Duckfat Fries in Maine

On our lovely getaway to Portland, ME, I knew we had to go to Duckfat. Everything else was negotiable. I just couldn’t be in a town with french fries that are fried in duckfat and not try them. This trip was definitely a culinary adventure and why yes, we did enjoy donuts then duckfat fries on the same day, thanks for asking! I’m not saying it was a healthy trip, but we did walk a lot, and swim daily and I view vacation just like your birthday, you can do whatever you want when on vacation!

Back to the duckfat fries.
The Three Bite Rule - Duckfat Maine

We ambled up to Duckfat at about 2:30pm on a Sunday. There was only a short wait, but literally people are munching here all the time. I was so busy peering at everyone’s food that I almost didn’t notice they were trying to seat us inside. Ohh no. There were 2 open spots outside so we asked to be there. You wouldn’t have the glorious sunlit photos to enjoy if we were inside…though there is fun magnetic poetry as backspash against the high top tables.
The Three Bite Rule - Duckfat Maine

Mr. J and I were not exactly starving after feasting on donuts that morning but this was a mission we were happy to accept. The menu is a bit pricy but we stayed focused and made great choices. By pricey, I mean $9 sandwiches that don’t come with a side or $8 salad without a protein. I didn’t feel like we were there for the sandwiches anyway so onward we went.

We split everything and ordered:
Corn Chowder with Bacon – delicious. Not too heavy but definitely had a chowdery appropriate thickness.
The Three Bite Rule - Duckfat Maine

Blueberry Buttermilk Milkshake – bright and buttery. This was calling to Mr. J and he loved it. I liked it, but saved myself more so for the chowder and fries.
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The fries – decadent. They weren’t distinctly duck flavored but they were richer than any fries I’ve ever had. We chose a roasted tomato aioli as our dipping sauce which was great. They were perfectly soft inside and crispy on the outside.
The Three Bite Rule - Duckfat Maine I loved it.

Sandwich Meal Board

Need a good summer sandwich idea? Ms. A shared her sandwich with me…well, not the actual sandwich but what her sandwich was!

sourdough bread, toasted
sundried tomato pesto
tomato
avocado
swiss cheese

Sandwich IdeaYum!

What are your makings of a good sandwich?

Roxy’s Grilled Cheese Food Truck Fun

In honor of my Momma’s birthday I thought I should be sure to post something she’d think was fun and festive. Happy birthday Momma R!

Good thing we’re up on our social media at work because otherwise we wouldn’t have known Roxy’s Grilled Cheese food truck was in the neighborhood at work! It was a few weeks ago during that almost-spring not-really-still-winter and a walk down the street for a freshly made grilled cheese was JUST what was in order.

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I’ve watched the Great American Food Truck Race and loved the boys of Roxy’s Grilled Cheese from Boston. I really wanted them to win! I get faux-star struck and thought it was fun to see them in action.

I got the Mac & Chorizo. Grilled cheese with mac & cheese and chorizo…how can you go wrong? I was tempted by the truffle fries but abstained. I was glad I did once I saw the size and heft to my sandwich.
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It was really good, very gooey, and buttery. I think I would have liked more varied textures. The bread really held up to the fillings but it was too soft and gooey.
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I should have gotten the Rookie Melt with cheddar and tomato. I just couldn’t go to the truck and not get the mac & cheese one. Now, I’ve tried it and can move on.

Happy Birthday to my Mum!

 

Chicken Bacon Ranch Wraps, aka Everything Good In a Sandwich

We don’t eat a ton of sandwiches at our house but I’m working on changing that. I know, I know, I’ve said I don’t love sandwiches. I actually love them when they’re made-to-order. I adore breakfast sandwiches too. I only dislike sandwiches that have been sitting around sogging all day inside a high school locker or if I can’t tell what’s inside the sandwich.

I had a lengthy discussion at work about hummus on a sandwich…or hummus in general. Did you know the USA has a dried bean and lentil council? This is my worklife. Anywho, back to the sandwich subject at hand.

I made Chicken Bacon Ranch Wraps and they were really tasty.
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Ingredients:

2 chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces
1 cup milk
¼ cup ranch dressing
1 tbs dried ranch dressing powder mix
1/3 cup panko & 1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg + 1 tbs water, whisked
Wheat tortillas
Lettuce
Tomato
Shredded cheddar
¼ cup ranch dressing
4 strips of bacon

Directions:

Marinate the chicken in the milk, ¼ cup of the ranch dressing, and dried ranch powder for a few hours.
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Remove from the marinade and dredge in eggwash then breadcrumbs and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
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Cook the bacon, then crumble it.
Assemble the wraps with lettuce, tomato, chicken, bacon, cheddar, and ranch.
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You don’t really need a recipe for this but I thought the marinade and breading was spot-on so I wanted to share it. I liked that these were filling and fresh but not fried. I have an aversion to frying foods. The wheat wrap and real lettuce (iceburg = not real) make this slightly healthier than your local pizza place’s version of the same thing since my chicken isn’t fried either.

