December 2016 Recap

Happy almost 2017! December went by quickly. I think I did well to enjoy it. November is so busy that I always want to slow down and appreciate the season. I didn’t cook as much as usual, but I made a few fun things. Mr. J’s treat of the month was chocolate dipped potato chips. So fun!

One of my favs this month were these Bacon Ranch Deviled Eggs for a party. I loved them and they were gone so quickly! I’m making them again for this weekend’s family festivities.
The Three Bite Rule - Bacon Ranch Deviled Eggs
I focused on easy & fast dinners last week during a busy time:
Chicken sausage + roasted red peppers + pasta with ricotta as the sauce
The Three Bite Rule - Ricotta Pasta
And falafel bowls over a bed of couscous
The Three Bite Rule - Falafel Bowl

The Little One:
He loved our Christmas trees, lights on lots of houses, and Santa! He loved cookies, and has been really into avocados lately. He doesn’t love foods all cooked together…like chicken pot pie. Christmas was really fun. He definitely understood opening presents. He got so much that we held on to a few things from us to now be birthday gifts in January. His favorites were: the cheapest matchbox firetruck you can ever imagine from visiting Santa; a felt eye mask that came with his super hero cape; a stuffed Elmo; and dinosaurs.

Monthly goals:

Year of the Pajamas! I’m going to stay with the year of the seasonal decor again. I got a few items for Christmas and I’ll go to snowmen/white for January. Bring on the snowmen!
do more dinner prep more in advance: I prepped for sausage stuffing and for Jess’ chicken & brussels sprouts pasta.
read more: I read Maine and Secrets of a Charmed Life
cook more fish: ehh. I’m struggling with this one.
focus on clothes that I really like: I grabbed this peplum top for $15 and loved that it was a bit more cranberry-red than pink. I want more dresses but they’re always hard to find.
monthly grocery store ingredient: a rotisserie chicken was the answer to a what’s-for-dinner.

Now I’m getting ready for family Christmas #2. We’re hosting and are looking forward to ringing in the new year with the fam of 8! I have a cocktail recipe to come & I hope to share this year’s rendition of my NYE tradition. Catch ya in 2017!

November 2016 Recap

November wasn’t the month I spent the most time in the kitchen, but I think we did pretty well eating real food and being somewhat well balanced during a busy time. I’m ever so grateful to have a beautifully prepared lunch at work daily. Never having to prep or clean up is so amazing. I don’t think I got to eat quite as many pumpkin things as I would have liked, but there’s still time. Thanksgiving was so tasty and again I’m grateful to just show up and enjoy.

My fav dinner was Chicken & Golden Mushroom Slow Cooker served with arugula and pasta. It was so flavorful and lighter than so many other crockpot dinners.
The Three Bite Rule - Chicken & Golden Mushroom Lightened Up
Finding chopped pancetta made me super jazzed. It was right there! Right next to the prosciutto. Who knew? I foresee it being very useful. Muhh-ha-ha. I paired it with pear for a perfect pizza. Ha! Ok. I’m done. Just make pear & pancetta pizza right away.
The Three Bite Rule - Pear & Pancetta Pizza
The Little One:
He’s such a happy dude right now. His current fav foods are meatballs, spaghetti, avocado, anything he can dip, and anything I’m eating for breakfast. Clementine season is always a good time of year in his life. We went out to dinner for Mexican and he loved it…he also enjoyed and devoured almost a whole bagel with cream cheese on a morning adventure. I can’t believe how much he’s talking now. A new fav word is: barking which comes out as “bawking”. He still loves “big truck”s. He’s gotten the hang of Please, but Thank You hasn’t stuck.

New goals:
Year of the Pajamas! I’m rethinking this. I’m so sad for the year of the seasonal decor to be done…I might want to do it again!
do more dinner prep more in advance: ehh. This didn’t happen this month.
read more: I kept up with the bookclub! We read Girl on the Train
cook more fish: ehh. This didn’t happen this month.
focus on clothes that I really like: I tried Thread Up and it was a hit!
monthly grocery store ingredient: I found some frozen cavatelli pasta which was so great for a quick meal!

The Three Bite Rule is Six!

Six years? Woah! Crazy. It always creeps up on me. Once again, I have no idea what is in store for me or the blog but I wanted to take a moment to thank the blogosphere, thank readers, and think about the year to come!

My fav photo of the year: Cherry Cheesecake Yogurt Parfaits
The Three Bite Rule - Cheery "Cheesecake" Greek Yogurt Parfait

My fav burger of the year: The Ramen Burger!
The Three Bite Rule - Ramen Burger
Fav new kitchen item: The pressure cooker!
The Three Bite Rule - Pork Tenderloin with Balsamic & Cherries

Fav Meal: Pad Thai made at home!
Shrimp Pad Thai - The Three Bite Rule

I loved a mini-challenge I self imposed for more creative breakfasts. If you pack lunch I’d challenge yourself to that!

How’d the goals go? They were good! I liked that they were pretty varied this year!

