Easy Garlic Bread and Goat Cheese & Pistachio Dates

Ingredients list:
For the garlic bread:

• 1 bulb garlic
• 8 oz butter (1 stick), room temperature
• 2 garlic cloves, diced
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp thyme
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• 4-6 large leaves of fresh basil (optional)
• 1 Baguette or similarly long, narrow, loaf

         Equipment:

•  Aluminum foil
• Cutting board
• Chef knife
• Small bowl
• Fork or stand mixer
• Bread knife 

         Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 350F (176C). Trim the top off of the bulb of garlic, wrap tightly in foil, and then place in your oven while it pre-heats
2. To create your butter mixture, combine the butter, diced garlic, salt, thyme, garlic powder, and any additional seasonings in a bowl until homogenous (a fork and a bowl work. If you’ve got a stand mixer, feel free to use that). Set the butter mixture aside while we prep the bread
3. Make 1/2 -1″ cuts perpendicular to the length of the bread most, but not all, of the way through your bread for the entire loaf. The final product should still be one piece where the bottom crust of the bread is holding everything together and it resembles one of those wooden snake toys.
4. Spread your butter mixture even between each of the cuts. Wrap tightly in foil and bake at 350F (176C) for 30-minutes.
5. When the garlic bread is done, your bulb of garlic will also be done and should be soft enough to spread with a table knife. Let guests either tear as much bread as they like or cut a few sections up for each person and allow your guests to scoop up the roasted garlic to spread on their garlic bread.

Goat Cheese  Dates with Pistachios

I love these as either a quick snack or even an appetizer when friends are coming over. They always rave about how amazing they taste and are equally surprised at how easy they are to make.

For the dates:

• 4-8 dates, pits still in
• 4 oz. goat cheese
• A handful of pistachios
• Flakey salt (smoked, if you’ve got it)  

       Equipment: 

• A sharp knife

        Directions:

1. Split your dates in half lengthwise and discard the pits (you should have 2 separate halves of a date). Fill the cavity with goat cheese. Top with 1-2 pistachios. Sprinkle with flake salt.
2. Enjoy!