Crockpot Pork Barbacoa

This crockpot pork recipe is delicious! It’s very similar to the Cafe Rio pork — but less sweet, and more of the pork flavor shines through.

Absolutely delicious! I imagine you could make this with chicken, as well, with similar results.

My pork didn’t turn out nearly as red as Joelen’s, but I think that’s because I was unable to find La Victoria taco sauce, and substitued another brand for it.

Still delicious!

We served it as tacos, and can be served any way mexican meat is  — tacos, nachos, enchiladas, burritos, over salad, etc!

Also: Since we hadn’t had it before, I elected to halve the recipe and make a 2 lb pork roast. Next time, I’ll make the full amount and freeze it for future meals! I also made this on a Sunday and just re-heated it during the week for our meals, since I wouldn’t be home during the week to add the other ingredients after 6 hours!

Pork Barbacoa

(Joelen’s Culinary Adventures)

5-6 pound pork roast
3-4 cloves minced garlic
1 onion, dicedwater

1 tablespoon cumin
1 cup dark brown sugar
12 oz bottle La Victoria taco sauce
20 oz Coke

Directions

– Place pork roast in a crock pot with the garlic and onion. Add water halfway covering roast. Cook on low for 6-8 hours.

– Drain water and add remaining ingredients. Cook 4-6 more hours on low.

– Shred pork and serve with tortillas, rice or whatever you’d like.

Creamy Taco Mac

This recipe was originally described as a “healthier” version of Hamburger Helper — but since it’s been so long since I’ve had Hamburger Helper, I don’t know if that’s correct! Ha!

This was tasty — we’d have it again in a heartbeat. I think it would be a hit with relatively picky eaters or kids…it tastes JUST ENOUGH like junk food to lure you in. 🙂

When you re-heat leftovers of this, you may need to add a small amount of water to it — it dries out quickly!

Creamy Taco Mac

(delish blog)

1.25 lbs ground meat (turkey, chicken, beef…pick your pleasure)
8 oz dry pasta + 1 cup reserved pasta water
1 can (14.5 oz) petite diced tomatoes
1 packet mild taco seasoning
3 oz cream cheese  (can use low fat)
1/2 cup sour cream (can use low fat)
salt & pepper
cheddar cheese (optional)

Directions

– Bring a large pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta per directions. Reserve one cup of pasta water

– Over medium heat, brown ground turkey until no longer pink. Add taco seasoning and diced tomatoes. Allow to simmer over low heat for 5 minutes

– Add cooked pasta, reserved water, cream cheese and sour cream

– Give it a good stir until cheeses are melty and incorporated.  Simmer over low heat for 2-3 minutes. Season with salt & pepper, as desired

– Top off with cheddar cheese

Mexican (Jasmine) Rice

DH and I love this rice. I think we’re just addicted to jasmine rice, and using this as an excuse to have it.

I should really make the jasmine rice — as is — and see if we enjoy it as much!

I serve this with tacos/burritos/etc.

Mexican (Jasmine) Rice

(Food o’ Del Mundo)

2-4 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves of garlic, sliced or minced

1/2 cup diced onion

1 1/2 cups jasmine rice

1 tbsp taco seasoning

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

Directions

– Place olive oil in a good-sized saucepan over medium heat. I usually start with 2 tbsp — you can add more when you add the rice, should it prove to not be enough to coat the rice.

– Add the garlic cloves and onion, and stir, cooking until onion is translucent and garlic is fragrant

– Add the rice, and pearl the rice in the oil/garlic/onion mixture for a few minutes, stirring to prevent burning. If there isn’t enough olive oil to coat the rice, add some now.

– Add taco seasoning and stir

– Add chicken broth, stir to combine, then cover and let simmer over medium heat for 15 minutes

– Turn the burner off and let the rice sit for a few minutes before serving.

Sunken Burritos

These.were.amazing.

My only regret was waiting so long to try them! (They got lost in my google reader LOL)

(Served with some leftover rice, sour cream, and guacamole…this is DH’s plate!)

