Fiesta Bowls

Doesn't that look yummy?  This week I tried two new recipes and used a new Christmas gift to make these Mexican salads.  We've named them Fiesta Bowls, because they are a party in your mouth!

Whenever I travel in the west, I try to make it a point to visit Cafe Rio, one of my favorite Mexican restaurants.  So I was tickled to find a recipe for Cafe Rio Shredded Chicken and Cilantro Lime Dressing on Pinterest.  It turned out to be super easy and although I can't say for sure if it tasted like Cafe Rio (because I always get the pork), it got rave reviews at my house.  One of the things I often do is cook meat in big batches, in order to have enough for several meals.  This chicken is great because it can be used as fillings for tacos, burritos, enchiladas, or as I used it here in salads.  I even caught someone piling leftover chicken onto a bun with mayo and proclaiming it, a pretty good chicken salad sandwich.  I'm thinking having some of this on hand would be a nice shortcut for this recipe, and this one too.  I'm sensing lots of possibilities here.

I put five whole boneless chicken breasts in my crock pot in the morning and added Italian dressing, ranch dressing, chili powder, cumin and chopped fresh garlic.

I set the crock pot on high and let it cook for about six hours.  The house filled with a wonderful aroma that even sent the carpet installer into my kitchen at one point, exclaiming, "what are you cooking that smells so good?!?  I almost felt like I should've invited him to stay for dinner since he had to endure smelling it cook all day.

Later in the day, I mixed up the dressing for the salads and left it in the refrigerator so the flavors could get happy with each other.   I used plain greek yogurt, mayo, milk, lime juice, garlic, chives and

lots of chopped cilantro,

and mixed it all up in the food processor.

The fun part of this meal was getting to try out my tortilla pan set that I received for Christmas.  You gotta love having a friend who just has to buy new kitchen toys for you when she buys them for herself.  Thank you, Tara! 

With these nifty pans, all I had to do was press a flour tortilla in each one and bake them in the oven
for  eight to ten minutes.  Once cooled, the bowls popped right out and looked quite professional.

I shredded the chicken with two forks and we were ready to assemble the salads.  We loaded the bowls with lettuce, tomato, shredded chicken, black beans and corn, cheese and topped them with the cilantro lime dressing.  Deliciosa!!!

I just looooove Pinterest, don't you?

Cafe Rio Chicken

• 2 lbs chicken breasts
• 1/2 a small bottle of zesty italian dressing
• 1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic
• 1 pkt ranch dressing mix (mixed with 1/2 cup of water)
• 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground cumin

Place all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on High 5-6 hours OR on Low 8 hours. Shred with fork and serve in salads, burritos, tacos…etc. You can also double or triple this to make extras for freezing. Then simply thaw and reheat for a lickity split meal.

Cilantro Lime Ranch Dressing

3/4 cup light mayo

3/4 cup plain greek yogurt

2 T. fresh lime juice

2 T. olive oil

1/3 cup milk

1/3 cup packed cilantro, rough chopped

2 cloves garlic, rough chopped

1/4 t. salt and pepper 

2 T. chives

Blend in food processor.  Adjust flavors as desired.