Taco Cup…Ole!

Posted on August 19, 2011 by Emily

Once upon a time, I discovered Pinterest. All productivity went down from there. Just kidding. Errr…maybe not kidding. I do love a good pin and the food pins going around are making me very inspired.

Ms. K pinned lasagna cups and then made them. They were so cute I promptly added wanton wrappers to my grocery list and planned some Taco Cups.

Ingredients

1 package wonton wrappers
⅓ pound ground chicken
3 scallions
1 ½ cups shredded cheese
½ can of black beans

Directions

Brown ground meat with taco seasoning and preheat the oven.
Lay a wonton into a muffin tin and top with the ground meat and cheese.
Top with another wanton, then black beans, chopped green onions, and more cheese.

Bake 20 minutes at 350 until melty & crisp.

These are super fun and a great way to stretch a few ingredients. The beans were the 2nd half of a can I used for the veggie burger I made recently too. The ground meat I froze after making ranch burgers the last time since I didn’t have an immediate use for it. These taco cups really only needed a few ingredients (for me: cheese & wanton wrappers).

I think these would make a great “finger food” or appetizer. They also would be great when having guests since taco cups be all ready without a million dishes, lots of chopping, or cooking in front of everyone.

Even though I do love make-you-own food set ups, I think my next theme might have to be fun & assembled items or appetizers. What else can I make in cup form?

Ima Guest Blogga

Posted on August 17, 2011 by Emily

I occasionally have guest bloggers but today I am one! Check out my guest blog post on Wicked Good Travel & Activities. The blogger Amy and I are virtual friends and I’m sure you’ll see her guest post here sometime too. Maybe we’ll get a chance to meet in real-life too! I think we could have some amazing themed parties based on some we’ve each had. Check out this one she did!

And how can you resist this guy making an appearance on there too?

Interested in being a guest blogger for The Three Bite Rule? Email emily@thethreebiterule.com for more info!

Veg Burg

Posted on August 15, 2011 by Emily

I scoped out a whole bunch of veggie burger recipes but ended up just including whatever I remembered when I grocery shopped. These were good, but could have used more crunch. I love when I have control over my burger since I’m not a red-meat-eater and have fewer choices.

Ingredients:

1 cup oatmeal
½ can black beans
1 eggplant, grated
1 cup panko
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup yellow onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tbs soy sauce
1 egg
salt & pepper

Directions:

Blend oatmeal until it becomes like a flour

Drain and blend the black beans in a food processer
Saute onion and garlic until translucent

Combine beans, onion, garlic, shredded eggplant, green onions, soy sauce, egg, and S&P in a bowl and stir to combine.

Form into patties and bake at 375 degrees for 10 min before flipping and baking another 10.

I packed these for lunch this week and served it on a light English muffin (toasted) with cheddar and spinach on the burger. I liked these a lot. I think the eggplant and beans made it really sizeable and filling.

I think next time I’d add in some nuts or sunflower seeds. I think another grain might have been good. Barley? Rice? I’ll keep that in mind next time.

I baked instead of frying or grilling since they’re not known to stay together well. I froze extras and think they’ll be a great find in the freezer once I’ve forgotten them at a time when I feel like there’s nothing for dinner.

Since you know, or have noticed, that I rarely bake so it may surprise you that I have a muffin top pan. I have never made muffins in it but love it for things like this! I use it all the time for anything patty shaped! Crab cakes, burgers, zucchini fritters…you name it. It is super handy. Once I have a kitchen with space, I’m sure I’ll bake more.

Mediterranean Bliss

Posted on August 11, 2011 by Emily

Is there anyone out there who doesn’t love Mediterranean food? It’s definitely my favorite. I never get sick of it. I love all the dip-able things….and all the olive oil…and all the feta…and all the marinades. I just can’t get enough. I recently enjoyed a Mediterranean meal with some of the most wonderful ladies in my life during my bachelorette weekend.

We went to an amazing winery earlier in the day, more on that later, but our dinner was at Temple in Providence, RI! We started with a few cocktails, in our own room within the restaurant with a less-than-enthused waiter, and the appetizer sampler to share. The Temple Mezze Platter was delicious and perfect for sharing. It had tzatziki, baba ghanoush (the best I’ve ever had, btw), hummus, dolmas, spanakopita, moroccan carrots & warm pita. Loved it! We ordered 2 platters to serve 4 each. It was plenty with some leftover.

I got a mango lime cocktail. It was sweet but tart and I loved it.

They brought out an assorted bread basket and roasted garlic. So good!

