Cafe Rio Sweet Pork and Dressing

5 lbs pork roast
1-2 liters Dr. Pepper
3 cloves garlic
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. cumin
3 or 4 shakes of Tabasco

Cook roast in crockpot with all of the above ingredients overnight or all day until it falls apart. Let meat cool for bit and shred.

Add:
1 bottle red taco sauce
1/2-1 cup brown sugar -to desired sweetness
Salt and pepper to taste.
Mix together and let simmer in pan for a few minutes.

Lime dressing with cilantro
1 buttermilk ranch dressing packet
2 tomatillos
1 jalepeno
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 garlic clove
1 lime, juice
*in substitution of tomatillos and jalepenos, may use tomatillo sauce with jalepenos.

Make ranch as directed on packet. Food process or blend tomatillos, cilantro, garlic and jalepeno with a little bit of the dressing. Squeeze lime juice into mixture.

To complete the meal, buy uncooked tortillas, lettuce, tomatos, tortilla chips, beans and/or rice.

Easy Breaded Parm Chicken

3 Chicken breasts, cut into tender size pieces
1 jar any kind of pasta sauce (Alfredo, Tomato, etc.)
*2 C Bread crumbs or a few slices of whole wheat bread
1 C Parmesan (preferably grated)
Any kind of pasta

Heat oven to 350. Mix bread crumbs and parmesan in medium size bowl. Empty 3/4 jar of pasta sauce into a seperate bowl. Cover each piece of chicken in sauce and then cover it in bread crumbs. Place on nonstick cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes -- until chicken is done. Serve with desired pasta and vegetables. Pour the rest of the sauce (from jar, not the bowl you dipped the raw chicken in!) over pasta.

*To make bread crumbs, place 3 or 4 broken up slices of bread in blender or food processor.

My invention: Buffalo Chicken Meals

After preparing a few ingredients, I mixed them up in different ways to give me buffalo chicken salad, buffalo chicken burritos, and buffalo chicken quesadillas. I'm sure you can figure out how I came about the different variations of meals. Each meal was wonderful and didn't taste like leftovers (even though they were).

2 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into small cubes
1 red bell pepper (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
1/2 bag of mini carrots (chopped --should equal the amount of onions chopped)
Salt
Pepper
Brown Rice
*Optional chopped garlic

After cooking chicken, drench in buffalo hot sauce. With a little water, saute chopped pepper(s), onion(s) and carrots. Add garlic, salt and pepper to taste.  Make some rice and then you are done!

For a salad, mix this in with some salad greens. Use ranch dressing.

For burritos, use tortillas and top with some cheese (beans optional -- I can't stand beans, but Chandler added some and he liked it).

And last but not least, we grilled up some quesadillas as left overs with the chicken, veggies and rice along with some cheese of course. Then we dipped it in some ranch...Very yummy!

Chicken Parmigiana

By The Pioneer Woman

New Sunday Dinner Family Favorite thanks to The Pioneer Woman. Look at her page to see step by step pictures on how to prepare this easy and delicious dish.

Ingredients

4 whole (up To 6) Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Trimmed And Pounded Flat
½ cups All-purpose Flour
Salt And Pepper, to taste
½ cups Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Butter
1 whole Medium Onion, Chopped
4 cloves Garlic, Minced
¾ cups Wine (white Or Red Is Fine)
3 cans (14.5 Oz.) Crushed Tomatoes
2 Tablespoons Sugar
¼ cubes Chopped Fresh Parsley
1 cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 pound Thin Linguine

Instructions

Mix flour, salt, and pepper together on a large plate.
Dredge flattened chicken breasts in flour mixture. Set aside.
At this time, you can start a pot of water for your pasta. Cook linguine until al dente.
Heat olive oil and butter together in a large skillet over medium heat. When butter is melted and oil/butter mixture is hot, fry chicken breasts until nice and golden brown on each side, about 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Remove chicken breasts from the skillet and keep warm.

