My First Attempt - Super Bowl Appetizer

With last weekend being the Super Bowl, it called for a celebration! Not only was I excited to watch Tom Brady take home his 5^th super bowl ring (you know, him being the greatest QB of all time) but I was also excited to share my first attempt at a new gluten-free recipe with my family. We decided to have a pot luck, so everyone was responsible for contributing a food dish. Since I usually miss out on all the best appetizers (unfortunately – most of them are gluten filled) I decided to make a gluten-free garlic bread for an appetizer.

Photographed on February 6/17

This recipe consists of basic ingredients: gluten-free bread, mozzarella cheese, butter, garlic, parsley, and oregano. Majority of these ingredients I already had. The hardest part was to find a large, fresh load of gluten-free bread that was uncut (in order for me to cut it properly to make it “pull-bread”). Although this hunt for gluten-free bakeries seemed tedious at first, I ended up finding a great bakery called “SuziesGluten-Free Kitchen”, which offers a wide variety of freshly made gluten-free items for a reasonable price. This location also happens to be a place I pass on my daily commute, so that was a bonus!

Photographed on February 6/17

First, I wanted to calculate how much money I spent on the appetizer, since I want to ensure I am creating meals that are cost-efficient. Using an excel spreadsheet, I calculated the total cost of each item used in this recipe. However, once I calculated the total amount ($19.00) I soon realized a problem with this: that I had most of the ingredients beforehand, and/or I wasn't using the total amount of the ingredient/item purchased. For instance, I bought the salted butter for $3.00, but I only used 1/3 of it. I was able to use the leftovers for another recipe, at which time I accounted for another $3.00 in price, when I had already had it. Thus, to account for this discrepancy, I ended up recording both the cost of the item at whole and the estimate price of the amount used. As you can see below, in regards to the butter I ended up estimating $1.00 in price, based on the portion of the item I used for this specific recipe. Therefore, this appetizer ended up being a total of $10.75, when accounting for the specific portions of the items I used.

I was also able to prepare and cook this garlic bread in a timely matter. I began by cutting the loaf of bread, vertically than horizontally. When cutting it, I made sure I did not cut all the way through, so it would still remain intact.

Left: Cutting the bread.                        Right: Placing the cheese.

Then I cut up the cheese, and placed it all throughout the cuts in the bread. I also shredded up some cheese to add to top of the bread after the garlic spread was added.

Next I needed to mix the garlic spread. I melted 200 grams of butter in a bowl, and then added a few garlic cloves (fresh, minced), as well as a tablespoon of parsley and oregano. Once it was mixed together, I poured it over the bread, covering all sides and within the cracks.

That is when I added the final bit of shredded cheese, and placed it in the oven to cook at 350 degrees for 18 minutes. After letting it cool for 2 minutes, it was ready to serve!

Photographed on February 6/17. Edited on February 11/17.