#grilledcheeseplease Grilled Cheese Lorraine

Posted on November 28, 2017 by Emily

#grilledcheeseplease series comes to a close with an inspiration of flavors from what’s usually quiche! Quiche Lorraine with bacon, swiss, gruyere, and thyme seemed like perfect flavors for a grilled cheese!

Grilled Cheese Lorraine

Ingredients:

2 slices wheat bread
3 strips bacon
3 slices gruyere
2 sprigs thyme
1/4 cup shredded swiss
2 teaspoons butter

Directions:

In a large pan, fry the bacon. Then drain onto paper towel.
Assemble on top of one slice of bread with cheese, bacon, thyme, other cheese, and close with the bread.
The Three Bite Rule - Lorraine Grilled Cheese Bring the pan from the bacon to medium heat.
Spread 1/2 of the butter onto the bread and lay into the hot pan. Cook for 4 minutes. Spread the rest of the butter onto the other slice of bread. Flip and cook for another 4 minutes.
Slice & enjoy!

I loved the thyme in this sandwich! The 2 cheeses were great. Now I’m thinking the “lorraine” flavors need to become risotto!
The Three Bite Rule - Lorraine Grilled Cheese

#grilledcheeseplease Pancetta & Cheddah in Truffle Butter

Posted on November 21, 2017 by Emily

More #grilledcheeseplease continues! I was inspired by a pear-picking-party back in October. My bestie made a grilled cheese with tellagio cheese, pancetta, pear, and truffle butter. Ohh yeah. I made a variation with what happened I had around: pancetta; 2 cheeses; and truffle oil into butter.

The Three Bite Rule - Pancetta & Truffle Butter Grilled Cheese

Pancetta & Cheddar Grilled Cheese in Truffle Butter

Ingredients:

2 slices of French bread
3 tablespoons diced pancetta
1-2 slices white cheddar
1-2 slices gouda (not smoked gouda)
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon truffle oil

Directions:

Pan fry the diced pancetta until crisp, then drain on paper towel.
Slice the french bread into thick slices.
Assemble the grilled cheese with cheese, pancetta, and more cheese.
The Three Bite Rule - Pancetta & Truffle Butter Grilled Cheese
Whip the butter and truffle oil together and spread half onto the outside, and lay into a medium pan or a griddle on medium heat. Cook for 4 minutes.
Spread the rest of the truffle oil onto the top half.
Flip and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
Slice & enjoy!

The Three Bite Rule - Pancetta & Truffle Butter Grilled Cheese
This grilled cheese is a testament to a few ingredients packing tons of flavor. This isn’t as dainty a grilled cheese as it appears! I’ll be back after Thanksgiving with the opposite of turkey…in case you need that.

#grilledcheeseplease Sweet Potato & Sage Grilled Cheese

Posted on November 14, 2017 by Emily

The grilled cheese series continues! This grilled cheese has some legit Thanksgiving flavors. They’re healthy, cheap, and quite filling. Win. Win. Win. This is what you need on Black Friday! Forget that 3am shopping shenanigans. Mash up some of those leftover sweet potatoes, chop the sage from the stuffing, and pillage those cheese plate leftovers!

The Three Bite Rule - Sweet Potato Grilled Cheese

Sweet Potato & Sage Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:

2 slices sourdough bread
1/4 of a sweet potato, cooked and fork mashed
2 slices sharp white cheddar cheese
~3 leaves of sage, chopped chiffonade
2 teaspoons butter

Directions:

Assemble the ingredients and heat a large pan to medium-low heat with a tablespoon or two of olive oil.
The Three Bite Rule - Sweet Potato Grilled Cheese
Layer the sandwich with a slice of bread, 1/2 the cheese, the sweet potato, and sage, then the rest of the cheese and the other slice of bread.
Spread a little butter on the bread and turn the sandwich into the pan. Cover and cook for ~3 minutes. Spread the remaining butter onto the other slice of the bread.
Flip and cook for another ~3 minutes.
The Three Bite Rule - Sweet Potato Grilled Cheese
I love the sweetness of the sweet potato with the sharp cheddar and the sourdough bread. My sage plant is going strong so this came locally!

