JennyCook's comfort food

Cafe' Rio Pulled Pork Burritos

2009-10-14T13:46:00.000-07:00

Here it is, possibly the best recipe I own. I got it from my friend Brianna - and it is worth the time to make this one. My kids even like it!

*Added 1-4-10 - I previously forgot to add Black Beans to the assembly list below when putting these together. They are seriously a must if you happened to have tried this recipe already.

3-5 lb pork loin or pork roast
1 1/2 cans coke classic
1 C sugar
7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce - provides a lot of heat (found in the mex/hispanic foods isle - embassa is the brand I use) Or plain adobo sauce for sweeter sauce. I just use the sauce and one or two chilies - the chilies make it SO HOT!!!
1 tsp. dry ground mustard
1 heaping tsp. cumin
1 tsp. minced garlic

Directions: Remove the chilies (throw the chilies away) from adobo sauce, add all ingredients except pork in a blender. Rinse can of adobo Sauce with coke to get all of sauce out. Blend in blender until well mixed - place pork in crock pot and pour sauce over it. Cook 4-6 hours on high or 7-9 hours on low.

Carefully turn roast over halfway through. Cook in sauce until it pulls apart tender, and shred. Put shredded meat back into sauce. Serve as suggested below or over rice or on a salad.

RICE:
1 C rice
2 C water
3 cubes chicken bouillon
1/2 tsp. dried onion
1/4 bunch of cilantro
1 T oil
1 fresh lime

Directions: Cook rice with all ingredients in pot or rice cooker. Squeeze fresh lime juice over rice and mix lightly before serving.

Cream Cilantro Dressing
1 envelope buttermilk ranch dressing
1 C mayo
1 C milk
1/2 bunch cilantro
2 fresh tomatillos (green tomatoes wrapped in a leaf, remove leaf of course before using)
1/4 to 1/2 Serrano pepper, seeds removed (adds heat, wear rubber gloves)
blend in blender, let sit to thicken
Dressing continues to get hotter when stored in fridge

To assemble:

Get fresh uncooked flour tortillas - however packaged ones are fine when you warm them, just not as good as the fresh ones. Place on a warming plate until cooked - takes about 30 seconds on each side. Layer in this order:

pork
dressing
cheese
Rice
Black Beans
Lettuce (we really like red leaf or green leaf lettuce - it is light and fresh)
tomato

squeeze fresh lime over the top before closing your tortilla.

optional - avocado

This recipe makes a lot - we have it for two days and gorge ourselves on it so much we end up freezing the rest for another couple of dinners - It is SO GOOD!

Good seasons Chicken and Rice

2009-10-14T13:32:00.000-07:00

This is from my friend Shelby - it is of course, a good one.

3-4 chicken breasts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 package of cream cheese
1 cube of butter
1 packet good season's Italian dressing mix

2-3 C cooked rice

I usually adjust the butter amount to 2-4 T, not the whole cube. However, I have tasted it with the entire cube and it is yummy! Just more calories. Place chicken breasts in crock pot with melted butter, add Italian dressing mix on top. Cook on low 6-8 hours, or on high 3-4 hours. About an hour before serving take chicken out and cut with kitchen scissors or a knife into a separate bowl. Place soups and cream cheese in crock pot and warm until you can whisk it smoothly into a sauce without any cream cheese lumps. I sometimes add some water to thin it down a little bit. My mom adds milk. Both taste fine. Return chicken to crock pot and warm through. Serve over white or brown rice. Both are good.

Red skinned garlic mashed potatoes

2009-10-14T13:27:00.001-07:00

Sorry, there is not really a recipe here, just ingredients. I dump and add until it tastes good. But don't worry, it always tastes good and is hard to screw up.

8-10 red potato's, cut into chunks. Boil for approx 15-20 min. until tender. I sometimes steam it over my double boiler, which also works great.

In an large bowl place:

real butter (makes a big taste difference)
sour cream

dump cooked hot potato's on top
garlic and pepper seasoning generously seasoned on top

Mash with a potato masher and if it looks too dry add some milk. You don't need very much.

