Bacon, Cheddar & Ranch Garlic Bread

This delicious dish skates the line of garlic bread or maybe even a flatbread. This is so good and so easy. Share with others – everyone will love this. We ate it for dinner with some salad but I can definitely see it being a fun app or side.
The Three Bite Rule - Bacon, Cheddar, Ranch Garlic Bread
The garlic cooks in the bacon drippings and butter meaning the full flavor of the bacony-tidbits goes onto this. It mean the crunchy brown bits from the pan soak into the bread.

Bacon, Cheddar & Ranch Garlic Bread

Ingredients:

~6 strips of bacon
1 loaf Italian bread or baguette
4 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons dried Ranch seasoning
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon chopped chives or parsley (optional)

Directions:

Chop then pan fry the bacon until crisp. Spoon onto paper towels to drain, but reserve the grease in the pan.
Preheat the oven to 375-degrees. Slice the bread and pop it into the oven while the oven preheats- just to start to warm through.
Add the butter and garlic to the pan with the bacon drippings. Cook over medium-low heat for about 3 minutes.
Spoon over the bread and then top with ranch seasoning, cheese, and bacon.
The Three Bite Rule - Bacon, Cheddar, Ranch Garlic Bread
Bake for 10 minutes, until cheese melts and the bread gets golden around the edge. Optional: Sprinkle chives over the top.
The Three Bite Rule - Bacon, Cheddar, Ranch Garlic BreadSlice into 1 inch slices. Enjoy!

This was a really fun one. We had it for dinner with some salad and it totally hit the spot. I loaded up the bacon because, well, it is bacon! The little one ate all the bacon off his pieces first, then ate the rest.
The Three Bite Rule - Bacon, Cheddar, Ranch Garlic Bread
I had the bread in the freezer and always freeze bacon, so this was easy to pull together.

#Meatless Monday Recap #2

Back in January I instituted #MeatlessMondays into our weekly menu plan, though it isn’t always on Mondays. Since the last update, the name of the game is speed and ease. The little one is more into grains, veggies, pasta, and cheese than he is into meat at the moment so meatless is never a challenge for him.

Some of my favs have been the no-brainers, because that’s helpful for speed now that I’m verrrrry pregnant. I followed a few recipes that were great! I made a Roasted Veggie Lasagna from What’s Gaby Cooking with a cream sauce and I roasted butternut squash, zucchini, and grape tomatoes as the veggies.  Another recipe we loved was Peanut Rice Noodle Bowls with Curried Peanut Sauce from Eats Well With Others.

I made Tomato Basil Polenta Bowls with White Beans and it was so good!
The Three Bite Rule - Tomato Basil Polenta Bowls

We had a white french bread pizza and risotto and ravioli which are all fan favorites here.

This Tart with Potatoes, Gruyere, and Caramelized Onions was a hit for me, less so for everyone else.
The Three Bite Rule - Potato Tart
I put chopped veggie burgers into tacos with a little taco seasoning and voila, veggie & filling taco!

We had a few soups: Broccoli & Cheddar Soup  and grilled cheese with tomato soup.

One of the most fun meatless meals I made was waffle fry nachos with queso, avocado, shredded cheddar, peppers & onions, and salsa. So fun!

I’m fully willing to admit that my meatless meals are also serving us as the no-brainers I really appreciate to keep it easy. I’m 34 weeks pregnant and through my entire pregnancy I’m not “glowing” or whatever people say who enjoy this. I’m glad to get meals together quickly so we can all eat together, and keep it varied. They might not all be my most creative moments, but it is a good way to keep us varied.

Garlic Lovers Burger

I keep a running list of burger themes to be sure I save a good one to be Mr. J’s birthday burger tradition. I actually used a McDonald’s-trying-to-be-fancy burger as my inspiration! Ours had brioche rolls seared in garlic butter, with white cheddar, garlic aoli, and chips.
The Three Bite Rule - Garlic Lovers Burger

There is a fun blog post critiquing McDonald’s attempt at this garlic burger. I thought it sounded like it could be amazing…if made with care.

Garlic Lovers Burger (for 2)

Ingredients:

2 burger patties (mine was a Beyond Meat one)
2 slices of sharp white cheddar
2 brioche rolls
3-4 garlic cloves, grated
2 teaspoons butter
3 tablespoons mayo
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
salt & pepper
lettuce
kettle chips

Directions:

Grill the burgers.
While the burgers are cooking, slice the rolls, and grate the garlic cloves.
Mix half the garlic with butter and melt it in a large skillet over medium-low heat.
Mix the other half of the garlic with the mayo, also adding the garlic powder, salt & pepper.
Melt the cheese over the burgers.
Sear the buns in the garlic butter pan.
Assemble them with lettuce, the burger, chips, and garlic aoili on the top bun.
The Three Bite Rule - Garlic Lovers Burger
Enjoy!

