Cheesy Pull-Apart Garlic Bread

Friends, I am a life-long lover of garlic bread, and I couldn't wait to make this cheesy garlic bread when I read it was like crack. I guess that means once you eat it you can't stop, and you want it again and again. In fact, I want a loaf in front of me right now and I'd lock the door and eat it all myself. Yes I would.

But I want to tell you a story about how I found this recipe. If you're really eager to get started on the bread (and who wouldn't, if it's described as "crack"?) skip on down to the Ingredients. Otherwise, gather round the campfire, kids. I'm still in wonder myself.

At the beginning of my senior year of high school, my mom, little sister, and I moved to Illinois from my hometown in Michigan. My parents were getting divorced and I was so miserable I thought I was going to die. I got a job at a Brown's Chicken and met a girl named Jan who became my best friend for several years. It means a lot when you make a friend during one of the worst times in your life; I had two, the other being my true-blue friend Michael. They helped to make my life decidedly less miserable, and Jan and I were practically inseparable until we got married and eventually lost track of each other.

Twenty-five years later (last week, actually), I was on Facebook and saw a friend's photo and a woman that looked familiar...with a familiar last name. I had found my friend from 1986!

Look, cheese-stuffed garlic bread on crack!

Later, while browsing Pinterest, which is where I spend my late-night time while Joe is studying Securities Stuff (it's an industry term), I found this stuffed cheesy bread recipe Jan had pinned from the site Food Wanderings in Asia. When the weather turned astonishingly cold the other day, I made this along with some split-pea soup. We ate half a loaf of bread in about 10 minutes.

Yes we did.

Ingredients

1 12-inch loaf of Italian bread
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
12 oz grated Muenster cheese (or whatever cheese you like best)
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
4 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp onion, minced
2 tsp Dijon mustard

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut diagonal slashes in the bread, nearly through to the bottom crust, then cut diagonals in the opposite direction to make X-shaped openings in the bread. Stretch the bread so that the cuts open up and you can stuff the bread.

Stir together the parsley, Muenster, and Parmesan, and stuff it into the cracks.

Melt together the butter and oil, then stir in the garlic, onion, and mustard. Drizzle evenly over the bread.

Wrap the bread in foil and bake it for 20-30 minutes, until it is crusty and the cheese is melted. We didn't bother cutting this into portions; we just pulled the bread apart to eat it.

Makes 1 loaf.