Another Fast Sunday has come and gone, and what does that mean for me? A day of frantic cooking to make a decent meal for Break the Fast...People don't realize how much work goes into cooking for 70 people! But i am actually really
grateful for it and enjoy my calling! At first I was worried the Lord was preparing me to be a mission president's wife or something, but
I'm still not sure... I've had the calling of Break the Fast co-chair since around June of last year and I've gone through 3 male counterpart co-chairs. They've all been great, but i never really had much of a committee to help. We always had a couple people thrown on there but when I would call they wouldn't answer, or pretend they didn't know who I was at church (i know awesome right?) but now I am so
grateful to have a great
committee! My co-chair Jordan is great, Alyssa and Thomas are awesome too. Then there's the informal committee that helps me every time, Brit, Courtney, Brandon. I have a lot of help now and I love it, I just have to be a little better about delegating. :/
Anyways so this Sunday we decided to go all out, partly because we came up with a really cool idea and partly because we
didn't have one last
Sunday (Superbowl) so we could go a little over budget. :) So we made, get this.... CAFE RIO SALADS! Complete with mint
mojitos and
cookies for
dessert. We recreated them with all the ingredients they use and it was a big success. We tried to make our own dressing like theirs, but it
didn't turn out at all, so we just messed with it and made it our own, and i actually thought it was pretty good and kind of similar. Everyone loved it (they kind of have to tell me that but this time i think they meant it). I got calls later that night asking me how we made
things, and
compliments all night! It was great. One guy even told me that if it
doesn't work out with Brandon I know where to go (the way to a man's heart is INDEED through his stomach!) So I thought I would share what we used to make our version of Cafe Salads, because they were so popular. Also if anyone has any suggestions for cheap, yummy meals that can be made in mass quantities i am always on the lookout for
recipes!
Cafe Rio Shredded Chicken
1 Bottle Kraft Zesty Italian Salad Dressing
1 T chili powder
1 T cumin
3 cloves minced garlic
5 Lbs. Chicken breast
Cook all together in a crock pot for 4 hours, then shred the chicken and put it back in for another hour.
Cafe Rice
3 c. Water
4 t. Chicken Bouillon
4 t. garlic minced
1/2 bunch cilantro (optional, I hate cilantro so I didn't use it)
1 can green
chiles 3/4 t. salt
1 T. butter
1/2 onion
3 C. rice (minute rice works best)
Juice from one lime (I
didn't use this but i think it would give the rice more flavor)
Blend cilantro (gross), green
chiles, and onion together in food processor. Bring water to a boil, add all ingredients and rice, and cook according to minute rice directions.
Salad- Building directions:
For the perfect Cafe Rio salad, start with a large flour tortilla, then melt some shredded cheese on it. Then add the rice, pinto or black beans, chicken, then the lettuce on top of all that, then if wanted you can add
guac,
pico, or sour cream, maybe even some
Parmesan. Then the dressing tops it all off, and enjoy!
and then to 8 places that are significant to our relationship, like where we met, where we said "I Love You", where we first kissed, etc.
Our 1st official date, Smokehouse!:
Then we picked up some frozen smoothie things he made and went to walk around my apartment complex, and ended up sitting on the steps in front of the clubhouse talking and eating our frozen smoothies. Keep in mind I had NO idea this was going to happen. So I see a piece of plastic in the bottom of my smoothie so I start digging it out, thinking it fell in when he froze it or it was a toy or somthing, and i finally get it out and its a bag with my rings in it, which he takes from me, gets down on one knee, and proposed!! I was totally shocked but i managed to squeak out a YES! YES! So that trickster was able to do what few people can, which is keep a secret from me! He's the one for me! Haha but seriously, being engaged is awesome. :) 
