Nutella Popcorn

I have some strong desire to make any flavor into a popcorn. I’ve made a few popcorns and I’m all about it right now. I like how easy of a treat it is and I love the crunch. I’ve yet to figure out how coating it doesn’t make it sogged/disintegrated but science was never my thing.

One day I had this miraculous idea that I HAD TO MAKE NUTELLA POPCORN. Had to. Right away. Good thing it takes about .5 seconds to get going.

Ingredients:

3 cups popped popcorn
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
3 tbs nutella
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper
Over medium heat stir the butter, brown sugar, and honey until butter melts. Bring to boiling over medium heat. Boil at a moderate, steady rate for a couple of minutes.
The Three Bite Rule - Neutella Popcorn
Remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and baking soda (mixture will foam up).
Stir in nutella until well incorporated and salt.
The Three Bite Rule - Neutella Popcorn
Mix popcorn and nutella caramel together and spread onto a pan.
The Three Bite Rule - Neutella Popcorn
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
The Three Bite Rule - Neutella Popcorn

This was a good one, but I needed a bit more popcorn. It was a bit stick to your teeth caramelly. I made it with 2 cups (above I recommend 3 cups). I also had visions of half nutella popcorn and half coffee-ish popcorn but my ratios were off when I randomly decided to split the caramel up between pots and when I hastily dumped too much coffee into one. Man, it was crazy for a minute.

How do you pop your popcorn? Are you a bag popcorn-er? In college my wise roomie Ms. A discovered how dirt cheap popcorn kernels are. It is astounding. I saw a 4 pound bag of kernels for $3.99 (that is 52 servings of popcorn, or about 7-cents per serving). It also doesn’t go bad. It is a whole grain. It has about 30-60 calories per serving. It has a lot of fiber. Need I go on? All of this is only referring to air popped white popcorn. Not the case when you coat it in caramel and neutella, but my point is air popping. My whole fam is all about these air poppers. It gives you a lot more control over what is going on it, how much butter, oil, salt etc. You dump kernels in and put it in the micro. Easy peasy.
The Three Bite Rule - Neutella Popcorn
I brought some into the office and warned the ladies it was a bit sticker than some caramel corn. It was all gone by the end of the day so I’ll consider it successful.

Ricotta and Pesto Pizza

Happy September! It is fall! We can eat fall-ish foods and still enjoy the summer veggies & BBQ fun. To kick off some inbetween season food I give you ricotta cheese. I have a love affair with ricotta. NOT cottage cheese…that I avoid. I can’t imagine when people don’t like ricotta, especially cooked into a dish. Like people who don’t like chocolate. Baffling.

I was itching for some this summer but thought it wasn’t the right time for lasagna or stuffed shells etc. I could eat it plain, by the spoonful, but that’s not a meal. My next thought was topping a pizza.
The Three Bite Rule - Pesto & Ricotta Pizza

Ingredients:

Pizza dough
1 chicken breast, marinated & grilled
1 cup ricotta
1 cup shredded mozzarella
½ red pepper, sliced
1/3 cup pesto

Directions:

Pre-bake the pizza dough for 20 minutes at 400 degrees until it begins to get crispy, but not cooked the whole way. (pre-cooking it a bit helps get it cooked through without drying out the toppings.
Spread half of the pesto onto the crust, then top with shredded mozzarella, peppers, sliced chicken, and dollops of ricotta.
The Three Bite Rule - Pesto & Ricotta Pizza
Drizzle the remaining pesto on top. Throw on any leftover shredded cheese.
Bake the topped pizza for another 10-15 minutes at 400 degrees.
The Three Bite Rule - Pesto & Ricotta Pizza

I adored this pizza. The creamy ricotta was a perfect pairing with some powerful pesto. These flavors definitely made this a special pizza. The chicken seems quite optional but I think it was integral to keeping the pizza fresh & not wintery. I also only used 1 chicken breast. They tend to be so big so with any other topping, one is plenty.
The Three Bite Rule - Pesto & Ricotta Pizza

Keep Calm

I’m realizing that some of my posts might make it look like I have it all together. If you happen to be having one of those days where the blogosphere appears perfectly coordinated when you aren’t as put together then I hear ya but I can also console you. I don’t have it all together.

Did I mention Mr. J and I are painting our bedroom? This is quite the undertaking for us. We’re new to being home-owners and it is a learning process. Thankfully our house didn’t need much. Ummm have you seen my gorgeous kitchen?
kitchen_wide_590_390
The bedroom painting is progressing, slowly but surely. Here’s what I keep telling myself:
a) we’re lucky that we can just set up camp in a guest room.
b) that we don’t have any actual renovation projects.
c) it looks awesome (the parts that are done).
d) that Mr. J and I work together really well and definitely have similar tastes.

