Monday, March 3, 2008

Cafe Rio Chicken Burritoes/Salad

Tonight was chicken burritos Cafe Rio style...I actually found a link that had a copycat recipe and tried it out. It was quite a lot of work (especially lugging around my 7 month prego tummy) and quite a lot of food for just the four of us. BUT, it tasted really yummy. I didn't think it was as good as Cafe Rio, but who can beat 'em, really? Our version was a bit spicier too, not on purpose but after all we ARE actually IN Mexico. These recipes would be great for a dinner party or if you had a lot of cooks together for a joined meal, aka Mom's house - spread out the work.

Chicken:
1 small bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 T chili powder (half this if you don't like a lot of spice.)
1 T Cumin (might half this too)
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 lbs of chicken breast

Cook 4 hrs in crock pot, shred, cook 1 more hour.

Rice:
4 cups water
4 tsp chicken bouillon
4 tsp garlic, minced
1/2 bunch of cilantro
1 can green chilis
3/4 tsp salt
1 T butter
1/2 onion
2 cups rice

Blend ingredients in food processor. Add with rice to boiling water, cover. Simmer 30 mins.

Dressing for Salad:
1 buttermilk ranch dressing pkt (prepared)
2 tomatillos
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 clove garlic
juice of 1 lime
1 jalapeno

Blend with food processor. Refrigerate.

For Burritos:
Add chicken, rice, and pinto or black beans, to flour tortilla. Top with shredded cheese and smother with green tomatillo sauce (in Enchiladas Verde recipe). Garnish with guacamole and sour cream.

Beans:
I cooked the beans today too and tried adding onion and a couple strips of bacon to a 1lb bag of pinto beans. I didn't notice a lot of difference. I think it would be really yummy had a just added a little more of each. (It was also needing some salt - but I am retaining too much water right now as it is.)

2 comments:

DeAnna said...

That does sound like a lot of work, I think you are right, we should try it at Mom's sometime, it sounds really good though, however I must admit I would probably rather just go to Cafe Rio...Did you know we have one in Logan now?

Becky said...

Yes, I believe I have eaten there - waiting for you I think.

SIDE NOTE: You probably don't need to half anything. As I thought about it more I realized that I used fresh jalapenos and my chili powder and cumin were from here and possibly had the "fresh" potency.