I usually taste it at this point and adjust either more butter or sour cream. It usually ends up a little lumpy, but we like the lumps. If you don't just use a hand mixer to smooth them out.

Pork Roast/ Roast Beef

2009-10-14T13:21:00.000-07:00

3-4 lb. Pork Roast (or tenderloin is good too) or Top round Roast
1 can cream of mushroom
1 can water
1 envelope onion soup mix

Salt and pepper and sear roast in olive oil on a very hot pan. Transfer to crock pot and top with soup, water and onion soup mix. I like to cook it with carrot and potato chunks. Or, if we want mashed potatoes that night I just put carrots in with it. Cook on low 8-10 hours, or high 4-5 hours. Sometimes we like to have red skinned garlic mashed potatoes with it.

Chicken Stir Fry

2009-10-14T13:15:00.001-07:00

It couldn't get any easier than this - a great way to pack a lot of veggies into your day -

3 chicken breasts or 1.5 pounds chicken, cut into chunks and brown in extra virgin olive oil

1 green bell pepper, sliced
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 med. onion, chopped
broccoli chunks
carrot chunks
sugar snap peas
zucchini
yellow squash
water chestnuts

Yoshida's sauce
2-3 C rice (white, brown or wild)

- really you can add any veggie you really want to - Saute with a little water and browned chicken chunks for 3-6 minutes. Serve over rice and add some Yoshida's sauce on top. Yoshida's sauce makes this recipe SO delicious even my kids will eat their veggies.

Beef stew

2009-10-14T13:10:00.001-07:00

This is my mom's recipe and it is serious comfort food for me.

1-2 lbs stew meat
4-6 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 small bag baby carrots, or 4-6 large carrots, chopped in rounds
2 stalks of celery, chopped into large chunks
1 med. onion
1 can tomato soup
1 packet onion soup mix
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl and then transfer to a crock pot. Cook on low for 8-10 hours, or on high 4-5 hours. Serve with crusty garlic bread, and a side salad.

Hamburger Soup

2009-10-14T13:06:00.001-07:00

This is my friend Brianna's recipe. We love it and so do the kids!

1 lb lean ground beef - brown and drain if necessary
1 onion, chopped
2 cans cream of chicken soup
3 C tomato juice
1 C water
2 C grated carrots
3 lg potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tsp brown sugar
1 bay leaf, remove before serving
salt and pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to crock pot. Top with bay leaf. Cook on high 4 hours or on low 8 hours. We like to eat it with Rhodes rolls or crusty french bread.

Sesame Pork Ribs

2009-10-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

This is my friend Jamie's recipe. It is really, really good. You should try it. We like it for one of our Sunday dinners.

3/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C soy sauce
1/2 C catsup
1/4 C honey
1 1/2 tsp. vinegar
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper flakes
1 med. onion
2 T sesame seed
3 or 4 pounds pork ribs

We have only used boneless pork ribs - I think they are leaner. But if you like, you can cut pork ribs into pieces and boil for 20 minutes. With boneless ribs you can skip the boiling part and put them directly in the crock pot and pour combined sauce over the top of meat. Cook on high 3-4 hours, or low 6-8 hours. Serve over fried or plain rice. We have only tried plain rice.

Stroganoff

2009-10-14T12:55:00.001-07:00

This is from my friend Angela. She has a few recipes I have tried that my family loves, so I will probably be sharing those as well.

2 lbs stew beef
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
1/2 C water
1 env. beefy onion soup mix
1 C sour cream

Mix beef, soup water and soup mix in crock pot and cook for 8 hours on high. The longer it cooks the more tender it will be. Before serving, add sour cream. You can also add a can of mushrooms about 2 hours before serving. Serve over rice, egg noodles or baked potatoes.

I usually half this recipe for my family of 6. But all my kids are 7 and under. This gives us enough for leftovers for Chris to take to school for lunch for usually 2 days. We also have only had it over egg noodles, and it is yummy. Also, I have only used regular onion soup mix, because I have not found beefy onion soup mix.

