Southwestern Style Pork Chops

This meal is easy as a wink to prepare, warm and filling, oh and did I mention delicious?!  One chop was a little tough (I can’t figure out why) but the rest just pulled apart with our forks. 

Southwestern Style Pork Chops

• 6 pork chops, trimmed of excess fat
• 1 15-ounce can chili beans
• 1-1/4 cups salsa (I’d recommend a fresher salsa for this recipe  since the sauce will only be as good as the salsa you pick)
• 1 cup whole kernel corn

Place chops in the bottom of your slow cooker. Add chili beans and salsa. Cover and cook on low for 5 hours. During the last hour of cooking time stir in corn. Serve over rice and garnish with cilantro, shredded cheese and sour cream if desired.

Kim’s note:  This is a lactose-free meal, cheese and sour cream are only an add-on for those who want it.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken

This is a dish that I tried way back when my son was new and made cooking difficult. The prep can be done the night before, and the few ingredients come together fast for a busy family chef, but the flavor makes the dish seem like lots of work. It is on our line-up of regular dishes, as well as a fun one to share at pot lucks.

Slow Cooker Salsa Chicken*

• 3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, well trimmed of gristle
• 1 package (reduced sodium) taco seasoning
• 1 c. fresh salsa
• 1 can (reduced fat) cream of mushroom soup

After trimming chicken, place the breast pieces in the bottom of your slow cooker. Sprinkle chicken with taco seasoning (you don’t need to use the whole package, about half will dust the chicken well enough and you can save the rest for something else). Add the salsa and cream of mushroom soup. Cook on low for 6 hours. Before serving, mix all of the ingredients well and shred chicken pieces with a spoon and fork. Serve over rice.

Kim’s Notes:
*This is another recipe that I would absolutely recommend a fresh and flavorful salsa for. The stuff in jars and the fresh salsas that just taste like tomatoes just don’t deliver. It doesn’t have to be spicy, just flavorful.
* This recipe lends well to add-in’s. I will often add a can of black beans (drained and rinsed) with about a half a cup of corn during the last half hour of cooking, and it blends right in with no alterations to the original recipe.
* Even though the recipe says to serve it over rice, Jay and I have found that it also makes an awesome taco salad. Put over a bed of lettuce, rice, chips, beans, and top with cheese, tomatoes, or whatever you like – it’s incredible.

Ultimate Bean Burritos

This next recipe really surprised me and Jay. It was super easy, super tasty, and super filling. This one is definitely going to stick in our house!

Ultimate Bean Burritos (from Blogchef.net)

• 1 can refried beans
• 1 c. cooked rice
• 1 c. salsa (for this a flavorful but saucier salsa is best)
• shredded cheddar cheese (I used about a cup, but use as much as you like, or none at all for a lactose-free version)
• 8-10 flour tortillas (depending on size and how full you stuff them)

Toppings: sour cream, lettuce, tomato, onion, whatever you like in Mexican food

In a large bowl combine refried beans, salsa, and rice. Mix well. Put a line of cheddar cheese along the center of each tortilla, top cheese with about 1/3 c. of bean mixture, then fold so that all tortilla edges tuck under. Place folded burrito in a lightly greased (spray worked perfectly to prevent sticking) casserole dish. Once all burritos are finished and placed, sprinkle with remaining cheese and bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes or until warmed through. Top burritos with favorite Mexican toppings.

Mexican Potato Casserole

If you have a meat-and-potatoes man to feed like I do, sometimes meals can become a little mundane:

Meat potatoes gravy.

Meat-potatoes-gravy.

Chicken, potatoes, gravy.

So a dish like this is just what I needed to shake things up.  It’s meat, it’s potatoes, it’s hidden veggies, it’s Mexican, it’s awesome!

I bet you were so dazzled by the potatoes, corn, tomatoes, green chilies, beans, and beef that you didn’t even notice the celery huh?  Cha-Ching, that’s right celery.

This really is how I get my kicks.  It makes me want to laugh manically – muwahahahahaaaaa.
Tasty and filling, this recipe is sure to please and can easily be adapted* for your dietary needs.

Mexican Potato Casserole

• 1/2 lb lean ground beef
• 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 med coarsely chopped onion
• 2 celery stalks, sliced lengthwise and then into thin pieces
• 1 can diced green chilies
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (15 oz) can fiesta corn (that’s the corn with peppers in it), drained
• 1/2 Tbs. chili powder
• dash pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 4 small-med potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced in circles
• 1 c. sharp cheddar cheese

Begin by cooking the beef, celery, and onion until browned in the biggest skillet you have. Drain excess fat/juices.  Add the garlic and spices, cook for about 1 minute.  Next stir in the tomatoes and corn, heat through.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare a 13×9 in baking pan with a little cooking spray.  Layer sliced potatoes until the pan is coated, then top potatoes with half the beans, half of the meat mixture and half of the cheese.  Repeat layers again.  Cover the dish tightly with tin foil and bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until potatoes are soft.  Serve with sour cream if desired.

