My kitchen has been quiet...

This past week was pretty crazy and I didn't do too much heavy cooking. Last Thursday night for Nick's birthday I make chicken alfredo with a caesar salad and homemade garlic bread. I used an alfredo recipe from Cooking Light, but I didn't really care for the way it turned out so I'm not re-posting it. Nick liked it well enough, but... eh.

The garlic bread recipe I used, however, was great!

Parmesan Garlic Bread

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly chopped parsley leaves
1 teaspoon freshly chopped chives
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 ground black pepper
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (I used Parmesan - that's what I had)
1 French baguette, ends trimmed and halved lengthwise

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with aluminum foil and set aside.

Cream the butter, garlic, parsley, chives, salt, pepper and half of the cheese in a small bowl using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Spread both halves of the bread evenly with the garlic butter and top with the remaining grated cheese. Place the bread halves on the prepared baking sheet, cut sides up, and bake until fragrant and lightly golden around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. (I broiled for an additional few minutes to get the cheese toasty.) Cut crosswise on the diagonal into 1 1/2 inch slices. Serve hot.

Source: Emeril Lagasse - The Food Network

I am allergic to fish so I cannot use store-bought Caesar salad due to the anchovies. I really wanted a Caesar salad with this meal, though, so I put together a couple of different recipes I found to concoct this homemade Caesar dressing without the anchovies!

No-Anchovies Creamy Caesar Dressing

5 or 6 crushed croutons (I use garlic butter flavored croutons)
2 T. lemon juice
3/4 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

(I used my food processor to blend this dressing)

Whisk or blend croutons, lemon juice, mustard, garlic and pepper. Add mayonnaise and whisk/blend into mixture. Add oil in a thin steady stream while constantly blending. Stir in Parmesan. It tasted like the real thing! :)