October in Review

Happy halloween eve! I’m hoping to get more trick or treaters than last year. We’ll see how that goes.

October was BIG in my life. I left the old job and started a new one! It was a pretttty big day on the blog when I announced it, probably thanks to facebook.

Did you get a chance to read about Paris here, here, or here
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and Prague here or here

The Three Bite Rule - Prague Dinner
I made a really good pizza with grilled chicken and veggies. It was topped with fontina, grilled chicken, asparagus, tomatoes, and drizzled with a balsamic reduction.
The Three Bite Rule - Balsamic Chicken Pizza
This pizza and then this salad were both last ditch effort to make the best of still fresh local produce. I had a cuke from the ‘rents so I shipped up a Chopped Greek Salad
The Three Bite Rule - Chopped Greek Salad
I made a really amazing grilled cheese with balsamic onions. I realize you don’t need a recipe for it, but it was sooo good and perfectly fall.
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November will be busy at my new job. I’m getting ready for PUMPKIN week next week. Get ready for 3 posts of pumpkin foods! I have a post to feature a really cool fall program I want to share.

Loaded Potato Pizza

I’m redoing an old post for you. This potato pizza is so good and deserved a face lift from some old tiny pictures I took a few years ago. The potato slices are really thin and cook quickly.

Potatoes, cheese, bacon, and some buttery garlic spread is EXACTLY what you need tonight for dinner.
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This pizza is so good. The simplicity is just spot on. Use any pizza dough you like for this easy pizza.

Ingredients:

pizza dough
2 tbs butter
2 tsp garlic, minced
2 medium potatoes
8 oz shredded cheddar
2 slices of bacon
chives or green onions

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (also preheat pizza stone if using one)
Spread dough onto a pizza stone or pan poking a few holes with a fork.
Bake for 10 minutes until somewhat cooked.
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While dough precooks, cook butter and garlic over low heat until melted and warmed through. Slice potatoes into thin slices using a mandolin or a sharp knife.
Remove crust from the oven and spread garlic butter over the top.
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Spread cheese onto pizza dough and gently lay potato slices slightly overlapping.
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Continue laying slices in circles around the pizza.
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Top with salt & pepper.
Return to the oven for another 10 minutes (turn down to 350 if the potato slices aren’t cooking enough.
While the pizza cooks, pan fry the bacon and top the pizza with the bacon and chives.
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Slice & serve!

We drizzled some ranch if you want a bit more moisture. My crust got a bit dark while the potato cooked. I should have turned it down a bit to 350 or 375 degrees.

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A Day In The Life of My Food

I realized there are so many food moments I really care about don’t normally document. Now’s the time! Today’s post shares a bit about my daily food that isn’t blog-worthy but I’m sharing “the normal”. This line-up is before I got my new job but I was just too excited to post vacay posts so this post was just hanging out. Maybe today’s post won’t be life-altering, but here ya go. I’ll do another with my new job-life.

Let’s start out with some cuties, just so this post can be worth it, and I just haven’t posted them in a while. I’m basically making them cuddle though that’s not really how they roll. The little one is in charge and the big one is just very sweet and accommodating.
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I love that Windsor (lab) is getting wise under his chin. He’s much more mature than the puppy I met 5 years ago. I also always smile at Bailee’s (cocker spaniel) brown eyebrows. Aren’t they so cute? Anywho, onward to the food.

Bfast is always at home. Regardless of the fact that I would walk through an intersection with Dunks, Brueggers, and S-bucks. This day it was banana, warmed peanut butter, and some granola. Often it revolves around Greek yogurt.
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My day would start, like really start, once I had breezed through Bruegger’s with my bottomless coffee card. It felt like such a splurge to buy the card for the year, but I LOOOVED starting my day this way. Sadly, I no longer am near any Bruegger’s so I’ve gifted my card to a friend who is office-less, so I gave her coffee and a place to work. Win!

This is my fav park of the city. It used to be a parking lot which is now below ground. So now it is the opposite of paved paradise and put up a parking lot. Isn’t the fountain picturesque?
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Before I left the job I had to be sure to get my fav lunch. I was pretty good about packing lunch, but Boston Kebab House is soooo good. And cheap, though the mezze bar is by weight so it can get away from you.
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The falafel is really good, I love marinated mushrooms and the couscous with tomato, onion, and cranberries is unbelievable. I went with baba ganoush and free wheat or white pita comes with it. This is about $6….can’t beat it.