Turkey & Pear Grilled Cheese #grilledcheeseplease

Posted on November 7, 2017 by Emily

I got a suggestion to do a grilled cheese series after my Toasted Tuesday series in the summer. You don’t have to tell me twice! I’ve planned a month of not-your-average grilled cheeses. #grilledcheeseplease Good bread + multiple cheeses are the keys to a better sandwich.

This one is perfect for a weekend lunch or a sandwich this special can definitely be dinner…just add a side! I’m featuring turkey, sharp cheese, pear, and maple dijon spread. The dijon spread was on repeat from my fall breakfast sandwich. It is like your fav black shirt…it goes with everything.!
The Three Bite Rule -

Turkey & Pear Grilled Cheese

Ingredients:

1/2 teaspoon dijon
1/2 teaspoon mayo
1/2 teaspoon maple syrup
2 slices sourdough bread
2 slices sharp white cheddar
1 slice white American cheese
1/2 pear, sliced
1 cup baby spinach
1 tablespoon butter

Directions:

Heat a large skillet to medium heat.
Mix together the maple-dijon spread.
The Three Bite Rule - Maple Sausage & Apple Breakfast Sandwich
Spread a teaspoon of the maple-dijon onto each slice of bread.
Assemble with half of each cheese, turkey, spinach, pear, and the rest of the cheese.
The Three Bite Rule - Turkey & Pear Grilled Cheese
Top with the other bread and spread a little butter on the very top. Put that side down into the pan and grill for ~3 minutes. Then spread a little butter onto the other side while in the pan, and carefully flip. Cook for another ~3 minutes. Cover for the last minute.
Slice & enjoy!
The Three Bite Rule - Turkey & Pear Grilled Cheese
I loved light dijon flavor with the turkey and pear. The cheddar gives the flavor and the American provides the melty-gooey-ness. Good bread is a key here – that buttery crunch? Ohh yes!

Maple Sausage & Apple Fall Breakfast Sandwich

Posted on October 17, 2017 by Emily

My palate for fall is endless. Apples, maple, cheddar, and a hint of mustard made this the best breakfast sandwich ever. Ever. I could liiiive on breakfast sandwiches and definitely have my favorites. The apple provides the crunch and freshness with a little kick from the mustard in the sauce.
The Three Bite Rule - Maple Sausage & Apple Breakfast Sandwich

Maple Sausage, Egg, Cheddar, and Apple Breakfast Sandwich

Ingredients: (serves 1)

1 everything bagel
3 maple sausage links, casing removed and formed into a patty
1 egg
1 slice white cheddar
1/2 macintosh apple, sliced thin
1 teaspoon mayo
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon maple

Directions:

Pan fry the sausage patty until cooked through.
Toast the bagel.
Mix together the mayo, mustard, and maple spread.
The Three Bite Rule - Maple Sausage & Apple Breakfast Sandwich
Fry the egg in the pan from the sausage. Flip and add the cheese. Cover to melt the cheese.
Assemble the bagel with some mayo/mustard/maple spread, then apple slices, then sausage, then egg and cheese.

Enjoy!

This was a treat for a day off. I really loved the sweetness of the sausage, and the sharp white cheddar. The sauce was subtle and a nice touch. Everything bagels from my town bagel place are even better when they’re day-old and less than half off!
The Three Bite Rule - Maple Sausage & Apple Breakfast Sandwich

Truffle Mushroom Grilled Cheese

Posted on June 1, 2017 by Emily

Ohh so good. I looove mushrooms but I get there not everyone’s fav. I found a nifty mixed mushroom pack and whipped up a mushroom spread. I wanted some texture but a spread to get some flavor in each bite without whole mushrooms. I’m psyched to have leftovers for toast, or burgers, or whatever!
The Three Bite Rule - Tuffle Mushroom Grilled Cheese

Truffle Mushroom Spread onto a Grilled Cheese (for 2 & leftover spread)

Ingredients:

4 oz mushrooms (mine was a mix of crimini, shiitake, & oyster)
1 oz butter
1 oz olive oil
1 teaspoon truffle oil
1 teaspoon mayo
4 slices of bread
2-3 slices white American cheese
1-2 slices Fontina cheese

Directions:

