Cafe Rio Recipes

Since several of you asked, here are the recipes for the Cafe Rio stuff I made for Taber's birthday. I served it with romaine lettuce, tortilla chips, black beans, fresh salsa, limes, cilantro, corn salsa, sour cream, cheese and guacamole. Best salad ever.

I also included the recipe for the cake since a couple of you asked for that as well. Happy cooking!

Zesty Chicken

5lbs boneless, skinless chicken breast,

1 medium bottle of zesty Italian dressing

1 Tbsp Chili powder

1 Tbsp Cumin

3 cloves minced garlic

Put chicken in crock pot.(I used frozen chicken and just stuck it in there still frozen) Mix together dressing and other ingredients, pour on top of chicken. Cook on high 5-7 hours. Remove Chicken and shred with fork. Return shredded chicken to juice in the crock pot. Keep warm.

Cilantro Lime Rice

in a saucepan saute:

2 tbsp butter

1 yellow onion chopped

4 garlic cloves minced

in a large pot bring to boil the following:

6 2/3 cups water

8 tsp chicken bullion

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

2 tsp cumin

1 small can diced green chilies

1 tbsp lime juice

1/2 tsp salt

add onion and garlic to boiling water. Add 3 cups long grain white rice. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Tomatillo Dressing:

1 pkg hidden valley ranch dressing mix (regular or buttermillk)

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup mayo

1 to 2 tomatillos

1/2 to 1 clove garlic minced

1/2 to 1/3 bunch cilantro chopped

1/2 tsp lime juice

1/2 to 1 small jalapeno ( I didn't add the jalapeno because I have kids, and thought it would be too spicy. The dressing still tasted amazing without it)

Blend ingredients together in a blender. Add additional mayo if dressing is too thin. Keep refrigerated.

Strawberry whip cream Cake

The cake is just a white cake mix. Cook it in two 8 inch round cake pans according to the box instructions. Cool completely on wire racks.
While cooling, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. Once boiling, add 2 boxes of strawberry jello, stirring until dissolved. Chill for 30 minutes (no longer)
Once cake is completely cooled, return it to the cake pans and poke it (with a fork, wooden spoon, knife..whatever) Spoon jello over it, and return it to the fridge for 2-3 hours.
Dip bottom of cake pans in warm water for 10 seconds. Invert 1st cake onto a serving plater. Top with sliced strawberries, and cool whip. Place second layer of cake on top and cover with cool whip. Decorate with extra strawberries however you think it looks the best. Taber loves this cake because it tastes so light and fluffy and doesn't give you sugar shock like some other cakes can. : ) Enjoy!