The menu seemed to have plenty of options for everyone. We ordered from every section of the menu! I got the Maine Lobster Flatbread. It had leeks and St. Andre cheese…also a fav. I’ve loved this buttery cheese but I’ve never melted it. Duh! I’m embarassed to say that I didn’t take a photo of my meal. Gasp! It was really good but I was full quickly. I ended up eating the lobster off the remaining pieces once I just couldn’t eat anymore. I’d never let lobster go to waste. One Ms. L got the lobster flatbread too but I didn’t bug her to get a photo since I had the same.

Ms. L got Spring Vegetable Fusilli. It was full of all different veggies. The server didn’t think she’d put too much of a dent in it…there just was so much!

This Mrs. E got Greek Style Chicken in a lemon, garlic, & oregano marinade. Ms. M got this as well.

Check. Out. This. Flatbread. How amazing does that look?! One Mrs. E and one Ms. L got this sausage and argula flatbread and liked it. Ms. L wasn’t overly into the argula on top.

Another Ms. L got the Temple Burger. It’s lamb with black olive tapenade and tzatziki. I was eyeing that one. temple_burg_200_290

Ms. A got Greek Salad and Portuguese-Style Caldo Verde. It was leek and potato soup with chorizo.

I loved everything about this weekend and everything about this meal. I was so pleasantly stuffed. Then, just when I thought the meal was over, they bring out these guys:

These are the best cupcakes I’ve ever had. The cake part was so good! Normally I’m just into the frosting on cupcakes from bakeries but these were different. We also amused ourselves trying to identify them. I ate the one that looks like s’mores (bottom left). They were specially delivered by Ms. L’s sis from Nancy’s Fancies. Seriously unlike any other bakery cupcake. What a nice touch to finish the meal with?! I have the greatest friends ever.

Bfast Fiasco

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Emily

This breakfast dish was something I had been dying to make and it unfortunately was a letdown. It had such potential! I saw this Maple Bacon & Apple Stuffed French Toast and was super excited. I mean I grocery shopped specifically for this and I hate to grocery shop.

Maple Bacon? Apple? French Toast? What’s not to love, right? I don’t know if I missed the mark on this with a bunch of seemingly small mistakes or if I just didn’t have the touch. Here it is, done right, by Kitchen Runway.If you’re intrigued, and want to prove me right/wrong go ahead with Kitchen Runway’s ingredients & directions since clearly theirs was successful.

Maple Bacon & Apple Baked French Toast

Ingredients:

21 King’s Hawaiian Sweet Rolls (I used potato rolls)
10 slices of maple bacon
1 large Fuji apple, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced
1 Tbs maple syrup
8 large eggs
2 C whole milk (this could be one of my problems)
½ C heavy cream
3 Tbs sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Topping:
8 slices of maple bacon (~9 oz), cooked and crumbled
½ C powdered sugar
2 Tbs + 1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp milk

Directions:

Quarter the rolls and place in a single layer on a baking sheet to dry out while you prepare the rest of the recipe steps.

Preheat oven to 325º F. Line a baking sheet with foil and place bacon in a single layer and bake for 35 mins. Remove from oven when done and place bacon on a paper towel to drain fat. Crumble bacon or use a knife to chop the bacon. Set aside.

Place sliced apples in a bowl and add maple syrup and stir to combine, set aside. (I used a mandolin and cut 2 fingers…bandaging myself delayed everything a bit. Chunks would have been better anyway.)

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, cream, sugar, cinnamon and salt until combined.

Grease a 9 x 13 baking dish with butter and place half of the bread in a single layer in the bottom of the dish. Cover bread with ½ of the egg mixture. Place remaining bread into the egg mixture and stir to coat.

Place sliced apples on top of the bread in a single layer and sprinkle the bacon on top.

Gently place the remaining bread on top of the apple and bacon layer. Pour remaining egg mixture to the baking dish. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. (hmmm. I think I gave it an hour in the fridge)

The next day: preheat oven to 350º F. Place dish on middle rack and bake for 60 minutes or until golden brown and puffy. If the French toast is browning too quickly, tent the baking dish with foil.

In the meantime, you can cook the bacon for the topping on the stove top or bake until crispy. (I used reserved bacon from the filling prep)

In a small bowl, whisk powdered sugar, maple syrup and milk.

Sprinkle bacon on top of baked French toast and drizzle with maple glaze. Serve with additional maple glaze or syrup if you like. (my glaze needed more powdered sugar)

Can’t win ‘em all. I re-tried it the next day, because things are better after chill-axing. No such luck. One of the very few items I bake is a chocolate bread pudding…not much different than this but that is fool-proof and this stuffed french toast proved problematic. Ohh well, onto the next.

Double Rainbow

Posted on August 4, 2011 by Emily

The most recent theme for our office potluck was RAINBOW! We each picked a color and brought something in with that color. It was such a fun one. I have to admit I wasn’t daring enough to choose certain colors…ahem:blue:cough:purple.I chose RED and made Strawberry Bruschetta. Toasted French bread + cream cheese + strawberries + balsamic reduction topped off with a little basil. Yum. I highly recommend bringing this one to your next bbq or summer party. I hadn’t ever made a balsamic reduction but it was so easy and worked really well. I loved this. The idea came from Mrs. C. She did a balsamic and honey drizzle and used goat cheese.

