Monte Cristo Grilled Cheese

December seems to be a combo of feeding guests and repurposing leftovers! Use all the leftovers! This ham, cheese, and raspberry jam sandwich on sweet bread is craving your leftover party foods (like that spiral ham) or cheese (remnants from a cheese board)! Sometimes they are ham, turkey, and cheese and the sweet fruity spread is what makes this iconic sandwich.

I made these for a lunch and it brought me back to childhood memories of my Dad ordering the monte cristo at a family favorite restaurant. That sweet bread with salty ham and melty cheese is such a great combo. Restaurants deep fry it but this is quickly pan fried without the hassle of battering the whole sandwich.
The Three Bite Rule - Monte Cristo Grilled Cheese

Psssst. I used challah bread for this (and you can use leftover challah for this french toast too!)

Monte Cristo Grilled Cheese (for 2)

Ingredients:

4 slices of challah bread
2 tablespoons raspberry jam
2 slices of white cheddar
2 slices of American cheese
4 slices of ham

Directions:

Slice the bread and spread one side with raspberry jam. Then layer American on the other side, then ham, then cheddar to assemble the sandwich.
The Three Bite Rule - Monte Cristo Grilled Cheese

Preheat a griddle or frying pan.
Lightly spread the outside with butter/oil/mayo and lay that side onto the pan.
Cook for a few minutes and spread the other side.
Carefully flip and cook for a few minutes more. Cover for the last minute to ensure the cheese all melts.
Slice and enjoy!
The Three Bite Rule - Monte Cristo Grilled Cheese

I loved this! The bread is so delightfully soft and sweet, especially with the jam, but the salty ham and melty cheese makes the best contrast here. The American cheese gives that melt factor and the cheddar gives good flavor. A sprinkle of powdered sugar would be beautiful. The bread is decadent. I didn’t make it as French toast, but that’s another way to do it. These would be tasty brunch elements if you’re using ingredients up or wanting to serve something without eggs! My toddler wasn’t home but I can see him liking aspects of this…maybe it would be a good reinforcement for ham since he’s not 100% gung-ho about all sandwich meat.

What I Ate: Loaded Nacho Waffle Fries

What I Ate’ is a series of posts for so-easy-this-doesn’t-need-a-recipe but I’m sharing with you for the idea or inspiration.

You neeeed this super easy and fun dinner in your rotation for December. It is delicious, a great use of leftovers, and couldn’t be easier. What else could you look for from a weeknight dinner!? We have something Mexican about once a week so I popped a small portion of pulled pork into the freezer for occasions such as this. Add gather some queso sauce, tomato, avocado, green onion, salsa, and cheese onto waffle fries and you’ve got yourself a meal!

Taco night gets recreated for a whole different feel. I’m working to ensure foods aren’t always the same for my little one…I don’t want him thinking tacos are always one way, or cheese is always in string form, etc. Having tacos/burritos/quesadillas/etc help ensure he sees ingredients he’s familiar with in another format so it is still approachable. I took a similar tactic for a recent salami & cheese calzone being his fav sandwich flavors. I have adventurous eaters in our family, but doesn’t everyone just want a crowd-pleasing, slam-dunk of a dinner in the rotation, right?
The Three Bite Rule - Loaded Waffle Fries

Pssst. These would totally fill a group for a weekend lunch, after sledding, as a quick meal before some festive holiday gathering, or watching a game (<- jeez, I sound like I host football parties non-stop. I just like how those games bring out the snacks!).

Loaded Nacho Waffle Fries

Ingredients: (serves 3-4)

3/4 bag frozen waffle fries
~1 cup pulled pork (or pulled chicken or taco meat)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup salsa con queso
1 avocado, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 green onion, finely chopped
1/4 cup salsa

Directions:

Bake the fries according to the package.
While they bake to a crisp, pan fry the shredded pork to brown a bit and warm the queso.
Sprinkle the shredded cheese on the waffle fries and return to the oven to melt.
Drizzle some queso onto the fries and top with pork.
The Three Bite Rule - Loaded Waffle Fries
Serve and offer the toppings of tomatoes, avocado, green onions, and salsa as a top-your-own station, or top the whole platter and let everyone dig in.
Enjoy!
The Three Bite Rule - Loaded Waffle Fries
These are plate and fork nachos, which are the very best kind! They are truly loaded and so filling- as in, ours were on salad plates instead of dinner plates! Loaded waffle fries are definitely enough to be a meal. Our toddler thought it was a super fun dinner! I’d argue that the baked fries aren’t really a far reach health-wise from the rest of it being a taco or regular nachos. These are more filling so plan portions accordingly!