Saute mushrooms, butter, oil and truffle oil over medium low heat with a generous sprinkle of salt & pepper.
The Three Bite Rule - Tuffle Mushroom Grilled Cheese
Pulse half in a food processor a few times to chop then scoop into a bowl. With the 2nd half of the mushrooms in the food processor, add a dollop of mayo and salt & pepper and pulse more into a smaller chop. Add into the bowl and mix together with the coarsely chopped mushrooms. Make in advance & refrigerate until serving or make and enjoy right away.
In the pan where the mushrooms cooked, heat to medium with a little olive oil.
Assemble the grilled cheeses with mushroom spread on one slice and the duo of cheeses on the other. Spread a tiny bit of butter onto one side and butter side down into the pan. When it is in the pan, spread the other side with a bit of butter.
The Three Bite Rule - Tuffle Mushroom Grilled Cheese
Cook 2 minutes on each side, until cooked to your liking and all the cheese melts. add a cover to the pan to help melt the cheese before the bread toasts too much.
Let sit for 3-5 minutes. Flip once on the cutting board before cutting. Seriously, give it a few minutes before slicing.
The Three Bite Rule - Tuffle Mushroom Grilled Cheese
Enjoy! Serve with some greens tossed in balsamic. The decadent and gooey grilled cheese with a little tang of the balsamic greens is perfect. I loved how oozy this was. I have some awesome wheaty & nutty bread but used oatmeal bread. American cheese provided the melt factor and the fontina provides a nutty flavor which is strong enough to stand up to the truffle oil and butter. Loved it.

Specialty grilled cheeses make great dinners for speed, variety, and this is not your lunchbox sandwich. I’m ready to put this spread on everything. Can you imagine butterflying a pork loin and stuffing with this spread and some spinach? Ohh yeah.
The Three Bite Rule - Tuffle Mushroom Grilled Cheese

Croissant Croque Monsieur

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Emily

This is THE sandwich which will make you believe in sandwiches for dinner. This is not your lunch box sandwich. The French know what they’re doing with this one. The Croque monsieur is grilled ham and cheese with a béchamel and some cheese melted on top. This knife-and-fork sandwich is lovely for dinner and I twisted it up with a croissant for the bread. If you add an egg it becomes a croque madame…though, adding an egg didn’t seem like it’d be stable on the croissant.

The Three Bite Rule - Croque Monsieur

Croque Monsieur (for 2)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup cream cheese
2 croissants
1 cup gruyere cheese, grated
4 slices ham, rolled & sliced

Directions:

In a small pot, bring the milk and cream cheese to a simmer to melt. Add salt and pepper and cook for 5-8 minutes then reduce to low heat to thicken.
Slice the croissants and toast on a baking sheet for 5 minutes to gently toast.
Then top the bottom croissant half with most of the cheese, the ham, and a sprinkle of pepper.
The Three Bite Rule - Croque Monsieur
Spoon some of the cream sauce on top.

Add another sprinkle of cheese and put the top croissant on and pop back into the oven just to melt the cheese.
Spoon a drizzle of sauce over the top.

Serve (with a fork & knife) and enjoy!

Ohh Monsieur Croque, you’re delightful on a croissant. Using good cheese is important for this guy. I shredded the cheese for prime melting capability and chopped the ham for ease of distributing onto an arch-shaped croissant. The sauce is so much faster and easier than a roux. I liked the cheesy-hint from the cream cheese.

Meatball Sliders with Garlic Butter

Posted on February 14, 2017 by Emily

I could slurp this garlic butter, but I won’t. I’ll save it for the sliders. It is so perfect with a juicy meatball, gooey cheese, and a sweet Hawaiian roll. Yesssss. We all ate these and love ’em. I would have liked a bigger meatball to match the size of the roll, but I used frozen meatballs making this 10x faster. The rolls were leftover and hanging out in the freezer from a NYE slider bar.