I loved the zip of the garlic in the aoli and the chips on there. Tomato would have been good but we only had little grape tomatoes. I definitely thought this was a good one!
The Three Bite Rule - Garlic Lovers Burger

I used a Beyond Meat burger for mine. I don’t eat red meat, but I do eat other poultry/pork/etc so I was really jazzed to try it since I can definitely compare to meat in general! I usually use ground pork or ground chicken. Turkey is just cra-zy dry. I thought the Beyond Meat one was great! It has the exact texture and color of ground beef. Meatless ones usually have beans/rice/lentils/mushrooms for that meaty texture. I’d guess this could fool anyone. I definitely recommend (#notsponsored).

Here’s the history of the Birthday Burgers for Mr. J:
2017 it was an Ultimate Mexican Burger with queso, guac, and beans.
2016 it was a Mac & Cheese Stuffed Burger topped with bacon, onions, and tomato.
2015 it was a Picnic Burger with slaw & potato sticks
2014 it was a German Burger with horseradish, caramelized onions, pickles and a pretzel roll
2013 it was a Vermont Burger with maple mayo, cheddar, bacon, and spinach
2012 it was a Bacon Wrapped Burger – enough said
2011 it was a Stuffed Burger stuffed with bacon & cheddar or bacon & blue cheese

Breakfast Deviled Eggs

The deviled egg variations are endless! I whipped these up for a staff coffee social at work. I put a cream cheese & everything bagel twist on traditional deviled eggs and they were great! My trick to prep ahead, without them too far pre-prepped, was doing it in stages. I hard boiled the eggs, then another time I mixed up the filling and left in a closed zip-top bag, then piped the filling and added the topping just before serving.
The Three Bite Rule - Breakfast Deviled Eggs

Breakfast Deviled Eggs

Ingredients:

1 dozen eggs
2 tablespoons mayo
1 tablespoons cream cheese
1 teaspoon mustard
2 teaspoons minced chives (optional)
1 tablespoon Everything Bagel Seasoning

Directions:

Hard boil the eggs and then let them cool in ice water.
Peal the eggs, slice in half, and pop the yolks out into a bowl. Add in the mayo, cream cheese, mustard, chives, salt, and pepper.
The Three Bite Rule - Breakfast Deviled Eggs
beat the filling or mash with a pastry blender.
Spoon the filling into a zip-top bag into a bottom corner. (I open the bag over a tall glass to hold it up.)
Snip the corner with scissors and pipe the filling into the egg halves. (I fill each just to the top of the egg, then go back to top them off.)
Sprinkle them with everything bagel seasoning.
The Three Bite Rule - Breakfast Deviled EggsEnjoy!

I loved these! They were a good mix amongst fruit, coffee cakes, biscotti, quiche, and bagels. These are a great bite with everything else everyone will nibble on. The crunch on top was so perfect. I wanted to add a little bacon on there but wasn’t sure about how many vegetarians might be in the mix and I didn’t want these to be too much.
The Three Bite Rule - Breakfast Deviled Eggs
Here are my other Deviled Egg Variations:
French Onion Deviled Eggs
Caesar Deviled Eggs
Greek Deviled Eggs
Taco Spiced Deviled Eggs
Bacon Ranch Deviled Eggs
Sour Cream & Onion Deviled Eggs

Next week I have Mr. J’s 8th annual birthday burger to share and let me tell you, it was a gooood one!

Honey Garlic Lime Shrimp

You’ll never guess what’s in this shrimp dish. Haha. I love these frozen jumbo shrimp and am determined to enjoy them before they get buried in the freezer or before they freezer burnt. Mr J isn’t into shrimp so this was a fun lunch for one!
The Three Bite Rule - Honey Garlic Lime Shrimp
I kept the ingredients to a minimum for speed and that it can be made anytime! It is an easy one to double, or quadruple for a quick dinner or for a dinner party!

Honey Garlic Lime Shrimp (for 1)
Ingredients:
~5 jumbo raw shrimp (defrosted, pealed & deveined, as needed)
1 cup spaghetti/linguini
2 tablespoons butter
juice of 1/2 lime
zest of 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

Directions:
Boil salted water for pasta.
Grate the garlic and zest the lime.
The Three Bite Rule - Honey Garlic Lime Shrimp
Add the pasta to the water.
Melt the butter in a medium pan over medium heat. Add in the lime juice, honey, and garlic.
Add in the shrimp with plenty of salt & pepper. Cook for 3-4 minutes then flip and cook on the other side for 3-4 minutes again.

The Three Bite Rule - Honey Garlic Lime Shrimp
Remove the shrimp from the pan and toss the cooked pasta into the sauce.
Add the shrimp in with parsley & lime zest. Toss again, then serve & enjoy!
The Three Bite Rule - Honey Garlic Lime Shrimp
It was so good! The balance was spot-on. The butter + the lime juice + the honey was an ideal combo for a light yet flavorful sauce. The zest was SO necessary for freshness. Peeling and deveining the shrimp takes a little patience but is sooo worth it for better shrimp.

The whole dish cooks in the time it takes for the pasta water to boil and the pasta to cook. What’s better than a 10-minute dinner? Nothing! Leftover shrimp is not worth it, but since this cooks so quickly, it can be thrown together anytime.
The Three Bite Rule - Honey Garlic Lime Shrimp

The shrimp and sauce would be great over rice or any grain, or in lettuce wraps, or on a crostini. The same flavors would be great for clams or muscles too!