Green Smoothie

I did it. I mean, in my defense, what kind of food blogger would I be if I didn’t give a green smoothie a shot and get on that bandwagon finally?
The Three Bite Rule - Green Smoothie

I’ve snuck some spinach into a smoothie before, but I did it with blueberries which hide the green-ness. I think this is more about the color and texture than about the flavor. Let’s be real: raw spinach blended doesn’t give off any huge aggressive flavor. It seems about time to blog about a green smoothie, with spinach, and avocado.

Ingredients:

1 green apple
2 cups fresh spinach
1 small avocado (or ½ of a regular avocado)
1/2 banana, frozen
6 oz greek yogurt
1 tbs honey
⅓ cup milk

Directions:

Blend all the ingredients.
Enjoy!

The Three Bite Rule - Green Smoothie

I liked this green smoothie a lot. It wasn’t as sludge seeming as I’ve heard the green juiced drinks are. I didn’t include any parsley or lemon which bottled green ones often have.

I didn’t feel like I was doing a cleanse detoxing. That scares the beejesus out of me. Do you know people who’ve done it? Bahhh. Yikes. Eeeek. I can’t imagine. I like the idea of detoxing off overly processed foods or striving for as many raw/whole/real foods. I’d rather try to eat more veggies or really, anything other than all liquids.

This smoothie isn’t exactly going to detox you, but the yogurt makes it come together and the milk & honey make it slightly sweet and drink-able. The apple & banana are both sweet and the spinach and avocado are kind of neutral to me. It is for sure a good way to get some more veggies into your day. That’s a plus for everyone.
The Three Bite Rule - Green Smoothie

Avocado – good for fiber & good fat
Spinach – barely any calories, more vitamin A than your usual bfast
Apple – upps your vitamin C & fiber
Banana – Potassium is ideal after an intense workout, or after an evening of drinks.
Greek yogurt – Greek yogurt has about 2x – 3x the protein of regular yogurt and wayyy more protein than just milk would give you, making this smoothie be filling enough for a meal. It’ll help get to your calcium daily suggested amount.

All that being said, I’d do it again. Do I want to juice green things? No thanks.

BBQ Chicken Bubble Up Pizza

This is one of the easiest pizza I’ve ever made. I love how this is kind of like regular pizza but kind of assembled like a casserole. Don’t get turned off by the term casserole. This is doughy BBQ chicken pizza and it is delightful.

The alternative “crust” is super simple and should not be overlooked.
The Three Bite Rule - BBQ Chicken Biscuit Pizza

Ingredients:

1 can refrigerated biscuits
1-2 chicken breasts
1 cup BBQ sauce
½ red onion
8 oz shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and heat a large skillet over medium heat.
Cut chicken into chunks and cook in the pan with half of the BBQ sauce. Turn over to cook for about 7 minutes. The chicken needs to cook most of the way through (it will cook more in the oven).
The Three Bite Rule - BBQ Chicken Biscuit Pizza
Open the biscuits and cut them in quarters, tossing them with 1 tbs of the remaining BBQ sauce.
Drop them into a 9×9 or 9×12 baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick spray.
The Three Bite Rule - BBQ Chicken Biscuit Pizza
Sprinkle on half the cheese, the onions, the chicken, and BBQ sauce.
The Three Bite Rule - BBQ Chicken Biscuit Pizza
Bake 25 minutes.
Top with remaining cheese and bake for another 10 minutes.
The Three Bite Rule - BBQ Chicken Biscuit Pizza

I loved this. It was simple and most of the prep time is oven-baking-time. I would customize this pizza a million ways. It would be easy to make a few different ones at the same time or even just half and half in the pan. Or in individualized dishes. How fun!

I think making it with BBQ chicken, and without any marinara, this becomes more borderline casserole. The biscuits were a soft and doughy base ideal for any pizza under the sun.
The Three Bite Rule - BBQ Chicken Biscuit Pizza

Want more easy alternatives to using dough for the crust? Here’s a Greek pizza on pita bread, or French bread pizza, or pizza dip, or on Indian naan.

I’ve been whipping up BBQ pizza forever. It was the first meal I cooked for Mr. J, way back, pre-blogging days. Speaking of Mr. J… We are celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary! I feel like we justttt got married. For our honeymoon we went to Spain & Italy. We went to Portland, ME for our 1st anniversary(seen here & here) with another celebration a bit after the actual date in New Orleans & through the Caribbean. This year’s trip is a big one! Just wait till I’m back & ready to blog it!

Bacon & Cheese Panini with Peach Compote

This panini was soo good. I mean, seriously, how can you go wrong with bacon, cheese, and something sweet? It was a really quick dinner but now that I think about it, this would be a good brunchy kind of dish because of the bacon.

The Three Bite Rule - Bacon & Peach Compote Panini

The peach compote has a sweet juicy flavor with a tiny zip to it…it isn’t spicy by any means. It could totally handle some jalepenos if you wanted spice. The peaches cook down considerably so even with just 2 peaches, there wasn’t much left over after making 2 sandwiches. It would be good on a cheese plate or on a crostini too.

