Shish-Kabobs

1 Pound Meat of your choice (chicken, steak, etc.)
1 Green Pepper
1 Red or Yellow Pepper
1 Onion Chopped
1 Cup Grape Tomatoes
1 small Zucchini

Cut meat into 1" bite size pieces and marinade in meat marinade prior to making Kabobs. Chop vegetables into 1-2" bite size pieces and if desired make an additional batch of meat marinade and place veggies in marinade separate from meat. Take skewers and if using wooden skewers place them in water for 10-20 minutes to soak them to avoid them burning while cooking. Then Alternate meat and vegetables onto skewers. Then cook on BBQ grill until meat is done.

You can also make variations to this making just meat kabobs, or just veggie Kabobs, and you can add different vegetables according to your taste. We love to do fresh pineapples kabobs as well, the grilled pineapple is wonderful as are grilled shrimp kabobs. Be creative and enjoy the BBQ season!

Meat Marinade

This is the best Marinade for meat, I use it on chicken, beef whatever kind of meat I need to marinade. We use it to marinade meat for BBQ'ing and grilling shish-kabobs or for meat fondues. It is very yummy and the credit goes to my mom who passed it on to me.

1/2 C. Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Vinegar
1 clove Garlic minced or 1/8 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp fresh ginger or 1/2 tsp ground ginger

Mix together in a ziplock bag and marinate meat for 1-24 hours in the refrigerator prior to cooking meat.

Sausage Soup

1 lb sausage browned (jimmy dean or similar)
3 stalks celery diced
1 small onion diced
2 medium potato's diced (bite size)
1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
2 cans cream of celery soup (cream of chicken will work too)
2 1/2 cans of water

Brown sausage, add celery and onion to cook down until soft. Add potatoes, canned soup and cheese. Mix until melted. Add 2 full cans and one 1/2 can of water (the cream of soup can). Simmer on the stove for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or put it in the crock pot on low for 6-8 hours. Salt and pepper to taste.

Cafe Rio Look A-Like

So for any of you who live in Utah or Arizona who have ever heard of Cafe Rio, you will enjoy this. My mom gave me a bunch of xerox copies of recipes that people have tried to copy cat the recipes that the stores use to make their addictive meals from. So tonight for my brother in law's dinner we decided to try it out, and so I made the recipe's that follow. It actually turned out pretty good, the pork wasn't quite as good but everything else was great because you could add as little or as much of whatever you wanted to. It took some time, but it was very yummy and well worth the effort, especially when the comments came in from my company who was eating it. So enjoy!

Pork Tenderloin (Cafe-Rio Style)

3 pound Pork tenderloin roast
16 oz Salsa
1 Can of Coke or Dr. Pepper
2 Cups Brown Sugar
Water

Place roast in crockpot and add enough water to fill the crockpot 1/2 way up. Cook on high for 5 hours. Then Pour the liquid out and discard it. Cut up the roast into 3-4 pieces and place it back in the crockpot. Puree the salsa in a blender or food processor and transfer to a bowl. Add the coke and brown sugar and mix until sugar is disolved. Pour ove the roast and cook on high in crock pot for 3 more hours. Then shred meat with a fork. Serve with the extra sauce in the serving bowl to keep the meat moist.

Copycat Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Rice

This is part of the Cafe Rio copycat recipes, and this one is spot on to the real thing.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

1 c. uncooked rice (long-grain, white rice)
1 tsp. butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp. sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil.  Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender.  Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro.  Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.

Copycat Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Rice

This is part of the Cafe Rio copycat recipes, and this one is spot on to the real thing.  I hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

1 c. uncooked rice (long-grain, white rice)
1 tsp. butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
1 cup water
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tsp. sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, 1 tsp. lime, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil.  Cover and cook on low 15-20 minutes, until rice is tender.  Remove from heat. In a small bowl combine lime juice, sugar and cilantro.  Pour over hot cooked rice and mix in as you fluff the rice.

Copycat Cafe-Rio House Cilantro Ranch Dressing

My children would eat this dressing with a spoon or anything else that I could find.  They LOVE IT!  and that is an understatement.  My daughter literally licks the container clean, I can't believe I'm admitting that.  Yes, it's that good.  Try it, you won't be sorry you did.

3 medium size tomatillos
1 jalapeno, with seeds removed
1 tsp. garlic minced

Place Tomatillos, garlic and jalapeno in a pan with a bit of olive oil and sea salt and roast them on a low to medium heat until soft and slightly brown.

1 cup Buttermilk
1 cup Mayonaise
1 package dry ranch dressing mix
juice of 1 lime
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped

Place all ingredients, including roasted tomatillo's, into a blender or food processor and blend unil completely blended (about 2 minutes)

Copycat Cafe-Rio House Cilantro Ranch Dressing

My children would eat this dressing with a spoon or anything else that I could find.  They LOVE IT!  and that is an understatement.  My daughter literally licks the container clean, I can't believe I'm admitting that.  Yes, it's that good.  Try it, you won't be sorry you did.

3 medium size tomatillos
1 jalapeno, with seeds removed
1 tsp. garlic minced

Place Tomatillos, garlic and jalapeno in a pan with a bit of olive oil and sea salt and roast them on a low to medium heat until soft and slightly brown.

1 cup Buttermilk
1 cup Mayonaise
1 package dry ranch dressing mix
juice of 1 lime
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped

Place all ingredients, including roasted tomatillo's, into a blender or food processor and blend unil completely blended (about 2 minutes)

Guacamole

1 Onion Chopped fine
1/2 bunch of cilantro, chopped fine
2 small tomatoes, chopped fine
4-5 avocados, mashed
juice of 1 lime

Combine all ingredients, add 1 tsp of salt just before serving.

(I used my food processor to chop the onions, tomatoes and puree the avocado and it turned out great.)