Like most things I cook, the chicken could be prepped in advance and popped in to speed up the dinner, or prepped and frozen for next time.

If you’re lucky like me, when your sis comes to have these for dinner she’ll also bring treats from her favorite bakery!
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Curry Chicken Salad fit for Dr. Seuss

Happy Birthday to Dr. Seuss! This Curry Chicken Salad was the best I could do to honor the late writer of The Butter Battle Book, the Lorax, and Sneetches as an example of ooblek or wumbus because of the zing, bam, wow, pow this has.

I expect my birthday tomorrow to have the same kind of impact! My birthday food theme might be my best yet!

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I pretty much only like sandwiches when I make one myself and eat it immediately, or if it has all sorts of crazy things on it and it gets pressed, and occasionally when a restaurant makes it. That might sound like all the sandwiches you can think of, BUT I don’t bring them to work as lunch. If I’m going to have one, it has to be packed separately and assembled and eaten immediately.

I thought of curry chicken salad because it doesn’t have to be a sandwich and it is different. It was a great use of some leftover rotisserie chicken.
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Ingredients:
2 cups, chicken breast or rotisserie chicken
2 tbs curry sauce
1 cup red seedless grapes, halved
1 tbs light mayo

Directions:
Shred chicken into bite size pieces
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Mix chicken with curry sauce, grapes, and add mayo to taste.
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Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.
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This made about 3 size-able servings. I had one as a sandwich and two other servings topped salads. I think the grapes are necessary to cut the spice with some sweetness. The zing makes this great.
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Guest Post: Buffalo Bites

Today I have a fantastic guest blog post for you! This post comes Dana of Nosh. We went to college together and I’ve been loving her blog (like this pineapple salsa recipe! and this edamame salad recipe! and this stuffed peppers recipe!) I’m super psyched to try this one myself! I cannot believe I don’t have any buffalo chicken recipes on the three bite rule!

Here’s Dana:
I’m trying (key word) to lose a few lb’s before my July wedding, and in doing so, I’m naturally craving the worst foods on the planet.  This recipe is surprisingly low-fat (5 wonton wrappers is only 100 calories, and the chicken is boiled in plain ‘ol water and then baked, so no extra fat there…plus wait til you see the coleslaw!) but still tastes like an indulgence.  The wontons would make a great app (oh hey, Superbowl) and the coleslaw is a healthy side made with my favorite Greek yogurt (you can’t even tell it’s good for you!).  Hope you enjoy these and much as I do…and thanks again to Emily for the opportunity to cross over to another awesome blog!

BUFFALO CHICKEN WONTONS

(this recipe makes a TON of wontons.  You can either cut down the amount of chicken you use or if you don’t want to make all of the wontons, you can make as many as you want, freeze the remaining wonton wrappers, and have a buffalo chicken sandwich for lunch the next day with the remaining chicken!  Probably awesome on a salad, too.)

Ingredients:

1 package Nasoya wonton wrappers
2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 bottle Frank’s Red Hot (I used Buffalo flavor but i’m sure the Original is just as tasty)
1/4 c. Light Ranch dressing
1 egg white OR water


Directions:

Boil chicken in water (or chicken broth) for 15 or so minutes until cooked through.  Remove from water and set in a bowl.
Once cool, shred with a fork and season lightly with salt and pepper.  Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Here’s the shredded chicken with the buffalo sauce…this was perfect on a sandwich the next day (said my fiance) and scooped up with celery stalks (said me).
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Mix Red Hot and Ranch dressing in a bowl and pour over pulled chicken, mixing to coat.
Arrange wonton wrappers on a sprayed cooking sheet.  Place about 1/2 a teaspoon of chicken into the center of each wrapper. Using the egg wash or water, lightly brush two sides of the wrapper and bring up into a triangle to meet the other half of the wonton, pinching to secure.
Bake for 10-12 minutes until crispy, flipping once.
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I sprayed the pan with olive oil cooking spray, so there was no need for a brush of oil or anything prior to baking.
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Pre-baked
EDITOR’S NOTE: If you want a cheesier, creamier, not as healthy wonton, try adding a bit of cream cheese to the chicken mixture.
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Gorgeous color on the wontons!


Greek Coleslaw

(this recipe is adapted from Ellie Krieger’s recipe found here.  Of course I didn’t measure anything TOO accurately, and I left out the caraway seeds.)

Ingredients:

1 package Dole shredded coleslaw mix
1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt (I used Chobani 0%)
1 tbsp. honey
1/4 c. mayonnaise (I used Hellmans Olive Oil mayo)1/4 c. apple cider vinegar
salt & pepper

Directions:

Combine all ingredients and add to coleslaw mix.
Stir to coat.  Season with salt & pepper.
Refrigerate at least 30 minutes to let “sauce” absorb into coleslaw.

oh heeeey, awesomely healthy wontons and sweet scrumptious coleslaw…don’t mind if I do…
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Would you like to be a guest blogger? Email emily@thethreebiterule for more details!

