Costa Rica!  Pura Vida!  Costa Rica is in Central America and has 12 athletes competing in the Olympic Games in Rio.  When I was choosing countries, I knew I wanted a Central American country and since I've been to Costa Rica before, I thought it would be fun to try my hand at cooking.


On the menu tonight was Costa Rican Casado (chicken, rice, beans, and tostones) with (virgin) Pina Coladas to drink.  We were lucky to have some Lizano sauce left from our journeys so this was the perfect meal for us!

The Verdict:
Well, our homemade casado wasn't quite what we remembered eating when we were there, but it was still good.  I think I may have had a larger can of tomato paste than expected, which gave us a much more red sauce than the original recipe.  We all liked the flavor of the chicken and the sauce was great in moderation.  The beans weren't as good as I'd hoped, but they were okay.   None of us was over enamored with the plantains (tostones), but none of us hated them either.  I think they are an acquired taste.

It was a hectic evening and I didn't take pictures of our processes at all. The recipes and instructions for the meal are all from the I Never Grew Up Blog.  Click through to read them and make your own! The pina colada was just something that I whipe up from time to time, since it is one of my favorite flavors.