We’ve been talking about fats and oils this week over at Good. Cheap. Eats as we continue to Build a Frugal Pantry. So, it only seems appropriate (and sane for my dual-blogging mind) that we feature fats and oils in this week’s Ultimate Recipe Swap. Personally, I am quite partial to butter. Not as much as some people I know. But, I do love it.
And butter is the star in one of the easiest side dishes to make: Garlic Bread.
During the last Freezer Cooking Days I made several loaves of Garlic Bread to freeze. It was so nice to place a foil-wrapped loaf in the oven with the rest of our dinner last night. Clean-up was non-existent! Despite the ease of this recipe, it does make a few dishes. I will be doing this a lot this summer.
Easy Make Ahead Garlic Bread
1 large loaf bread, sliced lengthwise
1 stick or 1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley flakesIn small mixing bowl, combine butter, garlic and parsley flakes. Spread in thick layer over bread. Put two halves back together and wrap with foil. At this point you can store it in the freezer for later use. I thawed mine overnight in the freezer before baking.
Bake, thawed, 25 minutes at 375 °. If frozen, add 10-15 minutes to your baking time. (I haven’t tested the “cook from frozen” aspect of this recipe, so play with it and let me know what kind of results you get.) Right before serving, you can unwrap the foil and broil the bread briefly to crisp the top.
What’s your favorite recipe featuring butter or oil?
Leave the link below or share your recipe in the comments section.
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The garlic bread looks awesome, my middle child especially loves, loves, loves garlic bread! Thanks!
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I bet my “men” in the house would love that bread! Thanks for sharing!
~Liz
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Hellooooooooo beautiful! Isn’t there something so comforting about a nicely buttered, browned, and perfectly garlicky bread fresh out of the oven at dinner? Me thinks I’ll make some baguette tomorrow just so I can have garlic bread at dinner for Hub’s birthday dinner.
And my first thought after hello beautiful was, Butter? Yes, please! Ree and Paula (Deen) have NOTHING on my butter obsession. I used to eat the stuff plain growing up (and no, no obesity issues here – I was a scrawny little twerp! Still skinny to this day, but that’s thanks to nursing a baby!)
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I have so many favorites…butter…yum. Not sure which one to choose!!!
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Mmmmm, butter. It’s what makes the topping on the Rhubarb Almond Flake I entered this week super special.
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This is genius! I can’t believe I never thought to do this on my own, but I’ll be doing it from now on!
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Jessica Fisher Reply:
May 13th, 2010 at 7:16 am
And think about how expensive it for those foil wrapped bags at the grocery store. This is soooo much better — in taste and in nutrition. And so easy!
BTW, you made my day with the “genius” comment.
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Thanks so much for an inspiring blog that I have only recently found!!
I left a link for a Scottish recipe for Oatie Flapjacks, but forgot to say what it was in the link, so feel free to change it for me!!
Going try the garlic bread this weekend and I’ll let you know how we get on with it! (Should be good as we are garlic lovers in this house)
I’ll make a few extra batches and freeze too.
Thanks from Bonnie Scotland
The (Not So) Organised Mum
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Jessica Fisher Reply:
May 13th, 2010 at 7:17 am
Welcome, Bonnie. I will try to fix it later today. Thanks!
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Great! Now, I am in the mood for Italian:-)
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My kids don’t handle change well. Since they love the frozen Texas Toast garlic bread, I would most likely slice a loaf of bread in 1-inch slices, being careful not to cut all the way through at the bottom. Then spread the butter mixture on each side of the slices. It might take a bit more time t0 spread the butter on each slice, but if it eliminates the round of “I don’t like this, its different” I’ll take it!
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Jessica Fisher Reply:
May 13th, 2010 at 7:17 am
That’s exactly what you should do! Make it work for your family. Great idea!
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LOVE recipes swaps!!!! And (unfortunately) I LOVE using butter when baking and cooking!
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I love making compound butters and always have a few varieties in the freezer to top off beef, seafood, vegetbales, or to make a qgarlic bread.
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Did you mean that you “thawed mine overnight in the refrigerator…”? (your wrote that you thawed it in the freezer). Anyway, it looks delicious. I love making garlic bread ahead of time – it makes dinnertime a snap!
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I love homemade garlic bread. Try adding some fresh (not powdered or out of a can) parmesan cheese to this. You won’t be able to make enough! I make 2 loaves each time and they both disappear.
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This is awesome, thanks! I’ve been meaning to experiment with this, so I’m so happy to see you tried it.
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Genius is right! I always have ‘marked to sell’ loaves in my freezer and encourage my hubby so make the garlic bread when we are going to have it for dinner. It would be SO MUCH EASIER to con, I mean ask, my hubby to whip up his butter/garlic/seasoning concoction after I buy a few loaves that way I can bake them off whenever I want to serve them and not worry about needing his help. Would love to hear what results are found when cooking from freezer straight to oven!
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All of these look great. Butter is the best!
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Just curious – did you make the french bread yourself or did you buy it? If you made it I’d love to have the recipe! I was thinking of doing this but don’t have a great recipe and the french bread at my stores are pretty overpriced!
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Jessica Fisher Reply:
June 2nd, 2010 at 8:41 pm
I bought that bread at Costco. The very large loaves were about $2 each, pricey, but I’ve been looking for clearance substitutes at Ralphs which usually has artisan bread marked down.
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Colonial bread has a store near me that I can buy “day old” bread, that is still very much in date. They just rotate it out of the stores quickly so the stores have fresher bread. I bought Wheat Sub buns for my Chicken Bacon Subs, and probably will go back in a day or 2 for some more to make mini garlic loaves. I can get a 6 pack for $1. And 1 6pack will feed my family of 5, 3 times if I use it only as garlic bread.
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