Ingredients:

2 white peaches (or nectarines), diced
1 small onion, diced
2 tbs brown sugar
sprinkle of red pepper flakes
6 slices of bacon
4 slices of bread (I used seedless rye)
4 slices of gouda cheese (or fontina)
(optional: tomato, arugula, mustard)

Directions:

Add peaches, onions,and 3 tbs of water to a small pot over medium heat.
The Three Bite Rule - Bacon & Peach Compote Panini
Pan fry bacon until crisp.
Stir peaches and add red pepper flakes and brown sugar. It will be soft and will have reduced a bit. The onions & peaches will have broken down by now.
Peach compote cooks for about 10 minutes, but can be kept warm while everything else gets prepped.
The Three Bite Rule - Bacon & Peach Compote Panini
Assemble sandwiches with cheese, bacon, and spread peach compote onto one side of the bread.
The Three Bite Rule - Bacon & Peach Compote Panini
Pan fry or press sandwiches until cheese melts and bread crisps. (keep warm in the oven if making them in batches).
The Three Bite Rule - Bacon & Peach Compote Panini

I loved this. I kept it simple so there wouldn’t be too many competing flavors but I usually think “the more the merrier” when it comes to a sandwich. I would like some tomato slices or greens in this. Ham, prosciutto, or pancetta would all be good substitutions for the bacon. It would be great as a regular sandwich without toasting it, or having it on ciabatta.

Paninis are such simple dinners. The peach compote would hold up a few days in the fridge if making it in advance. I think this turned my sandwich into something special. I would be a grilled cheese with bacon if I hadn’t added it in there. Peach compote would be a good use if any of your peaches or nectarines get a bit squishy.

Want more panini ideas? This Italian Grilled Cheese is a super easy dinner. This Turkey, Cranberry, & Brie Panini is great if you’re inching towards fall. Top-your-own Chicken & Biscuits is a fun dinner sandwich too.

Brunch at Redd’s in Rozzie

I had been obsessing over trying this place Redds in Rozzie for brunch for a few weekends. It kept just not working out. Somehow Sunday morning were ending up busy. I was psyched when it fit in. If you follow @threebiterule on twitter, then you’ll see this also had trouble fitting into the ole blog schedule. I’ve just come in the door from Santa Barbara and now I’m off traveling again.

We went for brunch and sat outside. It was so cute and I just loved their menu even before eating there. My mum came with Mr. J and me and we ordered the same!
The Three Bite Rule - Redds In Rozzie

Breakfast sandwiches are my go-to for brunch and usually what I get the very first time, you know, to test the place out. I got the biscuit and egg sandwich with fried chicken. Ohh my goodness. I loved it. I ignored the hashbrowns and got right to business (grits were an option too). They make their own bacon & sausage, so that would be pretty amazing in here I’m sure.

The biscuit is to die for. It is so buttery, flaky, and huge. Everything you want in a biscuit. The egg was fluffy and sized perfectly. The fried chicken was amazing. It was super crispy and juicy. Ahhh! I’m salivating just telling you about this. I also wasn’t hungry 8+ hours later.
The Three Bite Rule - Redds In Rozzie

Mr. J likes traditional breakfasts so he got the old faithful. He liked it, and the homemade bacon was to die for…way better than it even looks.
The Three Bite Rule - Redds In Rozzie

I figured we couldn’t skip the house-made sticky bun. It was a necessity. It was delicious.
The Three Bite Rule - Redds In Rozzie

Next time I’d like to try their omelettes and maybe the hush puppies. I also spy some items from the dinner menu that I could really get behind (cough: scallops with a wreckage of summer veggies: crispy avocado: roasted leg of lamb: yum: cough).

It is such a cute spot and they care about local products while making everything themselves. I like the southern touches to their menu. The food is really good and true and not pretentious. I like that. A lot.

GO Burger NYC

Everytime I get back from NYC I say that I don’t go nearly enough. It is true, it is actually pretty close & easy to get to. Mr. J and I hopped a bus after work and were there in just a few hours. Enough time for a brief snooze and a movie on the laptop.

We got in and hung with S & E and their cute puppy Stella. Before we knew it, it was morning and the rest of the gang was arriving. When in NYC, we got bagels and devised our plan for the day. We picnicked and played in Central Park for a bit, did a beer tasting/sampling, got cupcakes and regrouped for dinner plans.

There was pretty much food & beverages all day. We took the dog for a walk along the East River to build up some space for dinner.
The Three Bite Rule - NYC Eats

I love that NYC has everything you’d ever want, and many many many locations of just what you want. We went to Go Burger and loved it.

I got the Mac & Cheeseburger. I mean, how could I not? When I saw that it had fried mac & cheese on top I really couldn’t look elsewhere. I thought about the salmon burger with pickled red onions & avocado but I just couldn’t.
The Three Bite Rule - NYC Eats

My Mac & Cheeseburger was a turkey burger topped with fried mac & cheese, cheddar cheese, caramelized onions, bacon, and homemade ketchup. It was so good.
The Three Bite Rule - NYC Eats

Mr. J got the same, but on a beef burger. There were some BLT burgers, a smashed burger, and a turkey burger amongst our group too.

Sunday morning we squeezed in a jaunt through Central Park and may have had Pick a Bagel…again. I was thinking about why bagels aren’t as good other places and maybe that’s how it should be. Maybe I don’t need a whole-wheat-everything-bagel that good to be around the corner from me.

It was definitely a weekend of eating, drinking, and catching up with longtime friends. Exactly as life should be.