Sunken Burritos

(Good Things Catered)

4 large chicken breasts
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp chipotle chile powder
1 Tbsp ancho chile powder (I couldn’t find this anywhere…I substituted “regular” chili powder)
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp salt
10 extra large flour burrito tortillas (lesson learned…buy the really thin ones. DH bought me “restaurant style” and they were thick and didn’t want to roll)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, sliced into strips
1 green pepper, sliced into strips (I used an orange pepper. I hate green pepper)
1 red pepper, sliced into strips
1 can black beans, strained and 1/2 of liquid reserved
1 box Zataran’s yellow rice (I couldn’t find Zataran’s brand….so I used Goya Spanish Style Yellow Rice)
4 c. sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 small can red enchilada sauce

Directions:
-Light grill on high and preheat oven to 350 degrees, preparing a 9×13 pan (I needed 2 9×13 pans)
-Cook rice according to package directions.
-In small bowl mix together spice mixture.
-Pound out chicken breast to equal thickness throughout.
-Coat chicken with spice mixture evenly on both sides.
-Turn grill down to medium low and place chicken on, breast side up.
-Cook, turning once, until cooked through, about 15 mins depending on the size of the chicken.
-Remove from grill and set aside, letting cool slightly.
-In medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat, add oil and heat.
-Cook pepper and onion, salted and peppered to taste, until cooked to a tender crisp, about 10 minutes.
-In small saucepan add beans and reserved liquid, heat through over low heat.
-Slice chicken into strips 1/2 inch wide
-On large burrito shell, add chicken, vegetables, rice, beans, top with cheese and roll, tucking in sides first. (Do NOT overload – this is a common problem).
-Place burrito in prepared baking dish.
-Repeat with remaining burritos.
-Spoon enchilada sauce over burritos and tops with remaining cheese.
-Bake, uncovered, until cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.

Sometimes….you just need nachos for dinner

And so that’s what we did!

– 3/4 lb. ground venison

– taco seasoning

– 1 can fat-free refried beans

– 1/2 bag baked blue corn chips

– 1/2 bag baked chili lime chips

– generous sprinkling of mexican shredded cheese

and then we added…

– low fat sour cream

– fresh guacamole

– fresh salsa

yum yum!

Taco Pasta Salad

This pasta salad is making the rounds! It was originally “wagon wheel” taco pasta salad, but I didn’t have wagon wheels!

Very tasty and different! I’ll make this again.

Taco Salad Pasta

(Cara’s Cravings)

1 lb pasta

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 10oz package frozen corn

2 medium tomatoes, seeded and diced

8oz shredded Mexican-blend cheese

1 1/2 cups salsa

1/2 cup olive oil

3-4 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp cumin

1-2 tsp chili powder

2 garlic cloves, minced

freshly ground salt & pepper

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1 avocado, diced

Directions

– Cook the pasta al dente according to package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water.

– In a large bowl, combine the black beans, corn, tomatoes, salsa, and cheese. Add the cooled pasta and mix well.

– In another bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, garlic, cumin and chili powder. Pour over the pasta salad, add the cilantro, and mix well. Season to taste with salt & pepper.

– Just before serving, stir in the diced avocado.

Mexican Rice

 

Since all of LeighAnne’s mexican recipes have been delicious, I decided to try her newest Mexican Rice recipe — and it was tasty!

The flavor is very mild — it isn’t like a Spanish rice that has a lot of kick — but it pairs beautifully with mexican — I think next time I make burritos I’m going to use this rice in them — I think it’ll be fantastic!

Mexican Rice

(your home based mom)

Mexican Rice

2 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil
1 cup long grain white rice (not the quick-cook stuff!)
2 cups chicken broth

1 small can tomato juice (no size on this…the really small ones. sorry!)
salt and pepper

Directions

-Heat oil in a skillet, add the rice.

– Stir frequently and slightly brown the rice (LeighAnne says: more like, make it tan) over a medium high heat.

-Add the chicken broth, and the tomato juice, along with some salt and pepper. Stir thoroughly.

– Reduce heat to simmer and cover tightly with a lid. (LeighAnne says: I ’stir’ the mixture several times while it’s cooking by just shaking/moving the skillet back and forth so that I don’t take the lid off.)

– Simmer/cook for about 20 minutes, until the liquid has been absorbed.

– Once the liquid has been absorbed, turn off the heat and leave mixture alone with the lid on it for another 10-15 minutes or so.

