Pull - Apart Pesto Bread

I want to share a fun new recipe that is made from scratch, but super easy!  I made pull-apart bread with pesto as a side dish to our Italian Night dinner, and it was so easy, I'm going to add it as a regular side dish!  If you aren't a huge fan of pesto, try this recipe with marinara! 

If you don't know, pull-apart bread is a type of bread that is made in a way that bakes together in a “loaf”, but able to be pulled apart to eat in serving size portions.   

In order to make this recipe you will need:

Bread Dough

Pesto (try my basic recipe)

Mozzarella Cheese

Parmesan Cheese

To start, make bread according to the recipe.  I use Betty Crocker’s pizza dough because it is quick and easy, as well as tasty!

Once the dough has risen, take the dough and make 1 in to 1.5 in dough balls.  The separate dough balls is what causes the bread to be able to "pull" apart, so the size determines the "serving" size of one pulled apart piece.

Once the balls are made, roll them in pesto and place them in pan, I used an 8 inch cake pan, but you can use a loaf pan or even a casserole dish!

Once all the balls are made, spread some pesto on top of the balls to make sure each crease is covered.  Next, cover the top with enough mozzarella cheese to completely cover the bread and then sprinkle the parmesan cheese for taste.

Last, bake the dough according to the bread dough recipe.        

Now all you have to do is pull it apart!

Have you ever made pull apart bread before?

Let me know if you try this recipe in the comments!

How to Re-Grow Garlic Scraps

Re-growing kitchen scraps is an easy money saving cheat because you re-use food that you already purchased.  And unlike growing food from seed, it takes less time to reap the benefits! 

I regularly use garlic in my cooking.  I make a lot of Italian themed foods (pesto spaghetti, eggplant parmesan, etc) and garlic is a wonderful addition!  By planting a clove of garlic, the greens will regrow several times over and over, much like green onions.  These greens can be used in cooking, much like your garlic cloves, they just aren’t as potent.  I prefer to use garlic greens because they are less potent, no one will accidently get a large chunk of garlic in their spaghetti sauce! 

The first time I tried to re-grow garlic, I had too many cloves and decided to put them in water.  After a couple days, they started growing!  The issue with using the entire clove was that now I couldn’t use the close.  I have since been able to re-grow garlic from the base of the clove, so I get even more out of one clove of garlic.

To start re-growing garlic scrap, you need a clove of garlic!  You can use a whole clove like I started out, or just the bottle part of a clove (see how I cut mine below) and use the other part in your cooking!  Either way, it the same process.

To get the roots to start growing, you need to put the base in some water.  I use a small glass dish with just enough water to cover the base and lean my clove bases along the sides.  Sometimes they land entirely in the water, and that’s okay too, you just want to check on them to make sure they are not rotting.

In a day you will see roots forming, and in about two days you will see the garlic greens starting to form. After about a week, you will have solid roots, and a significant amount of garlic greens!

When the garlic has significant roots, it can be planted.  I found this cute little cup and saucer pot at my local garden center (on sale) and thought it would be perfect for my kitchen garlic!  I filled my pot with potting mix and watered it to make it moist.  Trying to plant small items in completely dry soil is not easy, so soak your soil and let it drain first.

Next, I cut off the current garlic greens to use in a recipe, then made five small holes in the soil and planted my garlic cloves.  These garlic cloves will regrow greens several times and use in any recipe that calls for small amounts of garlic or scallions.

Once the greens no longer keep growing, it is time to toss the soil and garlic root.  You cannot reuse the garlic root at this point, but you can compost it in your compost pile or bin.

I hope this “how to” has inspired you to regrow your own kitchen scraps!  Have you ever tried to regrow kitchen scraps before?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments!  

Basic Pesto Recipe

I’m going to start off by saying I love pesto, it is so fresh tasting!  I also enjoy making my own pesto, but sometimes, finding the right recipe can be hard.  They can include ingredients like basil, arugula, chickpeas, walnuts, and countless different cheeses to just name a few.  I'm never one to just stick to a rigid recipe, I like a bit of fluidity to use what I have on hand.  Sometimes I have arugula from my spring garden, other times I just have basil from my aerogarden.  Sometimes I have parmesan cheese, but if I run I usually have mozzarella on hand.  

I like to be able to keep my recipes open to variation to let me be creative with flavors, but also keep me from going to the grocery store because I just used the last bit of parmesan for something else. 

 

In order to let myself have this creativity with a pesto recipe, I decided to lump some of the same categories together and find a theme.  Basil, herbs, and arugula are leafy greens.  Walnuts, chick peas, and pecans are nuts.  Parmesan and mozzarella are cheeses.  Olive oil is just, well olive oil.  Flavor enhancers like garlic and pepper are "optional".

Basic Pesto Recipe: 

2 cups leafy greens

1/2 cup cheese

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup nuts 

1 tbl “optional”

 Put all the items in your food processor and process until everything is fully mixed and smooth.  Taste test to make sure you have a pesto you are happy with before putting in a food safe container in the fridge. 

For an easy party appetizer, sprinkle cheese on pesto and serve with pita chips or crackers!  Or add some to a chicken for quick Italian Night dinner.

Do you experiment with recipes?  Or do you stick with the exact ingredients?  How do you enjoy pesto?  Comment below, I would love to know!

Italian Night

We try to keep a “regular” dinner schedule, however it isn’t as formal as several meal planning methods you have seen on Pinterest, I am sure.  We use “theme nights” to give me a little more fluidity throughout the week rather than having to stick to a schedule.  I previously shared our Taco Tuesday routine, but I wanted to share a favorite “theme” which is Italian Night.

For me, the theme changes with the seasons, ie, what is in my garden that I need to eat before the squirrels get it!  When I have fresh tomatoes, we have homemade spaghetti. In the late summer we have eggplant parmesan fresh from the garden.   When the weather is cooler, I turn to pesto made from basil from my aero garden and marinara for a bruschetta chicken spin. 

Italian night is a fun theme because it can be as simple as spaghetti and homemade meat sauce (my basic recipe is below), or as fancy as stuffed shells with a caesar salad and breadsticks. 

I enjoy the fluidity of these theme nights because it takes the guess work out of meal planning much like formal meal planning, but due to our ever-changing schedules, I don’t feel like I’m tied to spending two hours in the kitchen after a 12 hour work day!

Basic Homemade Meat Sauce

1 lb Ground Turkey

1 large can (about 2.5 cups) tomato paste

1 can (about 1.5 cups) diced tomatoes

Cook the ground turkey in a large sauce pan.  Once completely cooked pour in the tomato paste and diced tomatoes and let simmer for 10 to 20 minutes.  Add herbs to taste, try oregano and basil!  This recipe does not have to be exact and can be changed up to include fresh tomatoes or different types of herbs to taste.

For other “Italian Night” related recipes, click here.

How do you get out of your dinner rut?  Have you ever tried theme nights instead of a formal meal plan?