Here’s what really annoys me:
a) the trim is taking FOREVER…as in 4 coats. It didn’t seem like much trim but the radiators, around the windows, closets, baseboards, and the door, is quite a lot.
b) to get dressed I need to put on my paint flip flops to traverse over the plastic sheeting because there are clothes in both bedrooms and my stuff feels scattered.
c) by the end of the day I’m tired- trying to set up to paint and clean up each night takes time and we’re only inching closer to being done.
d) I haven’t cooked, grocery shopped, or meal planned which means we’ve been buying lunch and feeling physically crappy for eating poorly and not sleeping well. I like my routines.
e) every weekend is jam packed and there still a lot to do before we can actually move back into the room (like pick out a new bed etc).

September is going to be a very busy month. I keep taking on more things which I love, but which also overwhelm me. I have 1st world problems. I have some work travel, 2 weekend trips away, I agreed to walk an insane distance in the name of work-research, and there’s lots more bedroom re-doing to do. I have some fun posts for you coming up (like a potluck! something with bacon! something with neutella!) so stay tuned, and good luck if you’re feeling the weight of everything too.

(need bacon? get fun bacon stuff here!)

What I Ate: Ramen Coleslaw

I was trying to think of an easy side I could literally throw together. I was lacking motivation recently and somehow this came out of nowhere. I’ve made it a few times, but not once this summer yet. My twist is using broccoli slaw instead of cabbage or slaw mix.

This is so easy and takes 5 minutes to prep and goes with everything. It isn’t vegetarian but it is delicious! It is probably the cheapest side-dish ever. I dare you, find a cheaper one.

The Three Bite Rule - Ramen Slaw

Ingredients:

1 bag broccoli slaw
1 pack ramen noodles, chicken flavor
3/4 cup oil
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 tbsp sugar
sprinkle of pepper
1 of the chicken pack flavorings in ramen noodle package

Directions:

The Three Bite Rule - Ramen Slaw
Boil the ramen noodles for about 5 minutes then drain.
Whisk or shake in a jar the oil, vinegar, sugar, pepper, and ramen flavor pack.
The Three Bite Rule - Ramen Slaw
Mix noodles, slaw, and dressing.
The Three Bite Rule - Ramen Slaw
Refrigerate at least 30 minutes before serving. I should have thrown in sunflower seeds. That crunch on top is delicious. I like how oil-vinegary this is. There is so much flavor from the ramen. My Mum and mother-in-law both make it with grapes & nuts. I like this salad when you keep the noodles raw too. They’re super crunchy.

Let’s break it down:

1 pkg chicken ramen: $0.24 (12 pack @ $2.99)
1 pkg broccoli slaw: $2.99
very little oil & vinegar
total = $3.23 and serves about 6, or $0.53 per serving.

Can you believe that pricing? It’s a crowd pleaser that won’t break the bank.

Lighter Lemon Squares

I haven’t shared anything sweet in a while. I made some lemon squares for my dad’s bday. He’s a sucker for lemon squares…get it? Hahaha!

They were good, but quite tart. He’s a healthy guy so I thought he would appreciate that Cooking Light had paired down the sugar and butter in this one. Without futher ado, I give you
The Three Bite Rule - Lemon Sq

Cooking Light’s Lemon Squares

Ingredients:

3 2/5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3/4 cup)
1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 tablespoons canola oil
Cooking spray
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
2 tablespoons powdered sugar

Directions by cooking light:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Place flour, 1/4 cup powdered sugar, pine nuts, and salt in a food processor; pulse 2 times to combine.
The Three Bite Rule - Lemon Sq
Add butter and canola oil. Pulse 3 to 5 times or until mixture resembles coarse meal. Place mixture into the bottom of an 8-inch square glass or ceramic baking dish coated with cooking spray; press into bottom of pan.
The Three Bite Rule - Lemon SquareBake at 350° for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Reduce oven temperature to 325°.
The Three Bite Rule - Lemon Square

Combine granulated sugar and next 5 ingredients (through egg white) in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Pour mixture over crust. Bake at 325° for 20 minutes or until set. Remove from oven, and cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours. Sprinkle squares evenly with 2 tablespoons powdered sugar.
The Three Bite Rule - Lemon Sq

These are their words, not mine. I was a nincompoop (why yes, spellcheck does knows that word and corrected it for me) and didn’t read through the whole recipe carefully first. This means I missed the memo that I was to toast the pine nuts. It was fine but the squares would have had 10x the nuttiness if I toasted the pine nuts.

Also ½ cup of fresh lemon juice doesn’t help. I juiced 2 large lemons and didn’t quite get ½ cup. Go with 3 lemons or have some bottled lemon juice to top it off. Do you know the trick to roll them around with some pressure to get the most possible juice? Roll with the meat of your hand while admiring your edgy nail polish and while applying pressure.  (It is prob not edgy anymore now that I said that, right?)
The Three Bite Rule - Lemon Sq

If I haven’t given enough credit where credit was due, this recipe (in it’s entirety came from Cooking Light just like the prior 3 links)