Café Rio Style Sweet Pork and Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

Beans, Rice and "Crunchy Tortilla Strips" make great sides for this dish

This recipe takes approximately 4.5 hours. It's delicious and worth it!

Brown a 3lb pork roast on the outsides in a hot pan with a little oil or butter (although it isn’t necessary to lock in moisture, it makes it mmmm… good)

Place the roast in a covered pan with enough water so there is an inch and a half to two inches in the pan. We like to bake it in the Dutch oven.

Cover and bake at 450 for 45 minutes.

While it’s baking mix together the following:

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

1 clove garlic, minced

3 tsp of sauce (not chilies) from a 7 oz. can chipotle chilies in adobo sauce

3 oz. red taco sauce

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp cumin

Pull out the roast and add the above mixture. Turn the heat down to 300 and bake for another 3 hours until it’s approx. 200 degrees on the inside (baking time may be longer depending on the size of the roast). Wait till it sits for 10 minutes, shred the meat and place back in the oven another 30 min or until 210 degrees. Shed the rest of the way if needed.

Enjoy!

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Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

Makes 2 pints.

2 tsp Tabasco sauce

2 tablespoons of lime juice (or from 1 lime)

3 cloves garlic

1 cup cilantro, rough chop

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup mayo

3 tomatillos (remove papery skin), rough chop

1 pkg. Ranch dressing mix

Add everything to the blender all at once and blend until smooth. Refrigerate in air-tight container. Shake before using.

Café Rio Salad Steps: Tortilla, Cheese, Beans, Rice ( I like to add cilantro, a beef bullion cube and chives to it), Shredded Romaine, Sweet Pork (recipe above), Pico de Gallo, and Creamy Tomatillo Dressing. You can also add crispy tortilla chips using corn tortillas baked in olive (or any kind of) oil.

Sweet and Sour Orange Chicken

Step 1: Breaded Chicken

In Bowl One, Mix:

1 egg
1 teaspoon salt

Pinch of Pepper

In Bowl Two, Mix:

1/2 cup cornstarch, plus
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup flour

Coat 2 lbs of boneless skinless chicken, chopped into bite-sized pieces, in the egg mixture (bowl one) and then in the flour mixture (bowl two)

Lay tinfoil out on a baking sheet and coat with oil. Bake at 400 for ten minutes or until the chicken has an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

Step Two: Orange Sauce

Mix together
6 tablespoons soy sauce
6 tablespoons water
1 ½ cups of sugar
1 ½ cups of white vinegar
2 oranges, zest of each and juice of one whole orange

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Step Three: Stir-Fry

Mix together:

¼ cup of water and 1 Tablespoon of Cornstarch. Put in small mason jar or Tupperware and shake till dissolved.

Heat up the skillet (or wok) with 1 tablespoon of oil

Add:

1 tablespoon gingerroot, minced
1 teaspoon garlic, minced

Sauté for 10-15 seconds or till aromatic

Add:
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
1/2 tablespoon rice vinegar

Orange Sauce

Water/Cornstarch Mixture
Breaded Chicken

Stir until thick and serve over rice.

*Adapted from www.food.com, panda express orange chicken

Yummy and Moist Cinnamon Rolls

After 7 years of recipe tweaking, I feel like I have finally perfected a cinnamon roll recipe. Well, at least for today! They are overnight (or in the fridge for 12 hours) so make sure you plan ahead. It makes it a perfect Sunday Brunch item so the hard work and clean-up are all on Saturday night and the aroma of fresh cinnamon rolls fills the air the next morning.

We made a pan, this for our neighbors and froze another pan. Makes a big recipe!

Evening Before:

Dissolve:
2 and 1/3 Cups Warm Water
2 Tb Yeast

Mix:
1 ½ Cubes of Melted Butter
½ Tsp. Salt
2/3 Cup Sugar

Mix:
2 Eggs
1 Tsp Baking Powder
8 Cups Flour
1/2 Cup of powdered milk

Combine all above ingredients together, knead till smooth (add more flour if needed unless doing it in an electric mixer), Rise 1.5 Hours (or till double in size, do not let it rise to quickly). The dough will be VERY sticky. That's okay.

Roll Out adding as much flour as needed till 1/4 inch thick.

Mix:
1 Cup Melted Butter
1 Cup White Sugar
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Nutmeg

Spread over rolled out dough, add raisins, nuts, chocolate chips as desired. Roll up dough, cut in to 2-3 inch sections. Oil and Pat with Flour Baking Pans. Place in rolls, cover and let set in fridge a minimum of 12 hours.

