Cafe-Rio-Style Pork To make the roast: Place a pork roast (I used a pork shoulder since I had one in the freezer, it filled my 6 qt. crock pot pretty much) in crock pot with 1 can dr. pepper, coke, or you can opt for water and use more brown sugar. A few dashes of tobasco sauce, a jar of mild salsa (I used white corn and black bean), and 1 c. brown sugar.
Rice: Add green enchilada sauce and a little tomatillo dressing (recipe follows) to the rice.
Tomatillo Dressing (This has become one of my favorite dressings since moving here and discovering it!!) 1 pkg ranch dressing 1 c. mayo 2 tomatillos 1 clove garlic 1/3 bunch cilantro 1/2 T. lime juice 1 small jalapeno, seeded Blend ingredients in blender. Add milk to desired consistency. This recipe calls for 1 c. milk, but mine turned out too runny the first time I made it and had to add more mayo. So, I skip the milk at first and add it as it's blending.
Pico de Gallo I use a pico mix that my friend gave me when we were first married and living in HI. This is what I normally use: 8 roma tomatoes, diced; Dice onion and keep adding and stirring in tomatoes until it's a good ratio of onion-tomatoes; 1/2 bunch of cilantro, choppe; a couple cloves of garlic; 1 T of lime juice; salt and pepper to taste.
To assemble to enchiladas (although pictured here is a little taco I made for myself at 11 PM during a movie...) Pour a little green enchilada sauce in bottom of 13x9 baking dish. Place rice, black or pinto beans on tortilla, top with pork, spoonful of enchilada sauce and roll up and place in baking dish. Pour leftover enchilada sauce on and sprinkle monterey jack cheese on top. Bake at 350 til cheese is melted, about 10 or 15.
Building your burrito...place chopped romaine, pico and cheese on top of burrito and add dressing as you like. I didn't have any more burritos made, but since I made my own tortillas, I just made a taco. :)
Here's my tortilla recipe because my family says it's legit!!! 4 c. flour (I made these with half wheat, half white) 2 t. salt; 2 t. baking powder; 4 T. shortening; 1 1/2 c. warm water. I combine flour, salt, baking powder and cut in shortening with a pastry blender. Add water little at a time. Knead. I tear off egg-sized balls of dough and roll it out. I cook 3 at a time on the griddle and just cook them til they are getting brown spots on them. They only take a few minutes on each side.
Chicken-Parmesan Bundles
4 oz. cream cheese
10 oz. frozen spinach, chopped, thawed and drain.
1 1/4 c. mozz cheese, divided
6 T. Parmesan cheese
6 small bnls, skinless chicken breasts, pounded to 1/4 in.
1 egg
10 ritz, crushed
1 1/2 c. spaghetti sauce
Mix cream cheese, spinach, 1 c. mozz, and 3 T. Parmesan. Spread on chicken. Start at short end and roll up.
Beat egg in shallow dish. Mix rest of Parmesan and ritz in separate dish. Dip chicken in egg then in crumb mix. Place seam side down in 13x9 lightly sprayed pan. Secure with toothpick. Bake 30 min/done. Top with spaghetti sauce and cheese and bake a few minutes longer til cheese is melted. Serve. This easily serves 6, but with little kids, you can cut the bundles in half and serve more.
A little over a month ago, I somehow became a part of a dinner group. Each night of the week a different girlfriend of mine makes dinner for our family and brings it over at the dinner hour, except for Wednesdays, that's my day to cook and deliver dinners. We only do it on M-Th. When I first told Kevin about it, he replied, "Why do that? You already make dinner every night and it seems like more work for one night." I tried it for 1 week and loved it. My cooking day was not bad at all because we had already gotten together and planned a month ahead of what we were all making. There are currently 12 girls in our neighborhood/ward doing it and there are 3 groups of us with more wanting to do it now. I thought I'd share a couple recipes I made.
I tripled this recipe for my dinner group, but I thought I'd take a pic of it so you can see how it looks. Cole put all the toothpicks in for me as I placed them in the pan. :)
I hope you get to try making something from here and let me know how you like it!! I'm always looking for new recipes so I figured someone would appreciate this!! :)
Brayden (kneeling on the right) participated in Knowledge Bowl Competition a couple weeks ago, even though they didn't win, we were so proud of him for working and studying so hard! He went during the A-Track time each day (an hour earlier than his normal B-Track) and stayed after school until 6 PM sometimes! He scored the most points for his team and was happy about his personal score. :) 
This is Kai (and his friend Britton) in his Tae Kwon Do instructor's basement. She teaches at a local martial arts studio but also teaches in her basement, which is a block from us, so we take him there. :) This was during his promotional testing to get his yellow stripe belt. He did great and she even tested them on their Korean language: numbers 1-10, basic language regarding uniform, bow, fight, etc. He loves it and did well and was able to get his new belt! He can't wait to be a 4th degree black belt like his teacher!!
We bought passes to Trafalga, it's like a Magic Mountain (for those of you in Ohio). So we've been working on our rock climbing skills! The two little munchkins (Kai up high, Cole a little lower) could do it all day, although Cole loves the glow in the dark mini golf, too. 
Our basement is finished and the kids all invited a bunch of neighborhood friends over for a movie party. After the movie, a few kids stayed a little longer and the girls ended up playing Wii Dance. Look at them shake it!! 
The girls loving the dancing! I loved that they didn't know I was taking pictures, they were so into it!! 