Without cleaning skillet, add onions and garlic and gently stir for 2 minutes. Pour in wine and scrape the bottom of the pan, getting all the flavorful bits off the bottom. Allow wine to cook down until reduced by half, about 2 minutes.

Pour in crushed tomatoes and stir to combine. Add sugar and more salt and pepper to taste. Allow to cook for 30 minutes. Toward the end of cooking time, add chopped parsley and give sauce a final stir.

Carefully lay chicken breasts on top of the sauce and completely cover them in grated Parmesan. Place lid on skillet and reduce heat to low. Allow to simmer until cheese is melted and chicken is thoroughly heated. Add more cheese to taste.

Place cooked noodles on a plate and cover with sauce. Place chicken breast on top and sprinkle with more parsley. Serve immediately.

Prep Time: 15 Minutes
Cook Time: 45 Minutes
Serves 6

Crock Pot: Recipe 2 Sweet & Sour Chicken

Ingredients (as seen below):

Brown Rice (can substitute any kind of rice :-) )

1 16 oz pkg frozen stirfry

Sliced almonds

2 8 oz cans/jars of sweet and sour sauce

2 lbs chicken breast-cubed

Put frozen stir fry, sweet and sour sauce, and cubed chicken in crock pot. Put on low setting for 3 hours or high setting for 6 hours. Once the chicken is cooked, put some rice on the stove. Sprinkle dinner with almonds.

SO EASY!!!

Crock Pot: Recipe 1 BBQ Chicken

4 Ingredients:

1 bottle bbq sauce
1 bag dried apricots or peaches
1 T mustard
1 lb chicken breasts

(original recipe called for drumsticks, but I'm not really a fan.)

Throw it all in the crock pot and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. Obviously this is give or take a little depending on the size of the chicken and if you double the recipe like I did.

I served this with a salad and baked potato fries.

SO EASY!

Oriental Chicken Salad

From Megan Johnson

1 Head shredded cabbage (green or purple)
2 Pkgs. Oriental flavored noodles (broken-up)
5 oz. slivered almonds, toasted (optional)
4 Tbsp. sesame seeds
3/4 Cup chopped green onions
Chicken (4-5 breasts), Cooked and shredded

Combine all the items into a large bowl.

Dressing
3/4 Cup salad/vegetable oil
3/4 tsp. pepper
3 Tbsp. vinegar
3 Tbsp. Sugar
1 1/4 tsp. salt

Seasoning mix from the 2 pkgs. of noodles. Combine all the ingredients into a bowl and whisk together.When ready to serve, add to the salad and stir altogether.

Poppy Seed Chicken Casserole

From Megan Johnson

1 Pkg. (6.2 oz) Fried Rice flavored Rice-A-Roni (cook ahead of time as directed)
4 Cups cooked chicken (4 or 5 breasts - shredded) or 1 Can of the Costco chicken (drained)
1 Cup sour cream
1 Can (10.75 oz.) Cream of Chicken Soup
36 Ritz crackers (crushed)
6 Tbsp. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter (melted)
1 Tbsp. poppy seeds

Preheat oven to 375º.

Cook chicken breasts in a covered skillet with water, salt and a bay leaf (optional) until tender and cooked through. Remove cooked breasts and let cool, then shred meat. (Or use the canned chicken)

Spoon rice in even layer over bottom of a 9 x 11 glass baking dish. Combine chicken, sour cream, and soup in a bowl. Spoon chicken mixture evenly over the rice. Combine crushed crackers and melted butter and spread evenly over chicken mixture. Sprinkle poppy seed evenly on top.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until the casserole is bubbling and the crackers have lightly browned.

Serves 8.

Creamy Crock Pot Chicken

From Megan Johnson

1 Lb. chicken breasts
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 pkgs. cream cheese
1 pkg. zesty Italian dressing (dry mix)

Combine all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on low for 6 -8 hours. Serve over rice.