Orange was out sick that day.

YELLOW was Lemon Squares! They were gooey with a fantastic shortbread crust.

GREEN was guacamole! Ms. C learned how to pit an avocado while making it too!

BLUE was blue corn tortilla chips and even a special blue dip! The veggie dip had a touch of blue food coloring. What would you bring for blue? Seriously a tough one but we’ve had at least one dip at every potluck. ever.

PURPLE was Thai Lettuce Wraps in Radicchio! Some were vegetarian with tofu and some had ground turkey. I love bean sprouts so these were really fun finished off with a sprinkle of peanuts. Purple also had a blackberry fizzy drink too.

rainbow_purple_290_200

BROWN was chocolate from a friend dropping by. We stressed she didn’t need to bring anything but this was a creative little something.

Hope the rainbow has you inspired for something new or different. Another blog I love recently posted about a Grilled Appetizer Party which is a fantastic theme! The photos will have your mouth watering but don’t let that stop you if you’re trying to come up with a fun theme! What’s the next office potluck theme? Ohh just you wait…

Wing It

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Emily

I’ve been so excited to post these fan-tas-tic wings. Despite chicken being a very regular menu item for me, I haven’t cooked wings…probably ever. Also, I haven’t even thought about cooking wings since I do not have access to the grill. Waaa waaa. Someday it will come out of storage.

These were so good! I was so happy with them! They were sweet, had a nice soy zing, and the fresh green onions provided a crispness that I appreciated. I truly felt like these were restaurant quality.

Ingredients

1 pound chicken wings, drumette & wing separated, if desired
¼ cup soy sauce
3 tbs honey
¼ cup rice vinegar
¼ cup sesame oil
2 tbs chopped garlic
½ tsp salt
¼ cup chopped green onions

Directions

Whisk liquid ingredients together before adding trimmed wings and sauce to marinate for at least 3 hours.
After chicken has marinated, sprinkle with salt and heat oven to 375 degrees.
Bake chicken in a single layer, skin side down for 20 minutes and flip and bake for 25 minutes until browned & crispy

Serve with chopped green onion.

The leftovers were just as good served cold. It made me feel like I was on a picnic…though I haven’t picnic-ed in years and probably didn’t have Asian-inspired wings then anyway.

The recipe is pretty basic but super convenient since I had everything on hand, and an easy one to set up to marinate while other fun things are happening. I chopped off the wing tip but left the wing and drumette attached. I used the tips to make a little bit of chicken stock.

I served these bad boys with some of my favorite (also, mayo-less) slaw. It has apple for sweetness and a vinegary/mustardy dressing. I love it and can’t get enough of it. I made it here too. I haven’t attempted potato salad yet and it’s already August so I should really get on that!

These would be a great game time snack, appetizer, or meal. BBQ wings cooked low and slow and finished on the grill are my favorite. Until I live somewhere that allows grills, ours will hide in the garage just waiting for a chance to make the neighbors, and the pup, jealous with a smokey scent in the air.

On a Stick

Posted on July 29, 2011 by Emily

I was psyched to get a copy of “On a Stick” by Matt Armendariz and after quickly glancing through it I just couldn’t decide what to make! Everything just looked so good!

Part of me wanted an excuse to make something fun or an upcoming special occasion and the other part of me figured, what’s wrong with just making something fun on a Monday? It was a dreary day here in Boston and I was pretty soaked after getting home and walking the dog.I chose: (drum roll please) fried ravioli on a stick! It was a fun dinner and more filling than I thought. A few extra large raviolis sprinkled with Parmesan with tomato sauce for dipping. How great is that?! The leftovers toasted up nicely under the broiler too.

Ingredients:

marinara sauce
1 tbs olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole tomatoes, drained, seeded and roughly chopped
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 tsp sugar
salt & pepper

1 qt vegetable oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup plain bread crumbs
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried thyme
2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
12 store-bought ravioli

Directions:

1) make the marinara sauce: warm oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Add garlic and tomatoes and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Deglaze pot by adding wine, stirring to loosen browned bits from bottom of pot; then stir in oregano and sugar and seacon with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer mixture to a food processor and process to desired consistency. Return mixture to pot and simmer 30 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

2) Prehead vegetable oil in a large, heavy pot over medium-high heat.

3) Place flour in one shallow dish and eggs in another. In a third, mix bread crumbs, 1/4 cup Parmesan, oregano, basil, thyme, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

4) In two batches, toss ravioli in flour, gently shaking off excess. Dip in egg and then in bread crumb mixture. Thread 3 breaded ravioli onto each skewer.

