Cilantro-Tomatillo Dressing, Cilantro-Lime Rice, Mexican Pulled Pork [Mexican Pork Salad]

Cafe Rio is a big hit around these parts and I used to be a huge fan.  I think I was too huge of a fan because now I don't really have the desire to go there.  I can still recognize how delicious it is, though, and I wanted to attempt a couple of their recipes at home.

I made their cilantro-tomatillo salad dressing.  This was my second ever salad dressing and it was very easy to make.  I just threw all the ingredients in to my trusty Magic Bullet and voila!  It turned out well, but it is very spicy.  Unless you love extreme spiciness, I would recommend using a very small jalapeno, half a jalapeno, or make sure you take the seeds out before throwing the whole thing in.  I thought I wanted a lot of flavor and that a whole jalapeno with seeds and all would be fine - not really so.  I had to add quite a bit of sugar just to make it  slightly less spicy.  It is a very good recipe though, and tastes exactly like Cafe Rio's (other than the extreme kick).  I used the recipe from a distant-acquaintance's awesome food blog.  Go HERE!

(Now we have a year's supply of spicy dressing.)

I made the dressing because I wanted to make a salad.  I found a slow cooker recipe for Mexican Pulled Pork that I wanted to try.  I have tried the sweet Cafe Rio pork recipes a couple of times and never really loved them - so I wanted to try something a little bit different.  This recipe was so easy to throw together!  I got it from THIS website. It turned out so well!  8 hours in the slow cooker and it shreds with barely being touched and the sauce is really yummy.  I will keep this recipe on hand and use it all the time.  It is really versatile.  Definitely try it if you want a fool-proof Mexican pork.  

I had a little extra time and ingredients on my hands so I decided to throw together the Cilantro-Lime Rice for the salads, too.  Again, I used Wire Whisk.  I don't really like rice much so this was my first time making it.  Ever.  It turned out okay... I think the recipe itself is good but my rice was brown instead of white, I didn't have enough of it (1 cup) and it was a little too limey and not cilantro-y enough.  I would follow the recipe closely if you make this one and I bet it turns out great. My husband liked the way ours turned out, though, so maybe I'm being too critical.

I crisped flour tortillas on the stove top, put them in bowls and filled them with lettuce, black beans, shredded cheese, rice, pork, sour cream and the cilantro dressing.

WHOA!  They were scrumptious!  I was truly, pleasantly surprised.  They tasted a lot like Cafe Rio salads but with the satisfaction of knowing I made them - they were better! Maybe.

This was a fun little experiment and I'm happy to report it turned out so well.  I'll definitely make these again.