Just starting....

I am a single mom with teenage and young adult sons and I am not able to stay at home so I have to go to work most days.

I decided to start this blog to share quick recipes that I have found. They are all pretty easy, fast and healthy. Most recipes will not call for ingredients like a cheese you have never heard of or some strange thing that my local grocery store does not even carry.

Every day I will post a new recipe and let you know how it turns out and if it was liked by my family.

I will not guarantee that they will all taste good or look good for that matter, I am not a professional chef at all nor have I had any schooling in cooking. I am just a mom who likes to provided a good meal for her kid's. I am just like a lot of you out there!

Let's see what today brings!

Cafe Rio Beans

Use Bushes Grillin beans

Cafe Rio Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

1 small bottle of Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing

1 Tbs Chili Powder

1 Tbs Cumin

3 Cloves of Garlic

5 lbs of Chicken Breast

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Cook all ingredients together in a crock pot for 4 hours on low.

2. Shred meat and cook 1 additional hour on low.

Cafe Rio Dressing

INGREDIENTS:

1 bottle Ranch Dressing

2 Tomatillos

1/2 Bunch Cilantro

1 Garlic Clove

Juice of 1 Lime

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Pour bottle of ranch and all ingredients into a food processor and mix.

2. Refrigerate and serve when chilled.

Cafe Rio Cilantro Line Rice

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups water

2 cups white rice

4 tsp chicken bouillon

2 garlic cloves

1/2 chopped onion

1 large lime

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped fine

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Chop onion and garlic. Set aside

2. In a food processor, chop cilantro (remove stems). Set aside.

3. In a 4 cup measurer squeeze the lime so that all of the juice is extracted. Fill the measure cup with water to equal 4 cups .

4. Place liquid in a sauce pan, add bouillon and bring to boil.

5. When water boils then add the onion, garlic, cilantro and rice.

Cover and cook about 25 minutes.

4.

Crock Pot Swiss Steak and Gravy

Ingredients:

2-2 1/2 pounds round or cube steak, cut into serving size pieces.

10 3/4 oz can Cream of Mushroom or Cream of Celery soup.

Half soup can of milk.

1 Package dry onion soup mix.

1 Package dry brown gravy mix.

Spices to taste

Directions:

1. Place steak pieces in slow cooker.
2. Combine soup and milk in bowl and mix. Pour over steak.
3. Sprinkle dry soup and gravy mix over top.
4. Cover and cook on high for about 1 hour and then on low for 2 to 5 hours or until meat is tender.

Serve over either white rice, mashed potatoes or egg noodles.

Jamaican Rice and Beans

Ingredients:

3 cups of long grain, not instant rice

1 can of tinned or 1 cup of fresh red peas (either kidney beans or pigeon peas)

5 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)

1 uncut scotch bonnet pepper (1 jalapeno pepper may be used as a substitute)

3 Scallion (spring onions may be used as a substitute)

1 tin (or one cup) of coconut milk

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of black pepper

2 sprigs of fresh thyme (2 teaspoons of dried thyme may be used as a substitute)

Directions:

*If you are using dried Kidney beans,

you will need to wash them first then put them to soak over night in 3 cups of water.

*If you are using canned Kidney beans you can skip to #3.

If you are using dried bean and have soaked them overnight proceed here.

1. Crush the garlic and add to 7 cups of water in a large pot.

2. Boil garlic and beans for 45 minutes.

3.Add the coconut milk, rice, salt, black pepper and thyme to the pot with the beans. If using canned beans add them to this mix along with 3 cups of water.

4. Crush the scallion (do not chop) and add to pot.

5. Add the uncut scotch bonnet pepper, nb - the pepper remains uncut so as to not make the rice spicy, just give it a subtle peppery flavor.

6. Simmer on low for about 40 minutes with the lid on the pot.