I cannot believe The Three Bite Rule is FIVE years old. Five. That’s bananas. This is a crazy time of year at work for the next few weeks so I didn’t quite have time to plan something extravagant. Then again, I’m not going anywhere so it isn’t like I need to go out with a bang. Should I want this to be bigger? I don’t know. I’m pretty content for The Three Bite Rule to just be what it is.

I like doing this. I like making time for it. I like that it is just mine to share with others. It makes me think, try, be a little creative, and remember not everything comes out perfectly. I know not to force my joy into it providing my livelihood. I want to do good work and make a difference in the world. I absolutely adore my job and was happy to return to it after my maternity leave. I learned being home with the little man meant I was lucky and a positive time for both of us but my best self has to work with other people, providing some good into the world. I think work has to be something you enjoy but I also think people make the mistake of trying to have all their wants and needs met by their life’s work. That’s where your hobby can come into play.

This year, woah. I live in such a different world than when I started blogging years ago. The little one is such a joy and my favorite part of this year, of course. Mr. J and I have adapted our meals to fit our busy times of year at work. It is definitely wayyy quicker to make dinner when not blogging it so I slowed to 2x a week and it seems like a good fit. I learned to snap a few more photos to have some more choices. I unfortunately don’t get to snap the photos in daylight very often but that’s just how it is.

So, what’s ahead for the year? I’m not sure.

My Fav Photo of the year:
Salmon with Creamy Dill & Cucumber Dressing

Fav Food of the Year: Chicken Thighs
Tuscan Herbed Chicken Thighs over White Beans

Fav Restaurant Re-Creation of the year:
Chicken Meatballs with Kale, Cranberries, and Fresh Pasta

Fav Burger
Picnic Burger with Potato Sticks & Slaw

This year’s goals:
The Year of the Earring
make more salad dressings
factor more time into how long every-day tasks/trips will take
recreate restaurant menu items
be more adventurous with my reading selections
use the crockpot more
seafood once a month

I don’t know what’s ahead and that’s OK with me! I’m so grateful for everyone who reads my blog. I appreciate you!

Trader Joe’s is a gold-mine for some of my favorite staples. This is totally a collection of my choices and is no way influenced by Trader Joe’s. Joe definitely don’t know me. I think it is easy to get caught up in the seasonal or impulse buys, but if you go with a plan for some staples you’ll be totally set. I don’t find it ideal for general grocery-shopping so here are my top buys:

Flowers
Don’t skip them. Trader Joe’s flowers keep well and the price can’t be beat. $5-bucks for a bouquet? Sold! Best $5 way to brighten your week.

Wine comes next in the store layout. You really could just make a trip for these two.

I love some of the jarred items. The pesto is the best jarred pesto I’ve found…after a hunt. Also the crushed garlic is so much better than minced garlic. I used the simmer sauce awhile back for turkey meatballs over faux-mashed potatoes.

Next another must-buy is some of the freezer staples. They don’t always have it, but the frozen mahi mahi is sooo good.

Roasted Corn is so full of smokey flavor and is a freezer product they always have. Thank goodness.

Staying in the Mexican area, I LOVE the chicken & cheese tamales. Seriously. $2.49 for 2. Such a great quick snack or lunch.

I always get some edamame. There’s in the shell or out. They’re perfect as an app or snack or on the side. Grocery stores seem to now have edamame more often, but Trader Joe’s has had it forever.

TJ’s eggplant cutlets are so so good. They always have them and I use them on their own, on pizza, in subs, or in grilled cheese!

Don’t leave the freezer section without Turkey Meatballs. Trader Joe’s turkey meatballs are the best. I’ve tried all the brands and these are significantly better. They’re also a steal! Fully cooked meatballs are the perfect freezer staple. The baby loves pieces of meatballs.

Lastly, peek at the candy before you leave. The are a huuuge value and who doesn’t need a bite of chocolate now and then?

What do you get at Trader Joe’s?

I cannot wait until Halloween! The little one is going to be a shark! It is hysterical.