Some Adaptaions:

• Vegetarian: loose the beef and add more beans.
• Meat Lovers: up the hamburger to 1 lbs.
• Dairy free/lower-cal:  don’t use cheese, it softens up so much during baking that you really can’t notice it any way.

Mexican Filling

Awhile back I found a recipe for an enchilada casserole – you know the kind; layers of filling, layers of corn tortillas.  The only thing is, I really dislike corn tortillas. I dunno, it’s something to do with their texture that gives me the heebie jeebies.

But, I wanted to eat the filling… oh it sounded delightful, decadent, delicious…

So I made it, the filling only, and made tacos instead.  They were a hit!  This recipe is a perfect blend of flavors that can lend itself to tacos, burritos, enchiladas, taco salads – the possibilities are nearly endless!
The moral of the story: Don’t ever be afraid to take recipes apart and make them your own – you may find a real gem!

Mexican Filling

• ½ pound lean ground beef or turkey
• about ¾ c. chopped onion
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. chili powder
• ½ tsp. ground cumin
• 1 (15 oz) can of pinto beans, drained, rinsed
• 1 (4 oz) can diced green chili peppers
• ½ c. water
• 2 Tbs fresh chopped cilantro, if desired

Sauté beef, onion, and garlic until meat is browned, drain.  Add all other ingredients to fry pan and cook together until most of the water has evaporated.

Serve as tacos, burritos, enchiladas, taco salads, or however you wish.

Cafe Rio Cilantro Rice

To go with Cafe Rio Pork, enjoy!

Cafe Rio Cilantro Rice

• 2 cup rice, either long grain or basmati
• 4 cups chicken broth (I use low sodium)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 1/2 Tbs lime juice
• 1 Tbs butter/margarine
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2/3 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Melt butter in a pot & add all seasonings & cilantro. Add rice & cook over medium heat for 2 minutes stirring constantly. Add stock & lime juice return to simmer, turn to heat to low. Cover & cook about 30 minutes.

Kim's note - these instructions came with the original recipe, but I just threw everything in my rice cooker (using only 2.5 cups of broth as per my cooker) and it came out great.

Green Chile & Chicken Enchiladas

It seems like just about every family has a recipe for Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas.  They all have chilies, onions, soups, and so forth, and everyone loves them.

I love them too, but don’t make them often since they take a lot of work (I hate shredding chicken), so when I told Hubby that they were on the docket for the week he was pretty pumped.  What I didn’t tell him at the time was that I had a diabolical plan to try a new (and pink) idea for the enchilada sauce.

I’m glad that I did – changing up the sauce to be chili-lime cream was a stroke of pure genius (not that I want to toot my own horn, but seriously, I’m drooling just thinking about it).

Maybe I’ll start making these a bit more often.

Green Chili Chicken Enchiladas with Pink Sauce

• 3-4 c. shredded cooked chicken
• 2 (4 oz) cans green chiles
• 1 can reduced fat cream of chicken soup
• ½ c. non-fat sour cream
• 1 med-large onion, chopped very fine
• 8-10 medium sized flour tortillas (soft taco, fajita, gordita style)
• Grated cheddar cheese

For sauce:

• ½ c. non-fat sour cream
• ¼ c. milk
• ½ Tbs. chili powder
• 1 Tbs lime juice

In a skillet sauté onion and chilies in their own juices until just tender.  In a large bowl combine onion and chili mixture with chicken, soup and sour cream.  Mix until well combined.  Spoon filling mixture onto tortillas and roll them up, placing enchiladas in a sprayed casserole pan.  Once all enchiladas have been rolled and placed, combine the ingredients for the sauce in the same bowl that the filling was in.  Mix until evenly blended then pour over enchiladas, smearing it around with the back of a spoon until every enchilada gets coated.  Top lightly with cheese if desired.  Bake at 350 degrees until heated through and sauce bubbles at edges (about 20-30 minutes).

Kim’s Notes: This serves well with rice and corn.  If you want something a bit more special than plain rice, add 1 tsp of cumin, 1 tsp of chili pepper, and 1 Tbs of fresh chopped cilantro.

Don’t want to make the pink sauce?  Try a green enchilada sauce or simply mix milk with about 1/3 of a can of cream of chicken soup.
Happy Cooking!

