Olive Garden Breadsticks and Fun Friday

Hey! SO glad today is Friday! :D My week went pretty well, especially for the first week back at school, but I'm definitely glad that it is almost the weekend. How was your week? 


So, I have a couple of things to share with ya'll today.....first up: a copycat recipe for Olive Garden Breadsticks!!! I originally saw the idea on Pinterest, but tweaked the recipe a little bit based on what we had here at home! They turned out really well, especially since we don't have an Olive Garden here! Personally, I think that these breadsticks would be awesome with some herbs in the dough, which would make them slightly different from the original version. Anyway, here ya go:

Olive Garden Breadsticks (based on this recipe)

(definitely not my picture..hahaha :D)

Ingredients:

• 4 1/4 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1 package active dry or instant yeast (I used instant because that's what we have here)

Garlic Topping (brush half on about 7 minutes into baking, and the other half after the breadsticks are done)

• 1/4 cup butter, melted (I used some garlic butter that we already had, but regular is fine, too!)
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic, crushed (or more or less, it really depends on personal preference)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Instructions:

1. If using active dry yeast: Dissolve sugar and yeast in warm water and let sit for 10 minutes. The mixture should look frothy. 
2. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Add either the proofed yeast mixture (for active dry yeast) or just the yeast, water and sugar (for instant yeast) to the flour. Add the melted butter. Mix with a wooden spoon just until fully combined. 
3. Knead dough just until smooth. Overworking the dough will cause the breadsticks not to turn out well, so be careful!
4. Grease a cookie sheet. Separate the dough into 10-12 pieces. Roll into breadsticks. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to an hour. 
5. Bake breadsticks at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes. About halfway through baking, take the breadsticks out and brush with half of the garlic/butter/oil mixture. Place them back in the oven and bake until done to your preference. As soon as you take out the finished breadsticks, top with the rest of the garlic/oil/butter mixture.  Enjoy! :D

These were really delicious!!! And very close to the real deal! 

So I'm really excited about today! For the very first time, an American Christian singer, Michael W. Smith, is coming here to Recife!!!!!! My whole family, plus some of our friends, is going!!!! When we first heard that he was coming here, we all thought that it would be fun to go, but never actually considered going. Then, a few days later, some friends of ours mentioned it, and we all decided to go as a group! Fun stuff, huh? :D

What are you doing this weekend? Other than the concert, I don't think that we have a whole lot going on!