This uses up the remainder of queso and a small amount of pork & cheese so it reminded me not to underestimate what can become a meal! Vegetarian-ize them swapping pork with black beans and saute some bell peppers or add whatever toppings would go in your tacos!

November 2018 Recap

November meant the end of maternity leave and back to work. My blog also turned 8. Woah! We were getting into our groove again, and we continue to. The babe got used to her reflux meds and either that, or eating a little more, or hitting the 3 month benchmark, or sleeping a bit more, or all have made a world of difference!

We are THIIIIIIS close on the basement renno being done. Can. not. wait. We all are anticipating space: lounge area with a TV; play area with the train table, play kitchen & toy storage; laundry room; powder room; desk space; and storage space. It has taken foreverrr. The end is in sight!! I’m itching for big time organization, cleaning, and getting things settled that have been in limbo for months! Ok, onto the food.

Our fam fav dinner this month might have been these Thanksgiving meatballs!
Thanksgiving Meatballs - The Three Bite Rule
This fall hot dog with apple slaw was super fun and I hope it graces somebody’s football game watching!
The Three Bite Rule - Fall Hot Dog
French Toast with Salted Caramel Cider Sauce is so good, and very fall-winter-ish.
The Three Bite Rule - Salted Caramel Cider French Toast
December is such a fun and busy time of year. I’m bringing you some quick meals that can use leftovers or work as a cook once, eat twice plan for you. Maybe something healthy will sneak in there since there’s enough party food elsewhere? We’ll see!

The Little Boy:

He had some rocky days of listening at daycare. I wish toddlers could express themselves! I think we’re back on track. He’s been into play-doh, knex, and working outside with Mr. J. Meat isn’t always his fav but he liked chicken marsala with sauce from Trader Joe’s and he ate the Thanksgiving meatballs. I loved seeing him assemble his plate like ours. He often wants foods a bit separate so it was cute to see him imitate our plating. It was fun seeing him take bites of a big burrito and I wrapped the bottom with foil for him to hold telling him that’s like at a restaurant. I’m working to ensure foods he likes appear in other formats, hence, the burrito. He’d eat pasta every night if we let him decide. Edamame in the shells are so fun to him.  He’s pretty adventurous when he encounters foods he doesn’t remember or doesn’t have all the time- i.e. soup, lasagna, eggplant, shrimp etc. I love when he tells me dinner is SO good.

The Baby Girl:

She’s sleeping like a rockstar in the Baby Merlin’s Magic Sleepsuit! She started rolling when swaddled and giving us a heart attack! The first day sleeping in the suit she napped more in that day then the past several months of her entire life. She’s finally done with that infant nightly meltdown and I’m ever so grateful. I’m hoping we can let her sleep through the night once she weighs a bit more. She got to a double digit weight- 10 pounds at 3.5 months old! She’s super smiley to all of us and cracks up seeing her big brother! She just needs to eat more.

2019 goals:

Year of ___ decluttering/minimizing/organizing: November kicks off by sending a ThreadUp batch full of maternity clothes to say goodbye to!
Feeding Littles: I only did once or twice in Instagram stories. I’ll keep at it.  
Work on advanced food prepping: yes! I got a leg up when Mr. J was home and could turn something on. I prepped broccoli & cheddar soup one morning before we ate it that night and getting chicken cooked to just warm in marsala sauce was hugely helpful.
What I’m reading: I read Himself for bookclub and didn’t love it. I read Educated and Crazy Rich Asians couldn’t put either one down.
What I’m watching: Now that our little lady naps, we’ve watched some several-months-old DVR! I cannot wait for Dec when I’ll be into Christmas movies & music!