"Ben-chiladas"

These “enchiladas” have been floating around on a lot of the blogs I read, and EVERYONE has enjoyed them!

We gave them a shot as well, and found them to be delicious. They reeeeeeeeeally aren’t enchiladas…I’m not sure they have a single authentic ingredient…but they’re still amazing.

This recipe also makes a lot more food than it looks. We had ben-chiladas for dinner three times, and poor DH ate some for lunches as well! We enjoyed them plain the first night, but found on subsequent re-heating nights that the filling kind of congeals…so we added some canned enchilada sauce to our leftovers and it was delicious all over again!

To reheat, Annie recommends 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes

Ben-chiladas

(Annie’s Eats)

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

8 oz. reduced fat sour cream

8 oz. ranch salad dressing

flour tortillas (10-15)

jar of salsa (i used fresh)

shredded mexican cheese blend (as much as you want…anywhere from 2-4 cups!)

Directions

– Cook chicken breasts by preferred method, set aside to cool. When cool, shred or cube chicken (I skipped this step by baking my chicken and shredding it a few days before I made them)

– In a large mixing bowl, combine half the sour cream, and half the ranch dressing

– In a small bowl, combine the rest of the sour cream and the rest of the ranch dressing

– Stir both until well combined, then add shredded or cubed chicken to the large mixing bowl and mix well

– Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F, and grease a 9″x13″ pan (and possibly another, smaller pan if needed — it was needed for us)

– Take 1 tortilla and top with a little less than 1 tbsp of the sauce from the small bowl; spreading over the tortillas in an even layer

– Add some of the chicken mixture to the center of the tortilla, and top with salsa and cheese to taste

– Roll up the tortilla and place it seam-side down in your prepared baking dish

– Repeat until all ingredients are used up (Mine made 12 bursting-at-the-seams enchiladas on 10″ tortillas with 4 chicken breasts)

– Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes (30 for a crispier tortilla)

– Allow to cool a few minutes before serving

Cafe Rio Pork

*Ignore the pot it’s in — I had DH remove it from the crockpot early, and was just heating it up on the stovetop!

I’ve never been to Utah. I’d never even heard of Cafe Rio until I started reading LeighAnne’s blog.

But she talked about how delicious their food was so often, that when she finally posted a recipe for the pork they serve at the restaurant, I decided I had to try it (and the fact that it was a crockpot meal with only 3 ingredients didn’t hurt either!)

This pork is the most amazing and delicious pork I think I’ve ever eaten. It’s good plain, on salads, in quesedillas, in tacos, in burritos, on nachos — just about anything you can think of.

This pork is THAT good.

Now, admittedly, I’m not really a pork-in-my-mexican-food kind of girl. I know its relatively common in REAL mexican, but I tend to stick to chicken and beef in my kind.

No longer. Now, it’s this pork or nothing!

I honestly can’t wait to make it again!!

Cafe Rio Pork

(your home based mom)

1-2 lb. pork tenderloin (I used just a standard pork roast. Really, it doesn’t matter what you use — the crockpot will make the meat juicy and tender anyway)
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups fresh salsa

Directions
– Mix sugar and salsa, pour over pork.

– Cook in crock pot for 8 hrs. on low.

– When done shred with two forks and return to juice in crock pot and allow liquid to absorb.

– Serve with tortillas and all the fixins!

King Ranch Chicken

Once again — casseroles and delicious things never photograph well. And this recipe is both, so that should explain the pictures!

This was tasty, though — I think DH liked it more than me, because I find the Rotel Tomato/Chilis mixture to be too spicy for my liking.

King Ranch Chicken

(I can’t remember where I found it!)

1/4 cup butter
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can (10 oz.) ROTEL Diced Tomatoes & Green Chilies
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
12 corn tortillas, torn into bite-sized pieces
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese

Directions

– Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

– In a large saucepan, cook pepper and onion in melted margarine until tender, about 5 minutes. – Add soups, ROTEL and chicken, stirring until well blended.

– In a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan, alternately layer tortillas, soup mixture and cheese, repeating for three layers.

– Bake 30 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

Serves 8

Note: Not sure what the idea was behind making the tortillas bite-sized, but I think it would hold together better for cutting/serving if you left the tortillas whole.