Easy-Peasy Pizza

This isn’t just any pizza…it is Greek pizza. I remember making this pizza back in my grocery shopping days at Trader Joe’s without a car. It wasn’t alllll that long ago, but it sure feels like a different life. My shopping modus operandi was: lightweight. Carrying bags on the subway is really not fun, especially when they are heavy. Trader Joe’s is great for random ingredients to put together. I came home with an artichoke tapande and wasn’t sure how I would use it. This time I used a sundried tomato spread that wouldn’t be great as a sauce otherwise.
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This pizza is super easy and thrown together. I whipped up these for a week of lunches while making dinner one night. My recipe makes 5 pizzas. Making little pizzas only took me about 20 minutes, including the baking time! So simple!
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Ingredients
wheat pita bread
1 cup tapenade or pesto (I used sundried tomato pesto)
1 cup shredded mozzarella
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp dried basil
3 cups baby spinach, chopped
1 cup fetaDirections
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Top pitas with pesto and dried herbs & salt/pepper.
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Layer mozzarella onto the pizza
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Add chopped spinach to each pizza and top with feta.

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Bake 10 minutes.I undercooked these somewhat so I could pop one in the toaster oven at work for lunch each day. It was good! The flavor comes from the pesto and the seasoning. Feta gets even better after being baked.

My fridge only had scant amounts of mozzarella and feta leftover so next time I might use more. I used full sandwich sized pitas but think the mini pitas would turn this into a fun appetizer.
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I like the freshness and ease of these.

Quicky Quiche

My mum makes the best quiche so I was thinking I’d make one. It wasn’t quite as good as hers ever is, but overall I was happy with it.
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I used ready-made piecrust which made is super easy. Pie crust isn’t that hard to make, but I wasn’t making a double crusted pie so I made it a bit more simple by using one made for me. It meant making lunch for the week only took about 20 minutes to prep.

Ingredients

2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 cup whole milk
2 strips of bacon, cooked & crumbled
2 cups spinach, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
¼ tsp cream of tartar
1 cup shredded cheddar
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
salt & pepper

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Chop spinach, mushrooms, and bacon.
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Wisk together eggs, egg yolks, milk, salt, pepper, and cream of tartar.
Layer cheese and fillings into piecrust.
Gently pour egg mixture over filling.
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Bake 35-40 minutes until center is set.
Allow to cool slightly before slicing.
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It was good but I think I put in too much cream of tartar. It’s supposed to provide acid to help stabilize the eggs.

Quiche was a great lunch option this week. Swiss or sharper cheddar might have given this more bite. This definitely was an easy way to use some mushrooms I had and for another serving of spinach.

Lunching Couscous

Lunch ideas can be hard to come by for me and sandwiches were never really my thing. I love them with interesting condiments on bakery bread, but making one at 7am and bringing it to work never appeals to me.

I try to mix it up when it comes to lunch. Often it’s leftovers but I used to be so good about picking something, making a regular sized batch, and eating it all week for lunch. It was even more convenient when I’d bring it all on Monday and not have to think about it the rest of the week.  Lately, I’ve gotten off course.

Recently I made couscous for a couple of lunches and it was soooo good. I ate it as a cold salad and was all about it. Tomatoes were my inspiration.
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Grape. Heirloom. Tomatoes.

Ingredients

1 pint grape tomatoes, sliced in halves
1 cup dried Israeli couscous
2 cups vegetable stock
11/2 cups baby spinach
2 slices of bacon, cooked to a crisp
¼ cup shredded Parmesan
¼ cup ranch dressing
drizzle of olive oil

Directions

Toast couscous over medium-low heat until lightly browned
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Add in veggie stock and cover for 7 minutes
Slice cherry tomatoes in halves, chop the spinach chiffonade, and crumble the bacon.
Fluff couscous to separate and allow to cool.
Add spinach, bacon, Parmesan and dressing.
Refrigerate overnight and drizle with olive oil before eating to rehydrate.
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I’ll admit. Ranch might seem a bit weird, but I had it and wanted something creamy. Parmesan peppercorn dressing would be more appropriate. My spinach had lived a good life but wouldn’t have been amazing the next day, which is why I chose to throw it in…like an herb rather than like a salad. Nobody was going to overshadow these tomatoes. No, siree!This was an easily packable and flavorful lunch. It also is super cheap. If I were like whats-her-face on the foodnetwork who makes $10 dinners I’d probably have an impressive lunch cost since this served as 2 lunches for me…and my mum may have bought the tomatoes for me when we were at the farm stand. I’d much rather pack a lunch and afford a fantastic meal in Italy or Spain. In just over 4 weeks time I will be! So excited I can’t even stand it!

This would be a good side dish. Adding basil and fresh mozzarella would be good with Italian dressing. Bring couscous to your next BBQ this summer and be the star next to all the cole slaws and potato salads.
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What are some other lunchable ideas & inspirations?