Green Chile Casserole

The first time I made this recipe was for a Mexican themed pot-luck dinner. After the party I told Hubby that I regretted it, because if I had known how good it was I wouldn’t have shared! This is delicious, pretty easy, filling, and went great with shredded lettuce and sour cream that was on hand at the party.


Green Chile Casserole

• 4 chicken breasts, trimmed of fat and cut to bite size pieces
• 1/2 tsp. cumin
• 2 c. black beans, drained and rinsed (You could just use 1 can, but I used a little extra since I had them on hand and because I wanted to make this casserole big for the party)
• 1 can reduced fat cream of chicken soup
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 – 4 oz cans diced green chiles
• 1 c. minute rice
• 1/4 c. water
• 1/3 c. corn
• 1/3 c. chopped onion
• 3 Tbs. salsa
• 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Sprinkle chicken with cumin then saute with onion until cooked through. Scrape into a 13×9 in baking dish. Combine all other ingredients except cheese in the frying pan (can be divided if everything doesn’t fit), stir until well blended and bring to a boil. Carefully add sauce mixture to baking dish and stir until blended with chicken. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Top with shredded cheese, allowing cheese to melt before serving.

Is a meal in itself, but goes great with shredded lettuce, sour cream, and tortilla chips too.

Chicken Peanut Molé

When I found this recipe I thought it had great potential.  I told Hubby that I’d make a special Peanut Molé for him this week and he said, “Peanut Butter Mexican food? Yuck, those flavors don’t go together.”


But that didn’t stop me.  With a couple of small tweaks here and there I took this recipe that was originally fried and turned it into a tender crock pot meal.  In the end I wouldn’t call it Mexican – it was much more like an Indian or Thai food.  Jay admitted that he was wrong about the flavors, and was even more shocked when I told him that the secret ingredient to this dish is chocolate!  We all agreed it was delicious, especially with  Cilantro-Citrus rice.

Chicken Peanut Molé

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 med onion, sliced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/3 c. low sodium broth
• 1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes with green chiles
• 2 tsp. chili powder
• ¼ c. peanut butter
• 1 Tbs baking cocoa
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro

Trim chicken breasts of excess fat and gristle, place in bottom of crock pot.  Combine all other ingredients (except cilantro) in a large mixing bowl.  Stir until ingredients are evenly distributed then pour over chicken.  Cook on low for 4-6 hours.

Shred chicken and stir into sauce.  Stir in cilantro and allow to warm with lid off for about 5 minutes before serving.  Serve over rice (is a-mazing with Cilantro-Citrus rice).

Chicken Fajita Pizza

This is one recipe that I’d recommend to anyone, even if you don’t like peppers, it’s incredible.

Make it pizza style, or just use the meat mixture for amazing burritos, tacos, or taco salads and it is sure to please.

Chicken Fajita Pizza

• 2 chicken breasts, trimmed of fat and cut to bite-size pieces
• 1/2 large onion sliced
• 1 c. sliced yellow pepper (yellow is my preference, but you could use others)
• 1 can petite diced tomatoes, drained
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbs chili powder
• 1 Tbs fresh cilantro (I use a bit more because we love it)
• 1 pizza crust (prepared or that you make yourself)
• 1 can refried beans (non-fat)

Saute chicken until outsides are cooked. Add all vegetables and garlic to chicken and cook until the onions and peppers are softened. Add cilantro and chili powder, mix well and let simmer a few minutes. Meanwhile prepare pizza crust by spreading a layer of refried beans over it as a “sauce.” Top beans with the meat and veggie mixture, then bake according to crust directions.

This is a lactose-free recipe, but if desired you can top the finished pizza with sour cream and/or cheese.

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork

We adore Cafe Rio, but now that we live outside of its reaches, we have to make do with what we've got.  There are a million copy cat recipes online for their pork, but this is the one we've had the best success with so far.

Cafe Rio Sweet Pork (source: The Organized Chef)

• 2 pounds pork loin, trimmed
• 3 cans Coke (not diet)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• dash garlic
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 can sliced green chilies
• 1 can red enchilada sauce
• 1 cup brown sugar

Put the pork loin in a heavy duty Ziploc bag to marinade. Add about a can and a half of coke and about 1/4 cup of brown sugar. Marinade overnight.

Drain marinade and put pork (sprinkled with garlic powder), 1/2 can of coke, and water in crock pot on high for about 3-4 hours. Remove pork from crock pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork removing any remaining fat or gristle.

In a blender, blend 1/2 can Coke, green chilies, enchilada sauce, and remaining brown sugar. Put shredded pork and sauce in crock pot and cook on low for 2 hours.

Enjoy over rice, in burritos and tacos, or for salads.  Leftovers can be frozen and reheated later.