Salsa Bar for Dinner

Sometimes it's nice to have options. We had a lot of these ingredients sitting around, and I decided to make them all at once. Why not? One nice thing is that they share a lot of the same ingredients, so you only have to chop once. Love that!

Clockwise from the top we have pintos and cheese, salsa cruda, mango salsa, and guacamole.

(all completely from scratch)

These are all so easy to make, delicious, and healthy to boot. We ate them on tortillas and dipped with corn chips. (The not-so-healthy part.) But I can't complain when the kids are gobbling down this many good things.

[By the way, you may notice that the traditional peppers are missing from my recipes. I have a hard time digesting bell peppers, so we rarely use them, but if you love peppers, feel free to throw them in the mix. We find that omitting the peppers also makes it more "kid-friendly".]

Here are my recipes:

Pintos and cheese

Soak about 1 1/2 pounds of dry pinto beans overnight. Wash and rinse them well. Place them in the crockpot covered with plenty of water. Turn the crockpot on HIGH for about 4 hours. Sometimes I add a can of green chili's here for some extra flavor.

[*Sidenote* This particular batch of beans was getting old and had what we call RHB (Really Hard Beans). They were cooking for about 18 hours, but that is another story. They did eventually soften and worked great for the refried beans. Usually it works much faster.]

After your beans are pretty soft, drain off most of the water and use a stick blender (immersion blender) and blend those little darlin's to bits. A regular blender would probably work well too, but you might have to leave a little more water. After the beans are thoroughly mushed I season with cumin, garlic salt, salt, and pepper. Then top with cheese and leave your crockpot on warm until everything is ready to go. Easy as can be.

Guacamole

2 mashed avocados

juice from 1 lime

1/2 cup finely chopped cilantro

1/4 cup finely chopped white onion

2 cloves minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon cumin

black and red pepper to taste

Combine and enjoy! Cover tightly and refrigerate if there are any leftovers, but there won't be.

Salsa Cruda

4 tomatoes, chopped

1/2 white onion, chopped

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

3-4 cloves minced garlic

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

juice from 1 lime

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 Tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 jalapeno, finely diced (We left it out this time.)

Stir, mix, and enjoy.

Mango Salsa

2 fresh mangoes, diced

1/2 cup chopped cilantro

1/2 cup white onion, finely diced (or red onion is beautiful! But we used white this time.)

1-2 cloves minced garlic

2 Tb fresh parsley, finely chopped

1/2 avocado, diced

juice from 1 lime

1/2 Tb sugar

dash of salt

Sweet and Sassy!

Cafe Rio Salad

For all you Cafe Rio lovers out there like me, this one's for you!

Cafe Rio Salad

CAFE RIO DRESSING

2 cups mayonaisse
2 cups sour cream
10 sprigs of cilantro
3 los tomates (green tomatoes-fresh or canned)
2 green onions (washed and chopped)
2 cloves of garlic
1 jalapeno pepper (seeds and all) *I used green chilis instead about 1/4 c.
juice of 1 lime
1 or 2 tsp. of salt (depends on how much salt you like)

Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth. Dressing lasts for 2 weeks in refrigerator.

CAFE RIO PORK

1 cup Pace salsa
1 cup brown sugar
pork sirloin roast (about 3-4 lbs.)

Mix salsa and brown sugar together and pour over a pork roast.

I just put mine in the crockpot on low all day. It's pretty good.



CILANTRO-LIME RICE

1 cup uncooked rice
1 teaspoon butter or margarine
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 can (15 oz) chicken broth
1 1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a saucepan combine rice, butter, garlic, lime peel, chicken broth and water. Bring to a boil. Cover and cook 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.

BLACK BEANS

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/3 cup tomato juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh chopped cilantro

In a nonstick skillet, cook garlic and cumin in olive oil over medium heat until you can smell it. Add beans, tomato juice, and salt. Continually stir until heated through. Just before serving stir in the cilantro.

Zesty White Bean Soup with Spinach

We tried this super healthy soup this week, and to my surprise, my kids loved it! The leftovers were even better.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp olive oil - warm in large stockpot, then add:

1 red onion finely chopped

1 thick carrot, peeled and coarsely chopped

2-3 stocks finely chopped celery

5 cloves minced garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Saute 3-5 minutes, then add:

8-10 cups chicken broth

2 cups finely chopped tomatoes (or one can diced tomatoes)

1 cup of uncooked orzo pasta

2 cans of white beans, well rinsed and drained

1 tsp curry powder

pinch of ground nutmeg

Bring to a boil. Simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes. Then add:

4 cups of baby spinach leaves. Stir in and bring to just a boil. Then remove from heat and cover for 2-3 minutes.

Garnish with fresh parsley and parmesan cheese if desired.