Dinner was his & hers meatloaf cups, cauliflower mashed potatoes, and some roasted broccoli. Nothing crazy or super exciting. His = beef, hers = ground chicken. The sauce was ketchup, sriracha, and some brown sugar.
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That’s it. That’s what a blogless day of food looked like just a few weeks ago. Now I have a new job, which provides lunch, so everything is different! Plus, I get out at 5pM which is unbelievably life changing!

I’m getting into a new routine. I’ll post my new-normal one of these days.

Grilled Cheese with Balsamic Onions

I try to plan a few easy/easier/not-always-blogworthy/leftover dinners each week. Every night is not photo worthy here at casa-the three bite rule, especially since my new job us suuuuper busy. Tonight is my first event there! Wish me luck!

Since it is feeling like fall with lovely 60-degree days, I wanted something seasonal. Grilled cheese and tomato soup seemed appropriate since I kept seeing interesting grilled cheese passing right under my eyes.

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A Cup of Jo posted a grown up grilled cheese from Just a Taste that looked so good. It was packed with cheddar, kale, and caramelized onions. That was my inspiration for the balsamic onions I added to my sandwich.

I also saw From Away posting an amazing canned tomato soup with a BLT twist with grilled cheese croutons.

My dinner was a souped-up grilled cheese (haha, get it?) and a can of creamy tomato soup. Done and done. I liked the little touch to make it more exciting but really the beauty of this meal was how simple and perfectly paired this meal was.

I didn’t really caramelize the onions. I cheated.
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I cooked the onions through, just past becoming translucent. Then I drizzled some balsamic vinegar and cooked them for another minute or two.
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This is onions done in 10 minutes, tops. No 40 minutes of onion-caramelizing for me that night.

The soup was just a heated can of tomato bisque from Campbell’s. I mean, I know there’s a lot of sodium in there, but it isn’t crazy-bad-for-you if the rest of the meal is reasonable. I don’t use any butter for the grilled cheese either – just some nonstick spray and a little olive oil.

The grilled cheese had some sharp cheddar and some swiss on sourdough. The onions were sweetly tangy. Mr. J doesn’t really do soup, but he was a good sport about it.

Mr. A bookmarked these note-worthy grilled cheeses until he can get his life back from work. I also recommend my bacon, cheddar, and peach compote panini, or my Italian grilled cheese with breaded eggplant, or the Pioneer Woman’s hot ham & cheese with poppyseed sauce, or it is perfect season for a grilled turkey, cranberry, and brie panini.

What grilled cheese ideas do YOU have? 

Quick Spinach and Artichoke Pasta

I was craving spinach and artichoke dip and remembered thinking it could pretty easily be a pasta dish. Last year I made a 1-dish pasta that cooked in it’s own liquid. This time I tweaked the original thought and went with creamed spinach which is totally decadent and such a perfect secret ingredient . Shhh! I once used it in deep dish pizza and it was the best I ever made! I figured the beauty of this dinner is the speed!

Ingredients:

8 oz frozen artichokes
8 oz frozen creamed spinach
8 oz dried pasta
2 chicken sausage links, sliced
1 tsp garlic, minced
6 oz swiss cheese

Directions:

Boil water for pasta.
Defrost creamed spinach and artichokes in a large pan over medium-low heat.
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Cook pasta until aldante.
Drain and reserve some of the cooking water (about a cup).
Add the pasta, sausage, garlic, salt, and pepper to the spinach and artichoke.
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Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, adding a splash of cooking water and stir well. Add more cooking water to loosen depending on your preference. Sprinkle with a little cheese and toss before serving.

I liked this one. It was so fast and really easy.
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This could be tweaked. Add cream cheese to make it thicker. Add fresh spinach for more texture. Add mushrooms, chicken, or onions. Add a roux and some cream for a truly thick sauce. Swap out the creamed spinach and make your own if the prepared part isn’t your thing.

I was going for speed and ease, but you get to make that call. I also avoid oily artichoke hearts but again, go for what you like!

Other spinach and artichoke hankerings? I made spinach and artichoke pockets in puff pastry. I made spinach and artchoke nachos. I made spinach and artichoke calzones.

Cost Breakdown: 
8 oz frozen creamed spinach: $2.19
frozen artichokes: $1.45
2 chicken sausage links: $2.00
1/2 box pasta: $0.75
Total = $6.39 or about $2.13 per person for 3 servings