Chicken Enchiladas

2009-10-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

This is one variation - this one has minimal ingredients and is a favorite for my children to eat. I will share another variation that we also love later, however, the later variation is not favored by my kids.

3 chicken breasts or 1.5 lbs chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1/3 C sour cream
1 packet of taco seasoning

2 C cheese - I use mild cheddar and mozzarella mixed together
10-12 taco shells

Boil chicken until cooked through, usually about 20 minutes. In a medium sauce pan add soup, sour cream and taco seasoning. Cut chicken into small chunks and add to sauce. I use my kitchen scissors to cut chicken directly into sauce pan. Just heat until warmed through, although it is not absolutely necessary to warm sauce. I just think it goes further and helps not to overfill tortillas if it is already heated through.

Place about 1/3 C of sauce into each tortilla, top with a little cheese and roll up snugly. Continue to do so until all tortillas are filled. Top with rest of sauce (I use a slotted spoon towards the end when filling tortillas) and rest of cheese. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 350 for 20-30 min until cheese is melted and tortillas are warmed through. Top with a little sour cream when serving to cut down on spiciness.

Taco Soup

2009-10-14T12:36:00.001-07:00

1 lb lean ground beef, browned
1 packet of taco seasoning
1 can corn
1 can red kidney beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce

Brown beef and drain if necessary. I actually dump it into a strainer and rinse the browned beef with hot water before returning it to the pot. Add taco seasoning, then add all four cans - do not drain juices off, they go in the pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low and simmer for 1-2 hours. Top with cheese and sour cream, and serve with Frito's. Quick, easy and delicious!

Chicken Salad Croissants

2009-05-13T13:28:00.001-07:00

Okay, Right off the bat if you put these in Croissants, there go the healthy factor, but in my opinion it is totally worth it. This is also good in whole wheat pita pockets, or on whole wheat bread, also, just on top of a salad if you are trying to save on carbs.

2 cooked chicken breasts, shredded or diced
1 small bunch of green onions chopped
2-3 celery stalks chopped in small pieces
1/2 pk softened cream cheese
1/2-1 C mayo

garlic salt and pepper to taste

Quite often I add red grapes halved, and eat it for lunch wrapped up in leaf lettuce, or on whole wheat bread. I have made this a few times for showers or big family gatherings and put it on croissants. It is good, really good, every time.

*When I am just having it at home for lunches I sometimes use canned turkey breast - it is fast and easy and just as healthy and delicious.

Tortilla Wraps

2009-05-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

Flour, whole wheat, or multi-grain tortillas
1-2 T cream cheese, spread lightly
1-2 T salsa
1 slice american cheese
lunch meat - turkey, chicken, or ham
lettuce

Layer in order, wrap up and enjoy - also good as appetizers if you wrap up in a tight roll and slice. Keep in place with a toothpick.

Taco Salad

2009-05-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

1 pound lean ground beef, or lean ground turkey, browned.
1 packet of taco seasoning

1 bag salad mix
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 green pepper diced
1 red pepper diced
1 tomato diced
cheddar cheese
pepper jack cheese

crushed tortilla chips
salsa
ranch dressing

Brown 1 pound lean ground beef, or lean ground turkey (both are good, however we like ground turkey because it is healthier). Drain off fat and rinse meat, return to sauce pan and season with taco seasoning and about a 1/2 C water. Simmer until water cooks off. Add to large bowl with rest of salad ingredients, and toss lightly. Add to personal plate crushed tortilla chips and top with salsa and ranch dressing. A meal in and of itself. Minus out the chips and ranch dressing to save on carbohydrates and fat.

Breaded Onion Chicken

2009-05-13T12:57:00.000-07:00

1 pouch dry onion soup mix
3/4 C dry bread crumbs
1 T Parmesan cheese
1/8 t. pepper

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

2 eggs beaten

Dip breasts in beaten eggs, then coat with bread crumb mixture. Bake at 400 for 20-30 min. This recipe is about a 10 minute prep time. While chicken is baking we like to prepare steamed asparagus and a side salad with it. It is so delicious, and low fat as well.