Pork Salad

This week's dinner of "different" was MY request. My mother gave me a pork roast a few weeks ago, and it's just been sitting in our freezer. I decided to use a recipe that Ryan's mom gave me. I guess I should thank our mothers for this dinner... how appropriate, considering Mother's Day is this weekend. Anyway, I decided to make Cafe Rio (or in my case BAJIO) sweet pork, sweet rice, and all of the fixings for my favorite pork salad. I made the corn & onion mixture, the chipotle ranch, homemade guacamole, black beans, and even went as far as to find the metal tins they put them in. I can honestly say that this tasted exactly the same, if not better. It was SOOOO good. And I'm super lucky because we have tons of leftovers for me to pig out on. Looks like the double workouts are going to be mandatory until all the leftovers are gone. :P

Here's the recipe. I've tweaked it to my liking.

Sweet Pork:

I don't think it matters what size pork roast you use, mine was (I think) 3 pounds. I put it in the crock pot at 9:00 AM with 1 can of coke, 1 cup of brown sugar, and 1 bottle of taco sauce. You can add or subtract to your liking. I let it stew all day until the pork pulled apart.

Sweet Rice:

You want to use long grain rice (not the minute-rice stuff). You'll also need a bundle of cilantro, an onion, chicken stock, and sugar. Cook 1/2 of a white onion in some oil until tender, then add 1 1/3 cups of rice. Cook on medium heat until the rice starts to get a little color. Then add 3 cups of chicken broth, half the bundle of chopped cilantro, and 1/2 cup of sugar. Let it simmer until the rice is cooked.
(I didn't get a picture because it was the last thing I made, and my hungry husband hurried me to finish it so he could eat. Haha!)

Black Beans:

I made this recipe up myself. I used two cans of drained black beans, half a chopped onion, and a little of the liquid from the pork. Just let them simmer until the onion is cooked. I like to make sure they don't dry out, so once in a while I'll add a half cup of the pork liquid.

Chipotle Ranch:

I used the recipe from a packet of Hidden Valley Ranch. Then I added a teaspoon of chili powder, some diced cilantro, and my favorite green Tabasco sauce until it was spicy enough for my taste.

All of the other toppings are optional. I made guacamole, cut up some tomatoes, added sour cream, some roasted corn, and cheddar cheese. I also toasted a large tortilla in a dry skillet until it was a little brown, and then laid it on the bottom of the metal tin.

I'm super proud and surprised that this turned out the way it did. I honestly couldn't tell the difference between mine and Bajio's salad. Since my mom gave us the roast, it wasn't at all expensive, but it can be pricey when you actually have to buy your own roast. Definitely worth the effort though. The best part was that it totally filled my fast-food void.


(Day 15)