Pins of The Week[s]: Cafe Rio Copy Cat

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Who doesn't know that I live for Cafe Rio? You do now! Well, really Mexican food, but some how Cafe Rio, although not authentic (in my opinion), has a hold on me that I can not shake! Since the first one opened in St. George back when I was in high school, I've seriously eaten there for a decade and have never gotten sick of it.

I've tried a few copy cake recipes, and while good, still wasn't the real deal.  Well... I will say that the combination of these copy cat recipes together, make a better, (again, in my opinion) pork salad than the "real deal".

The only thing that I tasted alone that made me say, "Oh, that is good!" were the black beans. I could have eaten them as a soup. Delicious.

*The rice, Just okay alone. Needed more flavor to it to be eaten alone, and I'm pretty sure CR puts green onion in theirs.

*The pork, definitely a different flavor than CR, but good. CR doesn't have any chili powder flavor as far as I can taste, so the fact that the Copy uses enchilada sauce was a red flag.

*The dressing. Perfect. Although not as thick, I thought it tasted exactly the same.

But all together = AMAZING.

A quick note with her dressing.  She says, "1 packet TRADITIONAL Hidden Valley Ranch mix (not BUTTERMILK)".  I used the Ranch Dip Mix, because all the dressing ones I saw said buttermilk. Like I said, it turned out perfect, so I think the non-buttermilk is really the key.

To get the full effect, I bought round tins. They really are a good dish for a big salad.  I grilled a tortilla on the stove with a little cheese and then layered my salad just how I like it. Rice, beans, pork, lots of romaine lettuce, extra, extra pico, cilantro leaves, guacamole, and lots of lime. I made my own pico, (tomato, onion, cilantro, jalepeno, lime & salt) and guacamole (avocado, salsa, salt, garlic salt, & lime).

It was quite a bit of work to make all of this from scratch, but it was awesome having all of it on hand to eat as left overs throughout the week.