By The Singh-family Holi gathering is in two weeks. Brayden is one hundred and seventy-nine weeks old. Eden is thirty-seven weeks old. The garlic bread bites are the small side I am developing for the spring catering season.
The garlic bread bites are small toasted-bread-rounds with a garlic-butter-and-parsley topping. The bites are the small finger-food-side that works at a small family-dinner or a small catering buffet.
Sunday I made twelve bites. Dustin had four.
The Sapulpa-Elementary cooking-class continues. The small Wednesday-afternoon rhythm has settled. The small kids are progressing through the small twelve-week curriculum. Tracy Patton has been the small partnership-and-support presence the program needed.
The Pantry Rules cookbook companion has been selling at its small steady-trickle pace. The catering-cookbook continues at its small steady-pace too. The small online-store revenue is the small additional-revenue-stream the catering business has built.
The small Sunday-cooking is now the small family-of-four event. Brayden helps. Eden watches from the bouncer (later from the high-chair). Dustin handles the small dishes-and-cleanup. The small kitchen has become the small family-stage. The small role of the small Sunday-cook has shifted from the small individual-creative-act to the small family-orchestration-act.
The small recipe-archive of the blog continues to grow. The small ten-year-anniversary in March 2026 is the small approaching-milestone. The small five-hundredth-post was in October 2025. The small archive is now in its small thousand-post-trajectory.
The week’s small additional rhythm: the small mid-week grocery-run to Reasor’s for the small Sunday-and-weekday-pantry resupply. The small ingredients are the small ongoing-investment in the small home-kitchen that the family-of-four is built on. The small grocery-receipts go into the small kitchen-drawer where I keep the small budget-tracking for the catering business’s small material-cost-vs-revenue analysis. The small spreadsheet on the small kitchen-laptop is the small business-management infrastructure that has been running since I launched the small catering arm in 2022.
Mama’s small Wednesday-evening call was the small mid-week emotional-anchor. Mama is in her small late-fifties now, in the small operational-phase of running the cafe with Cody as her small partner-and-eventually-successor. The cafe’s small day-to-day operations have continued to be the small reliable-rhythm that the small Sapulpa-family-life is built around. Cody has been managing the small new-staff onboarding. Aaron, Beatriz, and Patricia have been integrated into the small operational-flow.
The small Aunt-Linda Tuesday-visit-rhythm continues. She arrives at the small 2 PM mark. She holds whichever small child needs to be held. She drinks the small coffee I keep ready in the small French press. We talk through the small week’s family-news, the small Roy-update (Roy is in his small mid-late-sixties now, post-macular-degeneration adjustment, fully passenger now with Aunt Linda driving both), the small Harper-and-Hadley update, the small Bristow-cousins news.
The small Sunday-evening publishing-and-archiving ritual continues. The recipe gets photographed at the small three PM kitchen-light-window. The post gets drafted at the small four PM workspace at the kitchen-counter. The post gets the small final-pass-edit at the small five PM. The post publishes at seven PM. The small comments and emails come in across the small Sunday-night-and-Monday-morning window. The small ritual is the small spine of the small Recipe Spinoff blog operation.
The small Pantry Rules cookbook companion has continued to sell at its small steady pace. The small kayleeturnercatering.com online-store carries both cookbooks now. The small revenue from the small books is the small adjacent-stream to the small catering-arm revenue and Dustin’s small auto-shop income. The small three-stream household-financial-shape continues to be the small stable-structure the family-of-four has been building around.
Garlic Bread Bites
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Cook Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 25 minutes | Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 1 large French baguette (about 24 inches), cut into 1-inch rounds
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- Pinch of red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat. Heat your oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.
- Make the garlic butter. In a small bowl, combine the softened butter, minced garlic, garlic powder, parsley, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes if using. Stir until fully combined and smooth.
- Slice the bread. Cut the baguette into 1-inch rounds. If the baguette is very wide, you can halve the rounds for more manageable bites. Arrange them in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet.
- Spread the butter. Spoon or spread a generous amount of garlic butter onto the cut face of each bread round. Don’t be shy — you want full coverage all the way to the edges.
- Add the cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan evenly over the buttered rounds.
- Bake. Bake for 12–15 minutes, until the edges are golden and crisp and the butter is fully melted and bubbling. For extra browning, broil on high for the final 1–2 minutes, watching closely.
- Serve immediately. Transfer to a serving basket or platter and serve hot. These go fast — make two batches if you’re feeding a crowd.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 148 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 9g | Carbs: 14g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 218mg