TacoBell Inspired Pizza

The tacobell pizza has a cult following and is fun and easy to make at home. It is kind of a stacked quesadilla so go for that name if it has better market-ability with your eaters.

Our youngest was my sous-chef and then proceeded to eat the whole thing. She sometimes has the appetite of a bird so that’s either a ringing endorsement, or it fell on a day full of activity and included ingredients we all like, in a format not all that different.

Tacobell Pizza
Ingredients (for 4 servings):

1/2 pound ground meat
2 tablespoons taco seasoning (half a packet)
8 flour tortillas
1/2 can refried beans
~1 cup shredded cheddar
1/4 cup enchilada sauce
toppings: diced tomato, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, corn, red/green/pickled onions, olives, etc

Directions:
Cook, drain, and season the meat.
While the meat cooks, preheat the oven 
Warm the refried beans.
Spray 4 of the tortillas with non-stick spray and put them on a baking sheet in the oven for ~3 minutes until warmed through and getting toasted.
Take those 4 warmed tortillas out of the oven spread with the beans and top with ground meat.

Layer the next tortillas on top (optional: can be warming in the oven while the beans & meat go onto the first 4 tortillas.)
Spoon enchilada sauce on top of each stack and sprinkle on the cheese.
Return to the oven for 5 minutes or until the cheese melts.
Add any toppings to each! (Mine was diced tomato and green chili sauce and I forgot we had pickled onions! The others did combinations of black olives, sour cream, and salsa on the side to dip)

Slice and enjoy!

These were very fun and just added a slight twist to taco night. They work OK on a skillet/griddle but getting that top cheese to melt needs heat from above or domed with a cover!

Red Velvet Waffles

These red velvet waffles are so good and striking! They have a glaze drizzle or would be delicious with some cream cheese frosting! We froze the rest and popping one in the toaster on a weekday makes breakfast a bit more fun.

The Three Bite Rule - Red Velvet Waffles

These could be pancakes instead if that’s more your style!

The Three Bite Rule - Red Velvet Waffles

Red Velvet Waffles
Ingredients: (makes 3 waffles, ~6 servings)

1 cup pancake mix
1 cup red velvet mix
1 1/4 cup cold water (according to pancake mix)
1 egg
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Optional glaze: 3 tablespoons confectioners sugar & 3 tablespoons milk & drop of vanilla extract

Directions:
Mix together
Preheat the waffle iron and pour a scoop onto the iron and cook for ~3-4 minutes.

The Three Bite Rule - Red Velvet Waffles

Whisk together the glaze or serve with cream cheese frosting.

The Three Bite Rule - Red Velvet Waffles

These were fun and would be great as an option alongside plain ones with all the toppings, or savory waffles (I make these sausage, egg & cheese waffles).

Chopped Greek Salad

This chopped Greek salad has the perfect bite every time since everything is the same size! There are a few special ingredients to make it extra special – spoiler: mint and crumbled pita takes this salad to the next level.

Chopped Greek Salad - The Three Bite Rule

Chopped Greek Salad
Ingredients: (serves 2 meals, or 4 sides)

1 can garbanzo beans
1/2 cucumber
1 small tomato
1 bell pepper – any color
~10 mint leaves (or swap for 1 teaspoon fresh oregano)
~1/4 of a red onion
2 tablespoons oil/red wine vingear or 2 tablespoons Italian dressing
1 cup pita chips
Optional: 1 tablespoon creamy caesar + 1 tablespoon Tahini

Directions:
Chop the cucumber, tomatoes, peppers, mint, and red onion. Drain and rinse the garbanzo beans. Soak the onion in cold water.
Add all the veggies, herbs, and cheese into a bowl.

Chopped Greek Salad - The Three Bite Rule

Drizzle in the dressing or oil/vinegar, salt and pepper, zatar spice or Italian seasoning, and toss well.

Taste and adjust as needed. Just before serving, crumble in the pita chips.
Optional: stir together the caesar/tahini mixture and drizzle over the top.
Enjoy!