The Three Bite Rule - Meatball Sliders
I almost made the little one’s without the garlic butter. Then I stopped short, and thought: “Whattt are you doing???? You want the kid to eat all the foods, so give him exactly what the adults are having!” It might be from a running joke Mr. J has with the little one. When they couldn’t find it in the grocery store, they were saying “if you were minced garlic, where would you be?” The little one answers “no gar-ick”. He gobbled up his slider, so it was a good call to keep it the same.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Parmesan
6 slider rolls
6 meatballs
1 cup tomato sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400-degrees.
Melt the butter and mix in the garlic, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, and Parmesan.
Slice the rolls and spoon most of the garlic butter onto the bottom buns and bake for 10 minutes until they crisp a bit.
The Three Bite Rule - Meatball Sliders
Warm the sauce and meatballs. Place one meatball onto each bottom bun. Ladle sauce on top of each and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

Spread the remaining garlic butter onto the top buns and warm them in the oven too. Place the tops on and enjoy!
The Three Bite Rule - Meatball Sliders
I think the rolls & the garlic butter made these sliders. The rolls soaked the butter but then crisped so the sauce didn’t make them soggy. I’m so grateful that the 2-year-old eats everything and the garlic butter was a reminder for me to keep that going. Plus, he looooves meatballs so it wasn’t a hard sell.

Crispy Chicken & Brussels Sprouts Slaw Wraps

Posted on December 6, 2016 by Emily

I used these brussels sprouts as a slaw with apples, to go on a wrap with crispy chicken and buttermilk ranch. It was delightfully autumn-inspired for an unseasonably warm weekday that I wanted a speedy dinner that was a bit more unusual than the norm.

The Three Bite Rule - Brussels Slaw with Apple & Crispy Chicken
We tend to have big tortillas around because believe it or not, the almost-2 year old will eat a whole one as a quesadilla. The chicken was living a happy life in the freezer and only the apple and brussels were fresh. Voila! Dinner!

Ingredients: (for 2 wraps)

2 crispy chicken tenders
~6 brussels sprouts
1/2 apple
1 teaspoon whole grain mustard
1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon honey
2 burrito-sized tortillas
3 tablespoons buttermilk ranch dressing

Directions:

Cook the chicken according to the package…some are raw and need to get fully cooked, others come fully cooked and just need to be heated and warmed through.
In a bowl, whisk together mustard, apple cider vinegar, and honey. Slice the bottoms of the brussels sprouts, then finely chop them into slivers and add to the dressing. Slice the apple and add that in as well.
The Three Bite Rule - Brussels Slaw with Apple & Crispy Chicken
Let the slaw sit in the dressing, stirred occasionally, for 10 minutes while everything else preps.
Slice the chicken and let cool just a bit.
Lay the wrap out, then top with slaw, chicken, and a drizzle of ranch.

Fold the “ends” in, then start to wrap with the end closest to you folding over the filling. slowly roll it and tuck the “ends” into the middle to keep everything inside.
Add two toothpicks, slice between them, and enjoy!

The Three Bite Rule - Brussels Slaw with Apple & Crispy Chicken
The apple is awesome in there. I was interested to try the brussels sprouts raw. I’m not sure how I felt about it. It was pretty good. I did really love the mustard-y slaw dressing with the apple and then the crispy chicken. Overall it was a win in my book!

Baked Monte Cristo Pockets

Posted on April 26, 2016 by Emily

As a kid, one of my restaurant memories with the fam was to a pub that was a bit of a drive so it wasn’t a last minute trip. It was something we planned for and looked forward to. I remember my mom choosing French onion soup and my dad choosing a monte cristo…both choices we didn’t make at home. I had some leftover ham from Easter in the freezer and some sliced turkey so I wanted to try a monte cristo that I didn’t have to fry.

The Three Bite Rule - Baked Monte Cristo
Ingredients: (makes 4)
1 pkg of 8 croissants
4 slices turkey
2 slices ham
1/4 cup shredded swiss
1/4 cup strawberry jam

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.
Pop the croissant package and unroll the dough. Roll it out a bit, or press it to be more thin with your fingers. Split the dough into 4 squares, not the perforated triangles.
Lay a slice of turkey and a little ham onto each of the 4 squares of dough.
The Three Bite Rule - Baked Monte Cristo
Sprinkle a little cheese onto each, and spoon a few drops of jam onto each as well.

Fold the dough over the filling and pinch the bottom over the fold to close it.

Cut a few vent slits into the top.
Bake for 10 minutes, or as long as the croissant package instructs.
Serve and enjoy!
The Three Bite Rule - Baked Monte Cristo
I liked these. They also were so quick to assemble and bake which made me love them even more! Seriously: 5 minutes of assembly + 10 minutes of baking = dinner in a jiffy. The babe ate one chopped up and I toasted one for a breakfast one day!