I think anyone who reads this blog regularly probably knows that besides God and family, I love two things beyond all others: chocolate and bread.  I love them in any way, shape, or form.  Milk or dark.  Yeast or quick.  It's all the same to me.  Pure delight.

That's why I was so excited to find this recipe for breadsticks.  I have never actually made breadsticks before because I always thought they were fussy.  Well, and it happens so infrequently, I was wrong.  This recipe found in the cookbook The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner by Liz Edmunds was super easy and can be put together in minutes.  You can throw the dough together before you start your main course and bake them while it cooks.  It's a basic recipe for pizza dough just shaped as breadsticks and slathered with melted garlic-butter.  I made little ones, about 1.25 ounces of dough per stick.  I got nineteen breadsticks from the recipe, six of which remained when dinner was over.  Not too shabby.  

My one problem with this recipe is that all the flavor came from the garlic-butter.  While that is delicious, the bread itself is a bit bland.  Luckily, this can be remedied by adding a bit more salt.  I think when you use this as pizza crust, you don't need it to be super flavorful but you do definitely need more flavor when it stands alone.  I would recommend adding at least a teaspoon to the dough, which is reflected in the recipe below.  The original recipe calls for only 1/4 teaspoon.  I also adjusted the amounts of some other ingredients to help with the flavor issue.

These breadsticks would be great served in place of regular rolls or with spaghetti or lasagna.  We had them with soup.  With brings me to my bonus recipe.  I found a recipe for Beef and Black-Eyed Pea Soup.  I adapted it a bit and the result was delicious.  Howie has already said its a new favorite!  It's definitely a keeper!  If you give a try, I'd love to hear what you think!  

Breadsticks

1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
3 tablespoons olive
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup butter
1/4-1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

Grease a baking sheet.

Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl, cover, and let sit until foamy, about 5-10 minutes.

Mix oil, honey, salt, and yeast mixture in a large mixing bowl.  Mix in three cups of flour.  This should give you a kneadable dough.  Flour your counter with some of the remaining cup of flour.  Knead, adding more flour if needed, until you have a smooth, somewhat stiff dough, about 6 minutes.
 
Melt butter and stir in garlic.

Divide dough into desired sized balls.  Roll out into into breadsticks. Place on greased pan.  Brush with butter, reserving some for later.  Let dough rise for about 15-30 minutes., until doubled in size.  Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees.

After the breadsticks have risen, bake for 10-20 minutes or until golden brown.  Brush with more butter halfway through baking time and again right out of the oven.

I used the breadsticks to make sandwiches for Ella's lunch -- too cute!  And yummy too!

Beef and Black-Eyed Pea Soup

Olive Oil
2 pounds stew meat
1 can Campbell's beef stock
1 can regular beef stock (Swanson's)
1 tablespoon cornstarch
2 quarts water
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped green pepper
1 16-ounce package frozen black-eyed peas
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1 tablespoon dried parsley (yes, you can use fresh, I just didn't have any)
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and pepper, to taste.

Cut stew meat into small, bit-sized pieces.  Heat olive oil in a large pot.  Brown the meat in the oil.  Season liberally with salt and pepper.  Once brown, add the Campbell's beef stock plus one can of water.  Let meat simmer for 20-30 minutes, until cooked through and tender.  

Mix together cornstarch and regular beef stock.  Add to the meat mixture.  Bring to a boil and cook for a minute or two.  Add the water, onions, celery, carrots, peppers, and black-eyed peas.  Bring to a boil.  Lower heat and simmer for 30 minutes, until peas and vegetables are tender.  

Add rice and seasonings.  Simmer for another 15 minutes.  Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Note:  the original recipe called for ground beef.  I suppose if you really want to use that, you can.