Next Morning:

Pull out pans of rolls, let rise approx. 3 hours. Bake at 350 covered (we use tin foil) for 20 minutes or until an internal temperature of 200 degrees.

Let Cool, Frost and Enjoy!

Frosting:

Whip together the following
1 pkg Cream Cheese, 1 tsp evaporated Milk, 1/8 tsp Vanilla, Powdered Sugar as needed, Small Dash of Salt

OR

Whip together the following

4 oz Cream Cheese (half pkg)

1 Cup whipping Cream

4 oz Marscopone

1/8 Cup White Sugar

½ tsp Vanilla,

1/8 tsp salt

Not Your Grandmother’s Roast…

... but almost as simple and just as delicious.

Brown your pork roast on the outside (although it isn’t necessary to lock in moisture, it makes it mmmm… good)

Cut up Vegetables & Seasonings: Our preference is carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic and celery. We also put half a package of Lipton soup mix over all of it.

Cover roast with veggies, seasonings and enough water so there is an inch to an inch and a half in the pan. We like to bake it in the Dutch oven.

Cover and bake at 450 for 45 minutes. Turn the heat down to 300 and bake for another 3.5 hours until it’s 205-210 degrees on the inside (baking time may be longer depending on the size of the roast). This is ‘over cooking’ it which allows the… well, you may not want to know but it will make it fall apart tender.

Key to tenderness: Do not cut in to the meat until it has been sitting out of the oven for at least 10 minutes, if you do, the moisture will seep out creating a less tender roast.

Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Frosting

Simple:

Whip together the following
1 8 oz pkg Cream Cheese
1 tsp evaporated Milk
1/8 tsp Vanilla
Powdered Sugar as needed
Small Dash of Salt

Just A Little Work:

Whip together the following

4 oz Cream Cheese (half pkg)

1 Cup whipping Cream

4 oz Marscopone

1/8 Cup White Sugar

½ tsp Vanilla,

1/8 tsp salt

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 Cup of Melted Butter (Salted)

¼ Cup White Sugar

1 Cup Brown Sugar (Packed Tight)

1 Large Egg

1 Large Egg Yolk

2 Tablespoons Milk*

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

2 ½ Cups Flour

2 Teaspoons Gluten

½ Teaspoon Salt (Kosher recommended)

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

Directions:

After melting Butter, mix on high with White and Brown Sugar for 2 minutes. In small bowl, hand-whip together Eggs, Milk* and Vanilla. In larger bowl, combine Flour, Gluten, Salt and Baking Soda. After mixing together Butter and Sugars together for 2 minutes, add Egg mixture. Once fully mixed, slowly add in flour mixture. Mix on high speed as needed, stir in 11.5-12 ounce package of milk chocolate chips. Chill for two hours. Preheat oven to 375°. Cook for 10 minutes (higher altitude) up to 15 minutes (lower altitude). Cookies will be just starting to brown on outside when done. Immediately remove cookies from baking sheet after it is pulled out of the oven to prevent the bottoms from getting too dark.

*Any kind of milk (1%, whole) could work depending on what you have on hand. We’ve tried cream as well and that works too.

**Recipe adapted from Alton Brown’s Chewy CC Cookie Recipe. For a Flatter but still chewy cookie recipe, see Derek's CC Cookie Link.

Strawberry Cream Pie

Crust

See this link: A Good, Very Good Pie Crust Recipe or

See this link: Graham Cracker Pie Crust

Cream Base

1 Pint Whipping Cream

1 3/4 Cup Powdered Sugar

2 8oz Pkgs of Cream Cheese

2 tsp Vanilla

Pinch of Salt

1 tsp lemon juice

Whip 1 pint of cream, adding 1/4 cup of powdered sugar until solid peaks form, Add pre-whipped/soften cream cheese (2 pkgs or 16 oz), Add 2 tsp of Vanilla, a pinch of salt & a tsp of lemon juice, Add more pwd sugar till preferred sweetness attained (approx 1 1/2 Cups)

Strawberry Glaze

½ cup Mashed Strawberries

½ cup water

¼ cup white sugar

2 tsp cornstarch

Combine sugar and cornstarch dry, combine strawberries in sauce pan with water, bring to boil for 2 minutes, gradually stir sugar/cornstarch mix into berries, cook till thick and clear stirring constantly.

Arrange berries on cream, pour glaze over, 

and set in fridge for at least one hour.