Maple Bacon Creamed Corn

Posted on July 6, 2016 by admin

I was totally inspired by this lunch-lady-dude on Next Food Network Star when he made maple bacon creamed corn to top with a crab cake. I wish it were time for local fresh corn, but we’re not quite there yet. Instead, this is the snazziest freezer-side-dish ever.

Maple Bacon Creamed Corn - The Three Bite Rule
We grilled some chicken to serve over this sweet and smokey creamed corn. I couldn’t believe it…the little one gobbled almost a whole chicken thigh! He tends to choose the fruits/veggies/carbs over chicken but we just keep serving it. He had some regular corn and some of this maple bacon creamed corn.

The creamed corn took the same amount of time to cook as the chicken. Perfect!

Ingredients:

2 slices of bacon
1/2 yellow onion
2 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 cups corn
3 tablesoons of water
1/3 cup milk or cream
2 tbs maple syrup

Directions:

Pan fry the bacon.
While the bacon is cooking, chop the onion and add the onion pieces and butter to a heavy pan over medium-high heat. Let the onions cook until soft & translucent ~8 minutes.
Add in the corn (mine was frozen), the water, syrup, and the milk.
Maple Bacon Creamed Corn - The Three Bite Rule
Bring to a simmer and cook for about 5-10 minutes.
If using frozen corn, remove about 1/3 – 1/2 and blend or food process it a little bit. Break it down a bit without totally obliterating it. Fresh corn will likely break down a bit on is own.

Add that back in, stir, and then add in the crispy bacon.
Maple Bacon Creamed Corn - The Three Bite Rule
Stir while cooking another minute or two. Serve and enjoy!

I loved the sweet maple-y bacon flavors with spiced grilled chicken. It was a quick & unusual side dish for us with some pretty easy grilled chicken thighs. I like a new thing to go with something hands-off/no-stress/straightforward other foods. It would have been ideal to have a sharp & peppery arugula salad with this, but this was what we could make happen. This family dinner outside was glorious.

Bacon Blue Cheese Pasta Salad

Posted on June 2, 2016 by admin

We tend to be slaw/potato salad folks around here. I almost made this as potato salad, but that takes so. much. longer. This, as pasta salad, was super quick…like end of naptime quick. I boiled the pasta and started to fry the bacon while the pasta got a chance to cool. It got dressed to hang out in the fridge until dinner time. Voila! This is best when chilled for 1-3 hours and served then. To serve the next day it’ll need some mayo/plain yogurt/sour cream. The blue cheese dressing is more on the oily side versus the purely creamy side.

The Three Bite Rule - Bacon Blue Cheese Pasta Salad

Bacon Blue Cheese Pasta Salad (serves 4)

Ingredients:

1/4 box of large elbow pasta
2-3 slices of bacon
1 1/4 cup blue cheese salad dressing
2 tbs fresh chives, chopped (or green onions)
salt & pepper
crumbled blue cheese (optional)
hot sauce (optional)

Directions: (prep at least 1 hour in advance)

Boil pasta according to the package, cooking until soft, less than al dente.
Chop and pan fry the bacon until crisp, then drain.
Let the pasta cool. Stir a few times so it doesn’t become one chunk of pasta. Once cool, mix in 1 cup of the blue cheese dressing and the chives. Add in salt & pepper. Then cover and refrigerate at least an hour, preferably 1-3 hours.
The Three Bite Rule - Bacon Blue Cheese Pasta Salad
Before serving, mix in the rest of the dressing and most of the bacon, reserving a little for the top.

Serve with the rest of the bacon on top. Enjoy!

This was great! I liked the flavor and the subtlety of it. I didn’t add in additional blue cheese or hot sauce, but this could totally become buffalo blue cheese pasta salad. I used the good, produce-area, blue cheese dressing. I think this is so easy that it is worth repeating and adds a great alternative to the normal, often-lackluster pasta salad.

Bacon, Egg & Grain Bfast Bowl

Posted on January 21, 2016 by admin

I’m on a bfast quest for some weekly fun not sweet breakfasts and these were so fun! I prepped them Sunday night and they were so perfect to quickly warm and have something delicious to start the day with. These breakfast bowls had bacon, hard boiled egg, everything-bagel-spices, and cracked wheat.

