We had talked about having a cookout with our trivia TN friends for quite some time, and last Saturday we finally had liftoff.  It was perfect timing, because our new bar server was delivered on Monday, so it was a perfect chance to break it in.  Obviously I’m super excited about having a organization/serving piece…two of my favorite things; I think I’ve already established that I’m a weird bird.  Next time I’ll get a picture of it.

Anyways,  in typical fashion I made too much of everything, I mean really, waaaaaaaaaaay too much food like enough for 18 people instead of 6…whoops?

Since it came together last minute I just made simple things like pasta salad, potato salad, and homemade garlic bread for sides.  My signature “star” layer dip to munch on; I always seem to make it in one of my star Chantal dishes, and Snickers cheesecake for dessert.

I think the boys enjoyed it since they’ve started planning next one, so good times were had by all.  Since we had steak and chicken, I thought garlic bread would pair nicely; however, I usually think a number of the frozen ones have so much butter they’re not crunchy, more like you can wring the butter out of them so I decided to make my own.

Super simple, and I don’t really know how much I used of anything as I ended up making two batches, but here’s an approximate guess.

Garlic Bread (updated 10/10/09 with a new, preferred cooking method!)

  • 1 loaf of French bread/baguette
  • 8 Tbsp. butter, softened
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 1 Tbsp. parsley, finely chopped

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.    Split the bread in half horizontally.  Combine all ingredients in a bowl and spread evenly.  Place the bread on a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.  If you want any further browning, you can use your broiler.