Cafe' Rio's Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

I have gone a little incognito for a little while. Oh well, I am back. Life has just been really busy. Here is a recipe I got from my friend, Carolina. It's a bootleg copy of Cafe' Rio's Creamy Tomatillo dressing. It's not an exact replica, but a good dressing none the less. I like to warm tortillas in the oven with cheese on them until they are warm and crispy. Then, I top them with lettuce, cooked chicken, black beans, corn, tomatos, cheese, and tortilla chips crushed up. Did I forget anything? I don't know. If anyone else has a recipe like this, I would love to try it out and compare.

Café Rio’s Creamy Tomatillo Dressing

Place the following in a blender:
3 fresh tomatillos, cut into quarters
Juice of ½ lime
½ cup buttermilk
½ cup mayonnaise
½ cup sour cream
1 package dry buttermilk ranch dressing mix
1 cup fresh cilantro
5 stalks green onions w/ ends
2 cloves crushed garlic
½-¾ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. crushed cayenne pepper
4 tsp. sugar

*combine well in blender, refrigerate one hour.

Breadsticks

1 TBSP yeast
1 ½ cups lukewarm water
3 cups Flour
2 TBSP sugar
½ tsp salt
Melted butter (about one stick)

Dissolve yeast in water, then add flour, sugar and salt. Knead a little and then let rise til double. Roll out to the size of a cookie sheet. Cut into strips. (or roll pieces of dough between hands) Brush with melted butter. You can add garlic, sesame seeds or parmesan if desired. Let rise to desired height. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-20 minutes or until golden brown.

April Focus?

What kind of recipes do we want to post for April? I am wondering if we should go back to posting whatever recipes we want but putting labels in at the bottom so it's easy to do a search and find recipes for Main Dishes, side dishes, desserts, etc. Any thoughts on that?

Brownie Caramel Cheesecake

I love cheesecake! There are 2 recipes that I will post this month for cheesecake that I've managed to pull off well every single time I've attempted them. I've even made both with reduced fat cream cheese and they still turn out great. This one is great because if it cracks - you can cover it up on top with extra caramel or fudge sauce.

INGREDIENTS
1 (9 ounce) package brownie mix (I just find the smallest package I can find since 9 ounce package is hard to find)
1 egg
1 tablespoon cold water
1 (14 ounce) package individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
1 (5 ounce) can evaporated milk
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 cup chocolate fudge topping


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease the bottom of a 9 inch springform pan.
In a small bowl, mix together brownie mix, 1 egg and water. Spread into the greased pan. Bake for 25 minutes.
Melt the caramels with the evaporated milk over low heat in a heavy saucepan. Stir often, and heat until mixture has a smooth consistency. Reserve 1/3 cup of this caramel mixture, and pour the remainder over the warm, baked brownie crust.
In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Pour cream cheese mixture over caramel mixture.
Bake cheesecake for 40 minutes. Chill in pan. When cake is thoroughly chilled, loosen by running a knife around the edge, and then remove the rim of the pan. Heat reserved caramel mixture, and spoon over cheesecake. Drizzle with the chocolate topping.