The Three Bite Rule - Breakfast Bowls

Bacon, Egg, & Grain Bfast Bowl (4-5 servings)

Ingredients:

1 cup cracked wheat/rice/lentils/barley
1/4 tsp dried onion
1/4 tsp sesame seeds
1/4 tsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt & pepper
3 strips of bacon
4 eggs, hard-boiled

Directions:

Cook the cracked grain according to the package. (Mine was cracked wheat).
While the grain is cooking, pan fry the bacon and hard boil the eggs.
In a dry pan over medium low heat, toast the spices, stirring regularly.
The Three Bite Rule - Breakfast Bowls
Drain the bacon onto a paper towel, saving 1 tsp of the bacon drippings. Add the drippings and the bacon into the cooked grain.
Stir the toasted spices into the grain too.

Chop the hard boiled egg and add that into the grain.
The Three Bite Rule - Breakfast Bowls
Serve and enjoy!

I was going to add in some cheese, but I ended up thinking it didn’t even need it. This was so good. The grain makes it really filling! I split it into 4 servings and I mini serving of the cracked wheat for the little guy. The everything-bagel totally amped up the flavor and I looooved that addition. These would pack up really easily if bfast travels with you to work too. Yum. This is where good morning comes from.

Cobb Salad Burger

Posted on October 1, 2015 by admin

Ohh yes I did. You’re welcome. This burger was de-lightful. I’m on a roll with burger ideas and know they tend to fizzle out a bit once I get into fall/winter mode, but this one was so fun. The burger toppings are inspired by a cobb salad. Hard boiled eggs, bacon, sweet lettuce, blue cheese dressing, etc make eggs-cellent toppings! It’d also be great on a cobb salad bed rather than a bun, if that’s your thing.

The Three Bite Rule - Cobb Salad Burger

You could do this year round in a pan/griddle and it is a great cooking-for-one dinner idea or prime when you’re in the “what’s for dinner” scrounging through the fridge.

The Three Bite Rule - Cobb Salad Burger

Ingredients:

Burgers (mine was a chicken burger)
rolls
2 strips of bacon per burger
lettuce
cucumber, sliced thinly
2 hard boiled eggs
blue cheese dressing

Directions:

Hard boil the eggs and let them cool then pan fry the bacon until crisp.
Grill the burgers.
Top with lettuce, cukes, egg slices, bacon, and blue cheese dressing.
Enjoy!

The Three Bite Rule - Cobb Salad Burger
This was a fun one. I used potato rolls that just seemed to make this burger. Yum.

Bacon Cheddar Biscuits

Posted on September 15, 2015 by admin

This is all I need in life for breakfast. Well, maybe this biscuit with a runny-yolked egg as well. The bacon, cheddar cheese, and chives are so great in a fluffy buttery biscuit instead of just being on a biscuit as a bfast sandwich.
The Three Bite Rule - Bacon Cheddar Biscuits
Yum. These would be so great with an egg. Or as a breakfast sandwich, or on the go. Seriously so good any way you eat them. I was so impressed how fluffy and puffy the biscuits got. I froze some others before they got stale so I’ll have to report back how they are out of the freezer.

Ingredients:

biscuit mix, prepared according to the package
2 strips of bacon
1 cup of shredded cheddar
2 tbs chives, chopped (or green onions)

Directions:

Fry the bacon until crisp and let excess fat drain. Then chop it into small pieces.
Mix up the biscuits according to your package, adding in the cheese, bacon, and chives.
The Three Bite Rule - Bacon Cheddar Biscuits
Flour the counter with biscuit mix, and need them a few times. Flatten the dough out to 1/2 inch thick and cut out the biscuits with a biscuit cutter, a jar lid, a juice glass, etc.

Bake according to your mix.
Right at the end, brush with some melted butter.
Serve & enjoy!

The Three Bite Rule - Bacon Cheddar Biscuits
You can thank me later. I couldn’t get over how fluffy these are! They were so quick to mix and bake. I had everything cleaned up before they were out of the oven and then I fell in love….probably smart that I did the dishes first because once I ate these I was really loving them. So good!