Cooking skills at a whole new level

That's exactly what my husband told me after eating this salad. No, I'm not kidding. This is about as close as to a Cafe Rio salad that you can get to. It it ultra fabulous and a salad worth eating every bite. Don't be fooled by the three different recipes that are incorporated into it. It really is not difficult to put together and your taste buds will do a little happy dance. (Note from the picture: No, I don't feed my 9 month old salad for dinner. :-))

Cafe Rio Salad

Chicken- Costa Vida Chicken

(recipe from yourhomebasedmom.com)

1 small bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp cumin
3 cloves garlic, minced
5 lbs. skinless, boneless chicken breast (this recipe can be easily halved but make a full batch and freeze the leftovers for another meal! Good menu planning!)
Cook all together in a crock pot for 4 hours, shred meat and cook 1 additional hour.

(Note: I did not use the crockpot. I marinated the chicken and then grilled it which was very yummy too)

Rice- I used this recipe from My Kitchen Cafe for Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps and omitted the chicken.

1 cup cooked rice, warm or at room temperature

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 green onion, finely sliced (white and green parts)

1/2 red or green pepper, diced

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

juice of 1 lime

1/2 tablespoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Creamy Lime-Cilantro Dressing= you must make this dressing or you will be sorely disappointed with the salad. It is. a. MUST.

(recipe from Our Best Bites)

1 pack (1oz) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix
ignore directions on the packet
1C mayo
1/2 C milk
1 lime
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1/2 C roughly chopped cilantro
1/4 C green salsa*
hot sauce

Place milk, mayo, and ranch mix in a blender. Juice the lime in there too, you should get about 2T juice. Toss in the garlic, cilantro and green salsa. Blend 'er up. Sample it and add hot sauce to taste. Make it several hours ahead of time to allow it to thicken.


Now for the assembly:

1. Warm up your tortilla and melt cheese on top.
2. Add your rice filling and then chopped lettuce.
3. Add chicken on top of lettuce and then drizzle on your dressing.

Linking up to the fabulous parties on the side bar and Tasty Tuesday @ Balancing Beauty & Bedlam.