Cheesy Garlic Bread

So yes, this is a pretty common thing to do, however, I really loved the way ours came out when I tried it this way so I figured I’d share!

My mom used to always make garlic bread with spaghetti… add a little butter and garlic powder, throw it in the toaster oven and we’re good to go.  This is not my mom’s garlic bread.

This is delicious, cheesy, garlicky, buttery, soft on the inside, crunchy on the outside… mmm, mmm good!  It’s also super simple but a great addition to any meal.  It also reheats really well!

Ingredients

• 1 loaf french bread
• 1 stick butter
• approximately 2 tbsp minced garlic (adjust based on your love for garlic)
• approximately 1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (we used a cheddar jack mix but you could really use whatever you have on hand)

Directions

1. Cut french bread into slices, but not all the way through.  You want it to stay together as a whole loaf, but be easy to pull apart into slices when you’re ready to eat.

2. Put butter and garlic into a small saucepan and cook on low until butter is melted, and then an additional about 2 minutes.  You want the butter to be infused with the garlic.

3. At this point you have a choice depending on how much you love garlic.  My husband and I absolutely love it and put it into just about every meal.  Therefore, we did not strain the minced garlic pieces out of the butter.  However, if you’re more so looking for just a hint of a garlicky flavor in your butter, you might want to go ahead and strain your butter and remove all of the garlic pieces.  TOTALLY OPTIONAL THOUGH!

4. Pour your butter all over your bread, making sure you get into all of the cuts.  We used a spoon to begin with so as to not make a giant mess.  It was also a bit of a team effort.  I’d separate the bread while my husband spooned in the butter.  Not something that couldn’t be done by yourself, but if you have some helping hands around, it’s a good team project.

5. Now add your cheese.  Again, making sure that you get it down into all of the cuts.  Here, you also want to make sure that you get it on top of the bread too because more cheese is ALWAYS better.

6. Bake at 350ºF for 12-15 minutes.  You want to make sure that your cheese is all melted and bubbly.

Let it sit for a couple minutes before digging in and enjoy!

Hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Shameless Promotion

So my husband has started a business, Outdoor Adventures Colorado LLC.  We love hiking, so he has decided to turn it into a business: guided hikes.

Cheesecake Stuffed Strawberries

Cheesecake with a strawberry that acts as its own little serving dish?  How perfect!  These are a wonderful little treat that is a small portion for anyone watching what they eat, plus you don’t have to worry about cutting and serving or plates or silverware or anything like that.

I took these to work for a coworker’s birthday.  Well, sort of.  His birthday was at the end of January but he didn’t start working on my team until a few weeks into February.  It was close enough to his birthday that I felt like I still needed to do something for him.  I asked what he liked and he said cheesecake.  Strawberry cheesecake.  I knew immediately that I would make these little gems.

Another Year Has Passed

Tomorrow is my birthday and like everyone else does (please tell me this is normal), I am sitting on the eve of the 27th anniversary of my birth wondering what I’ve accomplished with the past year of my life. 

While this one wasn’t quite as big as 25, I still think I had a pretty good year being 26.  I passed my Enrolled Agent exams, thereby getting me a promotion at work.  I even have an assistant now and my boss writes things like “Fantastic! Great month!” on my paychecks.  (That was today so it’s fresh in my mind.  I’m not one of those people that remembers everything.) I feel like I’ve stepped up into my new positon quite well.

We also moved into a house.  Still renting but at least we have a yard for the dogs and don’t share a wall with anyone.  It’s great. 

I was also lucky enough to be able to have Christmas with both my family in Texas and Jeff’s family here in Colorado.  I had a very blessed Christmas. I’ve been able to get some great exercise with the bike the hubby gave me and oh my gosh, how did I ever live without a mixer?!

My Aggies had an AMAZING football season and even won the Heisman… go Johnny Football!!! National Champs 2014! (That’s how it’s playing out in my head at least.)

Everyone is happy and healthy.

Unfortunately there have been some not so wonderful times too. My husband’s great-grandmother passed away last year and my grandfather just passed away on Sunday. I know it happens when you start to get older but it sucks. I wish they could be around forever.

Overall we have been very fortunate. I started working on our taxes for this year and we are probably not getting a very big refund… because we made too much money. There could be worse things for sure.

I cannot wait to see what 27 brings me… besides s’mores cakes that is currently cooling on the counter.

Thinking about starting a “things to do before I turn 30″ list… any suggestions?? What is/was on yours?

2012 Earned Income Tax Credit Documentation Requirement

Here’s my PSA for 2013:

As you all may know, I work in tax resolution.  Well, this year, I’m working for Liberty Tax Service preparing returns as well.  I just wanted to get this out there so that anyone who follows this blog (or happens to search and get here), will know.  

Easy Chicken & Dumplings

I grew up in Texas and yet I had never had chicken and dumplings (blasphemy, I know!).  Several years ago, I began my slight obsession with watching Rachael Ray’s daytime tv show.  One day she had Jessica Simpson on and I seriously considered turning it off after her whole “Chicken of the Sea” fiasco.  However, she had a GREAT chicken and dumplings recipe that my husband and I just love.   It’s really easy and made with ingredients that I generally have in the kitchen anyway so it’s a great go-to when I don’t know what else to cook.

This is by no means a “traditional” chicken and dumplings recipe, but I think it’s pretty awesome.  It’s something that you can get on the table in about 40-45 minutes if you use rotisserie chicken. 

What I’ve Been Making

I’ve been pretty busy lately.  Since the hubby started his new job in August, we’ve been carpooling to work together.  I love the extra time we get to spend together, but that means leaving for work about 45 minutes earlier than I was and not getting home until about 6.  I’ve also been taking a course to learn to prepare personal income tax returns Mondays and Wednesdays from 6-9pm.  This doesn’t leave a whole lot of time for being too creative with meals during the week, so I’ve been taking a lot of help from Pinterest and using lots of easy recipes I can find.  Also been doing some baking, of course.  I just thought I’d share some of what I’ve been making and let you know what did (and didn’t) work for me.

The name of each dish links to the recipe.