Cafe Rio Chicken Salad (bonus! Cafe Rio Rice and Tomatillo Ranch Dressing)

Cafe Rio... oh, how I miss thee!

For any of you who know my mom, you know that she is an expert at copying restaurant recipes. Are you in love with Los Amigos smothered burritos? Shoot me an email. I've got the secret recipe... courtesy of Mom. Do you find yourself craving PF Chang's lettuce wraps? Again... my Mom. To this day, though, her greatest achievement has been recreating Cafe Rio's chicken salads (and raising seven incredible children, of course). Now that Jeff and I are here and far away from Cafe Rio (sob!) and Los Amigos (sob!), we can still find a little piece of home in my Mom's tried and true recipes. The best part? Most of them are easy pleasy crock pot recipes! And because she is not a recipe snob, I figured she wouldn't mind me sharing with you...

Cafe Rio Chicken

1 (8 oz) bottle of zesty italian salad dressing

1 T chili powder

1 T cumin

3 cloves garlic, minced

5 lbs chicken breast (but, hello! I never use 5 lbs. Have you seen the price of chicken?)

Cook all together in a crock pot for 4 hours. Shred chicken and cook additional 1 hour. Make a salad by placing a heated flour tortilla (Sam's club cook-it-yourself tortillas-- to die for!) in a bowl. Put rice, heated black beans, chicken, shredded cheese, torn romaine lettuce, picante sauce, guacamole, cilantro lime dressing all inside tortilla (of course, you can choose your own fillings. Who has picante sauce laying around?)

Cafe Rio Rice
6 cups water
6 tsp chicken base or boullon
1/2 bunch cilantro
1/2 onion
1 can chopped green chiles
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp salt
1 cup converted rice (which, I assume, means regular rice. Converted? What?)

Place cilantro, onion, garlic, and chopped green chilis in a food processor and whirl until well chopped. Place all ingredients in a pan and bring to boil. Reduce to simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

Cafe Rio Ranch Dressing
1 pkt ranch dressing mix
1 lime (juiced)
2 tomatillos (but I ommitted those tonight and it was still fabulous)
1 clove garlic
1/2 bunch cilantro
1 jalapeno-- to taste (I only use this sometimes)

Mix ranch dressing according to directions on package. Place dressing and remaining ingredients in a food processor and blend well. Refrigerate until use.

Cafe Rio Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette
I have never used this because I *heart* the ranch, but my Mom likes it

3 T red wine vinegar
2 T fresh lime juice
3 Cups oil
1 1/2 T minced cilantro
2 T minced purple onion
1 clove garlic
1 sm jalapeno (to taste)
1 tsp sugar to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Place the vinegar and lime juice in a blender. With blender on, gradually pour oil into vinegar. Add remaining ingredients and blend. Adjust ingredients according to taste. Very good marinade fo chicken. Tweak sugar and salt to taste.