The Year of the: Seasonal Decor: this was such a great year of the…I might need to do it again!
do something a different way: always a good reminder.
drink more water: I could always keep this on the list. I’m not sure I quite got a perfect method for this.
make more interesting side dishes: I liked this since they’re often quicker than the main thing.
cook more soups & sauces: I didn’t make too many soups, but sauces was a good place to start.
watch more movies: this was a fun one! We get Netflix so I wanted to be sure to actually watch them.
make working out a higher priority: I ran a 5K! That was big for me!

And onto the next goals:
Year of the:….wait for it….Pajamas! I’m an adult and want legit pjs…not just pants and old event tee-shirts.
do more dinner prep more in advance
read more
cook more fish
focus on clothes that I really like
monthly grocery store ingredient, recreated

October 2016 Recap

Tis the season for all the fall foods, and for my busiest couple of months at work so I’ve tried to really be on top of dinners when I can, and still trying to get some workouts despite it being sooo dark in the mornings now!

This Fall Burger had sage and pear in a pork patty for all the best fall-ish flavors. It is still great grilling weather!

The Three Bite Rule - Fall Pork Burger with Pear & Sage
I made a breakfast calzone with braided puff pastry thanks to a friend from college’s post on facebook. It was a really great and quick for a weeknight meal. I’ll totally make this again the next time I have house guests!
The Three Bite Rule - Breakfast Calzone

Sour Cream & Onion Deviled Eggs were fun and went quickly at a 3-way baby shower at work. 
The Three Bite Rule - Sour Cream & Onion Deviled Eggs

The Little One:
He’s such a love! He likes giving us hugs and it just melts my heart. I’ve enjoyed seeing how long he’ll do some activities. We have some fun activities for halloween: a visit from Grammie C; daycare trick or treating; and maybe a jack-o-lantern thing in the park. He’s been into some pumpkin books. The little one is eating everything, even eggs on occasion!

This Year’s Goals: 
The Year of the: Seasonal Decor: Mr. J picked up some leaf garland when he saw it and it is really perfect for the mantle – also spanning the fall/halloween/harvest timing.
do something a different way: I made conscious time to be social. I went to my college reunion;  I joined a new local bookclub which was great; and one group had a dip-party during a Pats game.
drink more water: I need to do better with this.
make more interesting side dishes: yes! I made broccoli & cheddar risotto in the pressure cooker
cook more soups & sauces: Garlic Parmesan Mac & Cheese was all about the cheese sauce
watch more movies: we watched The Neighbors and cracked up. I’ve been super into This is Us.
make working out a higher priority: I can amp this up. Work has a Fitbit challenge going on and I’ve gotten some walks in…nothing major, but something is better than nothing!

September 2016 Recap

It’s the most wonderful time, of the year… I truly love fall and the minute it wasn’t hot and humid anymore I was so happy. We all were. My fam does not like to be hot. One day I changed the babe into shorts and out of socks & sneakers and he was so much happier! Yeah, maybe we were all just hot. Phew! I’m rejuvenated to cook again! I love the crisp in the air.

September was busy. We had a weekend in Maine to see some family and a long weekend away for our 5th anniversary to Rockland & Camden Maine. It was so wonderful and getting away was JUST what we needed.

My fav dish I cooked this month was definitely the Pad Thai. I can’t get over how easy it was! I’m glad to know those flavors can be mixed up so quickly!
Shrimp Pad Thai - The Three Bite Rule

Also, it is so stinking easy, but the Dunkaroo Dip was just so fun. Sprinkles! Funfetti! Yay!
Dunkaroo Dip - The Three Bite Rule
Ooo yes. Let’s talk about the Chicken Marsala Pizza. I loved this on the pizza and don’t think it at all trashed up what should be a nicer dish. Make all the expected flavors in unexpected platforms. Now I want Chicken Marsala Risotto or maybe a Croque Monsieur flatbread. Wait for it!!!
The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Marsala Pizza
September was a really good month in the kitchen for me! I also was proud of the Tailgater Burger because who doesn’t need Cheetos dust in their life?

The Little One: 
He’s such a little person now. He has a lot of thoughts, though admittedly, sometimes we cannot tell what he’s saying. I think he gets the concepts of “more” versus “all done”. He’s funny with identifying whose items are whose around the house and I was shocked that he knew where different pieces of his laundry belonged. The words are totally flowing and it cracks us up. My fav recent one is horse: “harsss”. He had a fun weekend while Mr. J and I went away. The day we were coming back, I couldn’t wait to see him.

This Year’s Goals: 
The Year of the: Seasonal Decor: I’m falling behind on the decor but I’ve got this for Halloween.
do something a different way: I’m doing “chores” during the week instead of having to do them on the weekends. Laundry & bathroom cleaning seems better suited for a nothing-special-Tuesday rather than hitting my radar on Saturdays!
drink more water: ehh, I’m on it. I feel like I drink less when it isn’t hot!
make more interesting side dishes: maybe simple is still good? The babe loved orzo with a herby grilled chicken
cook more soups & sauces: I made Chicken Marsala Pizza which involved a sauce
watch more movies: Joy & The Revenant…quite diverse!
make working out a higher priority: I’ve kept running a bit and morning workouts have definitely become a habit.