Monday, March 9, 2009

Cafe Rio-esque Cilantro Dressing/Dip

While searching for a lime chicken reciep the other day, I came across a blessed recipe. The delicious Cafe Rio Lime Cilantro Dressing. It called for somethings called tomatillos, and the grocery store I go to unfortunately did not have these items. So I changed that up, and just used red tomatoes. I also couldn't find limes (yeah, i go to a lame college grocery store), so I used key limes instead.  I wasn't sure if it would work, but it did! I think it turned out to taste quite similar to dressing from Cafe Rio. It's really good on salads, nachos, or just to dip chips in. I also found a recipe for the rice and chicken from Cafe Rio, so I will definitely be trying those out soon!


Cilantro Lime Dressing

1 package of Buttermilk ranch dressing mix  (you'll need mayonaise for this)
1 medium tomato
2 key limes
1 jalepeno (take the seeds out)
8 stalks of cilantro (just the leaves)
1 clove of garlic

Mix together the buttermilk mix according to directions. Let it set up in the fridge for about 30 minutes. After this, blend together all of the above ingredients in a blender until smooth. Refridgerate until ready to serve. 

Spaghetti Chicken Bake

So every Tuesday and Wednesday, I head over to my brother to watch American Idol. We have started a tradition to always have some kind of good food. Well, after the first couple of weeks I started running out of ideas. So I started searching through blogs, and using the website Big Oven . It has tons of yummy recipes, but my favorite feature is the recipe generator. You type in three ingredients you have and it finds recipes for you. Last week I found a recipe for something Called a Spaghetti Chicken Bake. I ended up not being able to find all the right ingredients, so I changed it around and added a few ingredients..It looks kind of gross, but its absolutely delicious. My brother says its one of his new favorites! It's pretty simple to make, and is very filling..Enjoy!





Spaghetti Chicken Bake
1/2 box of Wheat Spaghetti (or white, just depends on your preference), broken into 3 inch pieces
Grilled Chicken strips (about 1.5 pounds)
1 container of Queso (Just the cheese dip you find at the store by the tortilla chips)
4 tbsp butter
1 red pepper
1/2 large red onion
5 slices of turkey bacon, cut into  small slices (you could use regular bacon as well)1
1 can tomato sauce
1 can cream of mushroom soup
Mexican Blend grated cheese
Parmesan Cheese

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Bring water to a boil and cook broken spaghetti until tender. Strain and rinse with cold water; set aside. Cook grilled chicken strips (I used pre-cooked ones, so I just cooked them until they were warm), and then cut into smaller pieces. In a very large pan, saute red pepper and onion. After sauted, put tomato sauce, queso, and cream of mushroom soup together in pan until smooth and hot. Add chicken and coat. After this mixture is complete, add the spaghetti noodles, and combine until everything is mixed well. Pour mixture into a 9x13 greased pan. Top with mexican blend grated cheese. Bake at 300 for 30 minutes. After this, take pan out and garnish with turkey bacon. Cook for an additional 30 minutes. Immediately upon taking out of the oven, sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Delicious when served with garlic bread!