Salted Caramel Cider French Toast

I’m fully embracing all the fall flavors despite already having a bit of snow! I added apple cider to a salted caramel sauce and it was a hit! The apples were lightly cooked for extra flavor while maintaining a good crunch. This will be a great breakfast if you have family around for Thanksgiving- make the sauce in advance and cook the french toast “to order” as folks make their way out of bed!
The Three Bite Rule - Salted Caramel Cider French Toast
We make tons of waffles at our house, the occasional pancakes, but rarely french toast. Challah bread turned that ratio around! It is quite sweet but the salted caramel sauce has great flavor. I was wishing I had thought about a side of bacon.

Salted Caramel Cider French Toast (for 4)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup apple cider
1/2 cup salted caramel sauce
1-2 apples
1/2 loaf Challah bread (or 4 thick slices of bread)
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

Slice the bread and chop the apple.
The Three Bite Rule - Salted Caramel Cider French Toast
Add cider and 1/4 cup of the caramel sauce to a small pan over medium heat. Bring it to a low boil for ~15 minutes to reduce slightly. Then reduce the heat to low and add in the remaining caramel sauce and chopped apple. Cook for about 5 minutes more.
The Three Bite Rule - Salted Caramel Cider French Toast
Heat a pan or griddle to middle heat.
Whisk together the eggs, milk, and nutmeg.
Dredge each slice of bread into the egg mixture on each side. Pan fry them ~3 minutes on each side. Reserve in the oven to keep warm if cooking in batches.
The Three Bite Rule - Salted Caramel Cider French Toast
Serve with sauce. Enjoy!

We all liked this one. I tested it out as bfast for myself and then immediately made more sauce so we could all have it over the weekend! The sauce was great made ahead of time! It would be a great topping on baked french toast as a whole pan if taking it somewhere!
The Three Bite Rule - Salted Caramel Cider French Toast
Happy Thanksgiving! I hope you have lots to eat as you think about what makes you thankful.

Fall Hot Dog with Apple Slaw

Could this ‘dog be any more fall? It all started with a long pretzel bun and I knew it needed a fall festive hot dog since this is the ideal weather for grilling! There’s melty white cheddar under there and a slaw of apples, onion, and arugula. It is spectacular and would be super fun for an afternoon game watching – especially since, I’m only watching football for the snacks!

The Three Bite Rule - Fall Hot Dog
Swap the hot dog for a sausage or bratwurst or whatever you like! I recently tried the Beyond Meat sausage and think this would be a good combo for that too! I made this for a lunch but it was a really great use for some frozen-since-summer hot dogs!

Fall Hot Dog with Apple Slaw and a Pretzel Bun (for 2)

Ingredients:

2 long pretzel buns
2 hot dogs/sausages/bratwursts
1/2 apple
1/4 white onion
1/2 cup arugula, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 slices sharp white cheddar

Directions:

Finely chop the apple, white onion, and arugula while preheating the grill. (This is easy to make indoors on a pan as long as you toast the roll too.)
The Three Bite Rule - Fall Hot Dog
Mix together the apple, onion, arugula, olive oil, and vinegar. Refrigerate until serving.
The Three Bite Rule - Fall Hot Dog
Grill the dogs/sausages/brats until cooked through. While they cook, toast the pretzel bun and melt the cheese onto it.
Assemble with the toasted roll, melted cheese, dog/sausage/brat and spoon the apple slaw over the top.
Enjoy!
The Three Bite Rule - Fall Hot Dog
This is the perfect fall food. The slaw is really addictive- as in, I ate the leftovers with a spoon. The pretzel roll and really good quality white cheddar made me really fall in love with this. Originally I was thinking apple slices but the slaw format allowed for the sweet crunch with acidic dressing to be in each bite and it seems like a real dog topping. My pretzel bun is from Trader Joe’s but my grocery store has them in this shape occasionally and I’ve seen them at Whole Foods too. I cut out a sliver to make the roll smaller and keep the ratio how I wanted it.