October was a fun one. In the kitchen, I was pretty into quick meals. Work is busy, the little one is busy and hungry at dinner time, and there are always 1,000,000 things happening. Or sometimes we just want to play and then we’re uber hungry.

I did a flatbread with pear, feta, and balsamic which was awesome. Make some flatbreads on naan immediately.

We’re still grilling over here so it is still burger season where I made a burger with Cobb Salad toppings. I loved it. Mr. J often gets blue cheese on his burgers so this was a natural fit.

Another fav this month was a chicken cordon blue pasta. It was so good.

The Green Smoothie Challenge – I did it!! At the halfway mark, I had learned what I really like in a smoothie: frozen & milk based. There were some really great recipes. I’m glad I did it. I probably won’t make one daily from now on, but 30 days of smoothies was great. One of my favorites was a banana & coco powder and another favorite had pineapple/mango/coconut oil. I have a whole new spectrum of ingredients for future smoothies.

The little one:
He’s too funny. I love his chuckle. I really love his sleeping ability. What a champion sleeper! We’re so lucky. The little dude goes to bed at 7:45pm and gets up at 8-9am on the weekends, or when we wake him at 7 for daycare on weekdays. He crawls then adds a leg in there when crawling isn’t fast enough. He magically began standing unassisted. He’ll pull up to standing and then casually let go.

He’s eating all foods. He literally eats anything we give him and doesn’t seem to have anything he doesn’t like. He’s now eating people food for breakfast & dinner and just a few bottles. He has 8 teeth! I can’t wait to dress him up for Halloween! Eeek. It is just too cute.

Progress on this year’s goals:
The Year of the Earring:  I got these, just in the nick of time. 

make more salad dressings: I made a dressing with some apple cider.

factor more time into how long every-day tasks/trips will take: Ehh. Mornings haven’t been as quick moving as I need it to be. Otherwise, I think I did pretty well.

recreate restaurant menu items: Sure did! My copycat Roxy’s Grilled Cheese had apple, cheddar, and sweet potato.

be more adventurous with my reading selections: I’m reading I am Malala but it has been slow going. I’m almost through the podcast Undisclosed, if that counts.  

use the crockpot more: I did a pork tenderloin in the crockpot. It was good to have something to just cook away all day. 

seafood once a month: Nope, I’m behind on that.

Woo-eee! September whizzed by. We hosted a brunch party, then a BBQ & firepit party the next weekend, then a trip to Martha’s Vineyard, then a visit from Grammie C. So busy and so fun. Work is really ramping up and suddenly fall arrived in the matter of a day or two.

For October I’m doing a 30-day green smoothie challenge (join in! it is free!) so I’ll keep you posted how it goes – not a weirdo-cleanse when you starve yourself and only drink liquids or $30-a-bottle juices. It is a month of green smoothie recipes to get into a healthy habit. Plus, it ends just in time for Halloween candy. I can’t wait to put the little nugget into a Halloween costume!

The Martha’s Vineyard weekend trip was awesome. We ate some good food, strolled around, chilled on the Inn’s cupula, and explored. It was awesome. I was very sad pulling away from the little one but it was good for everyone. I hadn’t left him before but it went well. We had a really fun diner breakfast that might need to be the next restaurant recreation. Stay tuned!

My fav recipe of September is the Bacon Cheddar Biscuits. They were really awesome for breakfast on the go and I popped a few into the freezer. They tasted just as great out of the freezer! These buggers would be the ideal brunch party prep in advance! I just made them for fun but now I’m wanting to jazz up biscuits more often! Spinach and parmesan next?

Rosemary Hard Lemonade was perfect for my garden rosemary, or if you have rosemary on hand for something else… ummm Parisian burgers anyone? Lemonade, citrus vodka, rosemary, and some frozen blueberries make for such a fun instant summer beverage.

This salad with cucumbers, feta, nectarines, and quick dressing was good. I was all about the fruit in salad this month also with a spinach strawberry salad!

