Lentils with Carrots, Spinach Topped with Chicken Sausage

I had never cooked lentils before but this was the perfect dinner for winter-y comfort, a balanced dinner, and for speed! The lentils were so fast in the pressure cooker, or would be an easy one to prep the night before and the chicken sausage was fully cooked so they just needed a quick sear. Voila!

The Three Bite Rule - Lentils with Carrots & Spinach topped with Chicken Sausage

Ingredients:

8 oz lentils
2 cups water (I used half water, half chicken stock)
2 cloves garlic
salt & pepper (I used Krazy Pepper)
3 carrots
2 small potatoes
2 cups fresh spinach
chicken sausage

Directions:

Chop the potatoes, carrots, and garlic. Add to a pressure cooker with the lentils, water, salt & pepper. (See below for stovetop directions)
Cook according to your machine. Mine cooked for 10 minutes.
Bring a skillet to medium heat and sear the sausage in a drizzle of olive oil.
When the lentils are cooked and tender to the bite, stir well. Add in a splash more water if most of the moisture has evaporated.
The Three Bite Rule - Lentils with Carrots & Spinach topped with Chicken Sausage
Add in the spinach and stir again just until it wilts from the heat.
Serve a scoop of the lentil & veggies onto the plate.
The Three Bite Rule - Lentils with Carrots & Spinach topped with Chicken Sausage
Slice the sausage and serve over the top.
The Three Bite Rule - Lentils with Carrots & Spinach topped with Chicken Sausage
For stovetop lentils:
Bring lentils & water to a boil in a heavy pot. Then reduce the heat to medium low for 20-30 minutes. Here’s a good lentil tutorial.

This hit the spot. It was so fast and was such a great side dish that got to be the star of the plate! The little one enjoyed the lentils and I have another stash for a rainy day. It made plenty for 2 of us to have for dinner, Mr. J to take for lunch, and for the little guy to have some the next night for dinner…so 4 servings.

Lentils are speedy in the pressure cooker but since they reheat well, if you’re making them on the stove: put the pot on the night before and store them in the fridge once they’ve cooked. Then you just warm them and add the spinach before serving. They don’t need a ton of stirring or babysitting so you can catch up on The Bachelor, or whatever you do before bed.

January 2016 Recap

It is official. I have a 1-year old. I think it went by sooo fast. Mr. J feels like since the little one has changed so much that it seems about right. T is so funny right now. He LOVED the cake…mashing it, eating it, and having frosting hands. The Little Man Party was fun and he’s one lucky guy. WE are a lucky family.

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January is off to a good start. I’ve used the pasta attachment 2x and the pressure cooker at least 2x…maybe 3? I love that thing. Dinner has to be super fast, or prepped in advance. That’s the only way it can happen after getting home from work, the little one wanting to eat ASAP, tub time, and bedtime. For now, the babe eats with me and then sits with us while we eat for a few minutes….that point of his patience is low. He’s onto drinking whole milk and pretty soon we’ll be off bottles. Woohoo!

This super quick Greek Flatbread with hummus, chicken sausage, feta, and arugula was one of my favorite things this month. It would work well as a wrap too, depending on your preference!
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Hummus Flatbreads
I’ve been on this bfast quest for weekday savory breakfasts. I had hoped to sneak one more in this week, but alas, I had a cold this weekend and didn’t cook a ton. These breakfast bowls have cracked wheat, bacon, egg, and everything-bagel seasoning. So fun! You could use rice, beans, lentils, barley, oatmeal? or whatever strikes your fancy.
The Three Bite Rule - Breakfast Bowls
My other fav this month was a Mexican-inspired BLT with a smear of refried beans and taco-spiced aioli. Sooo good. I served these guys with Mexican Street Corn that I made in the morning before work. Then I used the leftover beans to make bean & cheese quesadillas for the little one. He loved them!
The Three Bite Rule - Mexican BLTs

I’ll keep the savory breakfast going…I have a few more ideas I didn’t get to yet! 

2016 Goals:
The Year of the: Seasonal Decor I got the birthday string, thank you Target Dollar Section! and this awesome tree…so perfect for some “winter” decor versus Christmas.
do something a different way: ehh. I’m not sure where I was going with this, but switching the little one to a big-guy carseat and to milk means we definitely aren’t stuck in old ways of doing things!
drink more water: I’m tracking it, which at least makes me aware, and I’m making sure to get 10 oz in before coffee. #winning
make more interesting side dishes: yes! This risotto was so great!
cook more soups & sauces: I made broccoli & cheddar soup while it was snowing…that seemed appropriate.
watch more movies: we went to the movies 200% more than the last few months! I saw Mocking Jay and Spotlight in the theatres. We watched Foxcatcher, Inside Out, and 22 Jump Street, at home too.
make working out a higher priority: ehh. Not succeeding here but I got all into some fitbit daily challenges which got me moving a bit more.

Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

I’m trying to work through some freezer items. Some frozen ground chicken was my next victim. Muhh-haha.

I decided to use it for meatballs and thought they’d be perfect being Chicken Parmesan Meatballs. I love homemade meatballs and don’t make them nearly enough. Part of my love is for the crisp bits, though I detest frying stuff so I make my life a little harder and bake them, turning them often but filling the house with scents of garlic/parmesan/meaty goodness. I almost wanted to partially bake them, then coat them in breadcrumbs, and fry them (do it!) but alas, I didn’t have the energy when it came down to meal-time.
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I made these the night before and they were all ready to heat-and-serve after work.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground chicken
1/4 cup Italian breadcrumbs
3 tbs milk
3 tbs chopped garlic
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp Italian seasoning

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375-degrees.
Stir the breadcrumbs and milk together.
Gently mix together the ground chicken, breadcrumb mixture, garlic, Parmesan, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt & pepper.
The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Parmesan Meatballs
Roll into golf-ball sized meatballs.
Bake on a sheet pan drizzled with olive oil. Bake for 10 minutes then roll onto another side. Repeat again to bake a total of 30 minutes.
Remove from the oven and serve immediately, or cool on a cooling rack or paper towel.
The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Parmesan Meatballs
Add into tomato sauce in an oven-friendly skillet or pot over medium low heat for about 20 minutes if the meatballs are cold or 10 minutes if they’ve just come out of the oven.
The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Parmesan Meatballs
Cook some pasta to serve the meatballs over, or warm baguette rolls for subs!
The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Parmesan Meatballs
When the meatballs are warmed, sprinkle some cheese over the top and return to the oven just to melt the cheese.
The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Parmesan Meatballs

Serve and enjoy!
The Three Bite Rule - Chicken Parmesan Meatballs
These are so flavorful and fluffy. There’s some serious garlic and salty Parmesan flavors in these. The babe loves meatballs – probably because he’s still growing teeth so they’re not too tough to munch. Sometimes I add some red wine into my meatballs but for these, I really wanted the Parmesan to be front and center.

Bacon, Egg & Grain Bfast Bowl

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.
The Three Bite Rule - Breakfast Bowls

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.

Greek Flatbreads with Hummus & Chicken Sausage

This is such a winner for a quick dinner that feels wayyy different than others during the week. Hallelujah for naan. I love it for individual pizzas and the naan gives good options for a soft, doughy base or a crisp thin-yet-even pizza crust. I went with the latter. This flatbread has hummus, mozzarella, feta, chicken sausage and is topped with arugula or you could have the arugula salad on the side. I like the freshness and crunch.

The Three Bite Rule - Greek Hummus Flatbreads

Ingredients:

3-4 naans
2 chicken sausages
1/2 cup hummus
1 cup mozzarella
1/2 tsp dried oregano and dried thyme
1/4 cup feta
2 cups arugula, chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400-degrees and place the naan directly on the oven racks for 5-10 minutes (towards 10 minutes for a crisper crust).
Pan-sear or grill the sausages until caramelized and crisped. They come fully cooked so cooking the exterior is for taste.
Spread the naan with hummus, then top with cheese and dried herbs.
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Hummus Flatbreads
Slice the sausage at an angle and place a few slices on each naan.
Sprinkle with feta, then bake for 5-7 minutes – just until the cheese melts.
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Hummus Flatbreads
Top with fresh arugula, slice, and enjoy!
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Hummus Flatbreads
I loved these. The hummus as “sauce” was so great, such a creamy element with very little mozzarella. This flatbread was a great way to use only a small amount of the chicken sausage, a small amount of cheese, annnnd a small amount of feta. I loved the cracker-ish crunch to the naan but it is so perfectly chewy when barely cooked.

This is such a fast one that I’m sure I’ll repeat it soon. I love to make dinner most nights but there’s such a short window of time from getting home at 6 with the babe to fit in his dinner, a tub, playing, and his 7:45 bed time. This was a dinner I could be super quick with so we could all have dinner together, plus one leftover for Mr. J’s lunch the next day. Hooray!
The Three Bite Rule - Greek Hummus Flatbreads