Very Easy Cafe Rio Evening

A while ago I made Cafe Rio Pork. On the day I made the pork I also made Cilantro Ranch Dressing, and Lime Cilantro Rice. I have actually done this a few times, and find that every time I make the dressing I end up with WAY too much... I still have a full container in my refrigerator from last time. This would be great, but when the expiration date on the buttermilk is up I am to chicken to use it. I have also found that the rice is good, but it tastes almost the same as regular rice with the cilantro ranch dressing on top of it. I have never tried making the black bean recipe since I prefer pinto beans. For whatever reason I can't find a Cafe Rio pinto bean recipe on the internet.

Tonight, I decided that I would just buy the dressing straight from Cafe Rio rather than buying all of the ingredients and making a mess in my kitchen. Steve looked up the prices for me, and on a whim I asked him how much side orders of beans were... $.95.

I still had cafe rio pork in my freezer from the last time I made it (I just divided the leftovers into ziplock freezer bags. I actually just more than doubled the recipe since pork loin was on sale at Smith's.) I also had rice in my refrigerator from making rice bowls a few days ago.  So, $4.09 later we had Cafe Rio for dinner, no real cooking necessary.

All the recipes come from favfamilyrecipes.com, and were found by my sister-in-law Stacey.

Cafe Rio Pork

Ingredients

2 pounds pork (we like to use boneless pork ribs) 3 cans coke (not diet) 1/4 c brown sugar dash garlic salt 1/4 c water 1 can sliced green chilies  3/4 can red enchilada sauce ( Old El Paso, medium spiciness) 1 c brown sugar

Preparation

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 brown sugar. Marinade 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). 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 1/2 cup, you can add a little more to taste). If it looks to thick, add more coke little by little. Put shredded pork and sauce in crock pot and cook on low 2 hours. That's it!

Cilantro Ranch Dressing

Ingredients	1 Packet Traditional Hidden Valley Ranch Mix (not Buttermilk) 1 C mayo 1 C buttermilk 2 Tomatillos, remove husk, diced 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro 1 clove garlic juice of 1 lime 1 jalapeno (we like it spicy so we kept the seeds in it, if you like it mild, just remove the seeds)
Preparation	Mix all ingredients together in the blender. That's it.

Lime Cilantro Rice

Ingredients	1 cup uncooked rice 1 tsp butter or margarine 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tsp freshly squeezed lime juice 1 can (15 oz) chicken broth 1 cup water 1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice 2 tsp sugar 3 Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
Preparation	In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, lime juice, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender. Remove from heat. in a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro. Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.

Black Beans

Ingredients	2 Tbsp olive oil 2 cloves garlic , minced 1 tsp ground cumin 1 can black beans, rinsed and drained 1 1/3 c tomato juice 1 1/2 tsp salt 2 Tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
Preparation	In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in cilantro. (**NOTE** we added a can of corn, drained, to the beans with a dash of cumin and chili powder, it was AWESOME! We recommend doing this)