...creamy tomato soup... pg.96

you can find this recipe HERE

I don't like tomatoes. Never have. However, I love salsa, spaghetti sauce, etc. In fact, the other day I was telling my mom I was making this for dinner and she told me that when she was pregnant with either myself, or my older brother, she made homemade tomato soup all the time. She made it so much that she eventually hated it. So I'm kinda thinking that she was pregnant with me. That's the only reason I can think of why a normal person, like myself, would hate tomatoes! :)

I used to work as a bookkeeper for Safeway. and they have a really yummy Tomato Bisque soup that I ate frequently. Loved it. Well when I was pregnant with Cohen, there was a co-worker eating that particular soup. The smell of it made me gag. Like, really gag, several times. Ever since then, probably 4 1/2 years, I haven't been able to eat tomato soup. So I thought it had been long enough, because i was craving a toasted cheese sandwich. And what else goes with a toasted cheese sandwich? NOTHING.

This soup is REALLY good. Sooooooo flavorful. Creamy and tasty.

The only problem, after eating about half the bowl... the thoughts and tastes and smells came back from 4 1/2 years ago... and I couldn't finish the rest of my soup. :(

So for the rest of you tomato soup lovers, you MUST make this soup!

...french bread, hoagies, and sandwich rolls... pg. 32

you can find this recipe HERE

I've actually made this recipe about 100 times. It's the recipe used for the cheesy garlic bread swirls. but I've never made it into actual french bread, or hoagies. I had some left over meatballs, and thought, "Huh, maybe I could make meatball sandwiches". Well my friends, that's exactly what I did.

the loaf on the left is very large. I knew we couldn't eat that many loaves in one sitting. So I made a bigger one to freeze for later use. :)

I have never made meatball subs, nor do I usually order them places. In fact, now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever had one. These were really good! The bread was very tasty, good texture. I would definitely use this recipe again for future bread uses.

...creamy cilantry-lime ranch dressing... pg.85

you can find this recipe HERE

This is a wonderful pair with sweet pork. I'm not sure what else it would be good on.

Nothing really to say about this one. It's really easy to throw together. And it tastes great! Much like Cafe Rio/Costa Vida.

...mexican-style sweet shredded pork... pg.140

Cafe Rio/Costa Vida. I say that name, and most of you start drooling, Yes? Just me??

After moving here from Utah, having Costa Vida (yes, my fav) regularly, I went through withdrawls. I found copycat recipes online for this sweet pork and made it frequently. Well this is the second time I've made this pork recipe from the cookbook. It's dang good! Overall, out of all the recipes I've tried for sweet pork, this one isn't my favorite, but it's really good. There's just something missing that gives it the authentic Costa Vida sweetness. One of the major differences between recipes is this recipe calls for apple juice, the others call for Coke.

I threw in the black beans from the cookbook, made some lime-cilantro rice, used those awesome tortillas from Costco, and added the cilantro-lime ranch dressing, and VOILA! Deliciousness in my mouth.

So if you're looking for a yummy pork recipe for tacos, try this. If you're looking for something to hold you over until the next time you get the chance to eat at Cafe Rio/Costa Vida... yeah, try this.

...black bean soup... pg. 94

Well honestly, I thought no one was reading my blog, So I wasn't as on top of posting my stuff, But I guess I DO have some followers! :)

you can find this recipe HERE

While I was visiting my dearest friend, Courtney, in California, we were going through this cookbook and she was picking out things she wanted me to make for her while I was visiting. She chose this.

Which I'm so glad. I was putting this one off for as long as I could... I'm not a HUGE fan of black beans. If I had the choice, I would choose refried, or even pinto (this drives the hubby nuts, since he's a huge black bean lover). Anyhooo...

This is severely amazing.

When we were shopping for ingredients, we couldn't decide on mild or hot green chilies. Why don't they sell medium?! So we went with the hot. We both like spicy, and luckily Courtney's husband does too, because this was SPICY. While we were eating it, we would be sniffling, and wiping our noses, in between our raves of satisfaction in this soup! It's sooooo good. The spices in it, and the texture, everything. Just excellent!

Must note: I made this the second I got back home, but this time I used mild chilies (which didn't give ANY heat at all). So don't really know what to do about that. If any of you see medium spiced green chillies, let me know! :) Jeff loved it though.