has Irish heritage and we always celebrated with Corned Beef and Cabbage each year. For the last three years I have really missed out on this tradition and finally decided that I would go ahead and do it for my own family this year. But, also because I have a wonderful group of friends, we used St. Patrick's Day as an excuse to get together and enjoy some food. Everyone brought a green food to share, the kids played, the women talked, and the men......watched March Madness. :)
So I made a delicious green salad as well as this........

I know it isn't just green, but rainbows are totally festive for St. Patrick's Day too. It isn't a hard recipe, but it is a little time consuming. There is a lot of waiting timed while you let each layer set up. But don't let that intimidate you! This jello is totally worth it. (Ha, people don't usually say things like that about jello.)

So here you go:

Rainbow Jello Salad
Servings: about 12 (makes one 9x13 pan)

One small box (3 oz.) of each jello: lime, lemon, orange, raspberry, and grape
1 1/4 cups of sour cream
1 tub of Cool Whip (optional)

Take one cup of boiling water and add to lime jello. Stir until dissolved. Divide in half. Add 3 tablespoons of cold water to one half of the jello and pour into your glass bowl or dish.

Refrigerate that layer for 20-30 minutes until set.

To the other half of the jello add 1/4 cup of sour cream, mix well. After the first half has set, add your sour cream layer over the top and let that set for another 20-30 minutes.

Continue with the other flavors in order (lime, lemon, orange, raspberry and grape) until you have 10 layers.

Top with Cool Whip if desired.

I always use Cool Whip, I like to think of it as the clouds around the rainbow. :)

I know that these are pictures of the Raspberry, but just pretend I took pictures of lime.

 Adding the first half with just the cold water.

 Making the 2nd half with sour cream.

 The color will become more solid and creamy.

 All of the finished layers. Doesn't that look awesome!

I am telling you, this Jello is GOOD! And all of your friends will be so impressed! It is a great dish to take to a BBQ or other summer party. I don't know about you, but it feels like summer is right around the corner.