I actually took a week off from dinner this month. It was pretty refreshing to my cooking motivation. We had lots of leftover, uncooked items from the BBQ party of 30 people, so somehow there were a few things to pick from. Also, since I knew we were going away, I really wasn’t wanting to grocery shop then be gone, especially after shopping and prepping for the party. I should prob do that more often. It wasn’t our most well-rounded meals but it was a few days of anything-goes and I appreciated a break (from myself).

The Little One:
He’s so active! He loves to move. He’s been taking steps using a push toy, feeding himself cherrios, and riding in the big stroller insert. He loves looking around and touching everything! He’s curious and babbling. He just started feeding himself pieces of things we put on his tray and drinking water in a sippy cup. I’m so excited! He hadn’t been into textures but now seems more ready/willing.

Progress on this year’s goals:
The Year of the Earring:  I got these and love ’em

make more salad dressings: Yes! This poppy seed dressing was so great a spinach and strawberry salad, or anything else!

factor more time into how long every-day tasks/trips will take: Always a work in progress. I did pretty well in September.

recreate restaurant menu items: ehh. not this month I guess. I did find an amazing diner breakfast menu on Martha’s Vineyard that I’ll have to use in October.

be more adventurous with my reading selections: I read Flight Behavior and LOVED IT after a slowish start. I started Cutting for Stone but didn’t really get going. I blame the timing. I’ll try that one again. 

use the crockpot more: Nope, but now that fall is here I’m sure I’ll get going.  

seafood once a month: I had a quickie Angry Shrimp Wrap aka, Buffalo Shrimp Wrap that hit the spot. I swear I’ll get on the real fish soon enough.

Mr. J, my favorite person ever, my love, my taste-tester, my webmaster, my forever partner, my co-parent, and my personal IT specialist. Today we are celebrating our wedding anniversary today! I actually wanted to get a small cake from the bakery that did our wedding cake but they aren’t in business anymore! Four years has gone by quickly and although I don’t have a super special menu planned for tonight (oops, leftovers!), we will celebrate. We have learned and grown together since we met and fell in love. I think we’re growing more alike sometimes, and we’re still figuring out who we are. Our journeys are closer to home right now but our travel bug won’t be lost…just napping right now.

Now we add parents to our personas which is teaching us even more. Those early days/nights with the baby were cra-zy. I throughly appreciate that we have learned only one of us can be having a meltdown at once so sometimes the other just has to suck it up and deal. There are fewer meltdowns, #hallelujah and we’ve both learned how to steer back on course or just to try something different. I love to marvel at our little one with Mr. J, and for us to see the guy he’s becoming. I’m glad he can learn how to be considerate from his Daddy!

I must say, we’ve figured out who does what and have mastered the multi-tasking. We’ve hosted parties back to back the last 2 weekends and did it like champs! I’m so proud of us, though I’m also proud when we aren’t running out of clean bibs, or when we have eaten all he food groups. I love that we can let each-other shine.

This year we have a fun plan for the weekend! Stay tuned!
In 2014 I was preggers and Mr. J was supposed to get his Wisdom teeth out, which got rescheduled (to not yet) but we went out to dinner at a new-to-us spot over the weekend.
In 2013 we were celebrating in Paris & Prague, also we got to celebrate I found out I got a new job while in Paris! Champagne for everyone!
In 2012 we celebrated with a weekend to Portland, ME &  belated trip to New Orleans & a Caribbean Cruise. I also re-created our wedding menu.
In 2011 we got married Sat Sept 17
In 2010 we got engaged Fri Sept 17 in NYC

I’m so lucky he eats things, all different things. How would I survive with somebody who doesn’t eat real food?! (don’t even suggest that the baby may not eat things…) Here’s a round-up of some of our favorites (not to be served together):
BBQ Chicken Pizza – the first meal I cooked for Mr. J

The Parisian Burger with rosemary, dijon mustard, truffle aoli, & a fried egg. Hands down, the best burger ever!

Broccoli & Cheddar Soup is just what winter calls for. The bread bowl just makes it perfection.

Grilled Tuscan Herbed Chicken & White Beans is a recent fav

Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars, aka The Graham-wich

I’ll have some fun food finds to share after this weekend. I also have a burger, a special salad, etc that I still need to blog.