5) once oil reaches 350F carefully place skewers in pot, 2 at a time, and fry about 4 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels and sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup Parmesan. serve warm, with marinara sauce on the side.

They came out awesome! They were definitely something I wouldn’t have really thought about making otherwise, and I’m sure I wouldn’t have put them on a stick. The stick helped make them more manageable rather than bobbing for raviolis.

The book is beautiful. The photos are lovely and very appropriately styled. Though I’m not familiar with Matt Armendariz’s work, the blogger voice comes through rather than the often-distant cookbook author voice. For the ravioli he says “if you haven’t tried them, you should”. True story.

Each stick item includes a recipe for the sauce too. This definitely puts some of these items to the next level. I plan to make the s’mores sometime before fall decends and the bacon wrapped shrimp looks like something my Mum and I would love.

I liked the background provided on certain recipes and that he differentiated all the types of sticks. While I don’t know that every item in the book needs to be on a stick, they definitely spice up the presentation and sometimes make the item more manageable.

Full 3 Bite Rule Disclosure: My copy of On A Stick was completely complimentary but my thoughts, opinions, and words are entirely my own.

Perfect Sauce at Sauce

Posted on July 27, 2011 by Emily

As often as I travel for work, I rarely blog about my eatings during those trips. Seriously. I worked four cities this year so far and this is the first one you’re hearing about. San Fran deserves it though. I simply adore the city and I always know there will be unexpectedly amazing meals coordinated by the local staff. Did you see this other treat in San Fran?

For the past two years we’ve eaten at Sauce, an unassuming little restaurant & bar in the Hayes Valley area. The menu features comfort food in a classy and sophisticated atmosphere. The food is not pretentious…it’s just all done really well.Feeding our large group, in a timely fashion, on a serious budget is no small feat. That’s why I greatly appreciate how generous and accommodating Sauce is.

Probably 90% of the group visited the bar before dinner. There were fantastic cocktails. I had my eye on a lemon-looking one garnished with a sugared lemon slice!

They started us off with the lincoln logs of portabello mushroom fries and fat boy ranch dipping sauce. AMAZING. These are so lightly battered and make you want to play Jenga when you see the tower. Ms. K who doesn’t even like mushrooms was impressed. We also got the meal going with some bruschetta. I loved it and could have enjoyed the appetizers as my whole meal.

Dinner was family style with salad, buttery carrot coins, brussels sprouts, veggie lasagna, and a side of meatballs.

I’m not a huge fan of carrots but these were so delicious. They were thin and warm with the littlest bit of pepper made them this memorable.

The lasagna was so good. It was cheesy and the sauce made it bright and really flavorful without being too acidic. The crispy edges made me swoon.

They served a really delicious chilled red wine. I knew it was coming so I hadn’t hit up the bar. The owner explained it and assured us it was meant to be chilled. Needless to say our table of 6 finished every last drop.

We even got dessert. I also knew this was coming from years past so I kept room. It was delightful cinnamon sugared donut bites with a vanilla burbon dipping sauce. Ooo that sauce! These were the perfect bites to finish the meal.

I love this place and thought we were so well taken care of. The extras like appetizers, wine, and dessert were greatly appreciated. I loved every sauce we ate. The owner introduced himself and told us how happy he was to have us given his connection to the cause as well.

Fish-Fish Tacos

Posted on July 25, 2011 by Emily

I’m usually on my own for dinner a few nights per week when Mr. J plays hockey. Sometimes I go for leftovers, sometimes it’s an opportunity be lazy (read as: ramen), and sometimes it’s my chance to whip up something I wouldn’t normally make for dinner. A week ago I made some fish tacos that were amazing. I grilled some mahi-mahi and called in some leftovers to complete it.

Do you remember the movie House Bunny? “Instead of the mahi-mahi can I just get mahi cause I’m not that hungry?” hahaha

Ingredients:

2 pieces of marinated mahi mahi
veggie mix (corn, red peppers, or taco veggies of your choice)
1 tsp lime juice or lime salad dressing
salsa
1 10” flour tortilla

Directions:

Marinate and grill mahi mahi

When cooked, fork the fish apart
Mix veggies and drizle with lime juice or lime salad dressing

Warm tortilla and assemble taco

These were really good and especially easy. I get the frozen mahi mahi from Trader Joe’s and swear by it. It’s the best anywhere. Remember I made pepperjack chicken and succotash recently? I saved the leftover succotash and that’s what ended up as my veggies for the tacos. Love it when a little bit of leftover something can make another meal complete!

I think a lime aioli or something creamy with a zing would have made these even better, but for an unplanned dinner, these were awesome. It was the perfect light but interesting dinner. I ate some leftover fish on a spinach salad the next day and loved it just as much.