Chopped Greek Salad - The Three Bite Rule

The mint and the crumbled pita chips are the true stars of this salad. It is flavorful, filling, and has all the textures. I ate this for lunch – and can totally picture throwing it together for dinner on the baseball sidelines! It’d be great to bring to a party.

March 2024 Recap

March was a celebratory month – my birthday! I had a fun family dinner, a really fun night out for indoor mini golfing and dinner with friends, and booked a getaway with my college roomies. Highlights this month was a work trip to NYC and a very fun hibachi dinner for my nephew’s birthday.

These Chicken Cordon Bleu Rice Bowls were the best thing from my kitchen – the kids were wayyy more into this than I expected.

I gave these blueberry pie smoothies a facelift since the 2014 debut!

Orzo with boursin and sundried tomatoes was so good and couldn’t be easier.

I cannot wait for April vacation and we’re ready for some springy weather. I have a breakfast idea, maybe a salad, maybe something Mexican-ish.

The Big Kid:
He is doing indoor baseball clinics and is loving it. Any item in his hand becomes tossed into the air. I’m helping his class with bookclubs and like we all know, the teachers are not revered or compensated as they should be. His teacher was getting them reading that days chapter for 3 different book groups, helping with vocabulary words, giving discussion prompts, keeping kids on task, allowing bathroom trips, and having some read aloud to her all while they wiggle, drop pencils, and repeated ask which graphic organizer they’re supposed to use. They are very fun to chat with about their books.

The Little One:
She went to a Frozen Tea Party Sing-Along which was very cute. She survived pink eye – the medication drops just about did her in. We are trying very hard to get more food into her and are focused on calorie dense options. She learned her whole ballet and tap dances for the recital in May. The kids are very into walkie-talkies and the closet forts continue.

Goals for this year:
Year of small businesses/artisans/writers: I got a whole bag of local treasures from my bffs. It was perfect.
More meatless meals: peanut sesame noodles & edamame
sandwiches and salads: we had Jersey Mike’s one day and made our own salad bar
a focus on going to new or places we don’t get to all the time: We went to Puttershack for my birthday and I loved every second of it!
redo photos – blueberry pie smoothies!
what I’m reading: I read ‘West with Giraffes’ for bookclub and found it very captivating. For a non-fiction pic, I read ‘Extremely Online’ and it was very well done but so dense. ‘Lucie Yi is Not a Romantic‘ was a palate cleanser and pretty cute. I did not like ‘Good Material’ it wasn’t for me.

Blueberry Pie Smoothie

{originally published in 2014 and updated in 2024}

Spring is in the air so smoothies are back on the menu. I rarely make them when it is cold so I’m back to it now that temps are rising. I made this Blueberry Pie Smoothie back in 2014 and thought it deserved a bit of a refresh – and lots of ways to make it your own.

BlueBerry Pie Smoothie
Ingredients: (serves 2)

1 cup frozen blueberries
1 cup baby spinach (mine was frozen)
3/4 cup yogurt
1/2-1 banana
2/3 cup milk
2 graham crackers – missing from the photo! (or see below for swaps!)

Blueberry Pie Smoothie Redo - The Three BIte Rule

Directions:
Add ingredients to a blender – if you anticipate it having more chunks than you’d like, first blend the greens, milk, yogurt and add in the blueberries, banana, and graham crackers after.

Pour in a splash of water if too thick!
Enjoy!

The graham cracker in there was a new one for me. I love how much it changed the smoothie to totally seem like pie. Anytime blueberries are going in, so do some greens. They are undetectable and make it just a richer purple!

No spinach? Add any greens you like. Or frozen cauliflower for added fiber and thickness.
No graham crackers? Swap for nuts or wheat germ, oats, or some cereal.
Always add any ground flax seed, protein powder, or whatever you like.
No banana? Swap for avocado or pear, or skip!

Our absolute go-to one is this peanut butter & jelly inspired smoothie with blueberries, pb/pb protein powder, or I love this chocolate cherry smoothie.