Olive Garden Inspired Soup, Salad and Bread sticks

Last night's activity...

This is why we couldn't go to Olive Garden today. Actually, to be accurate, this along with our friend/neighbor Pearl's bottle of Kettle One is why we couldn't go to Olive Garden. Or to our friend Heather's cookout (sorry Heather!) This is why we watched reality TV for 7 hours today, and saw about 347 Olive Garden commercials, giving us a ridiculous craving for some soup, salad and bread sticks action (those annoying commercials are shockingly effective.) However, neither one of us were in any state to put on socially acceptable outfits, comb our hair, or even drive a car, forcing us to make some home-made Olive Garden yums. We opted for the "Soup, Salad and Bread sticks" option.

The Menu:
Spinach salad with olive vinigerate and homemade cheesy croutons (no real recipe here, just throw spinach into a bowl, throw some butter-covered bread into the oven and top with shredded cheese)
Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks
Italian Meatball Wedding Soup

First up..
Cheesy Garlic Bread Sticks
1.5 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons fresh dill
2 teaspoons dried parsley
1/2 cup milk
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
4 tablespoons butter

preheat oven to 425. Mix all dry ingredients in large metal bowl. Add milk, 2 tablespoons melted butter and 1/2 cup shredded cheese and mix until incorporated. Dough should be a kind-of-sticky ball (you can always add more flour if it's too sticky)

Roll out dough into rectangle, about 1 foot long and 1/2 foot tall.

Take remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and place on cookie sheet. Throw in the oven for about 2 minutes or until melted. Remove pan and sprinkle butter with salt or garlic salt.

 Take rolled out dough rectangle and place on butter-covered cookie sheet. Carefully cut rectangle of dough into strips, but don't pull them apart. (the butter will creep in between the cuts and make them crispy)

Bake bread sticks at 425 for ten minutes. Take them out of the oven, flip them over and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of shredded cheese. Put them back in the oven and bake for another 5 minutes, or until slightly brown on both sides.


great to dip in...
Italian Meatball Wedding Soup 

Meatballs:
1 pound ground turkey, beef, chicken, or any other animal that lives on a farm
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
1/2 cup shredded cheese (parm or cheddar work best)
1 tablespoon fresh dill
1 teaspoon dried parsley
pinch of salt and peppa

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine all ingredients in bowl. Roll into around 1-inch balls, throw on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until brown on edges. Roll them around after about 15 minutes for even baking.

Obviously we had to somehow incorporate cheese into these little guys... SO YUMMY

Soup:
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped yellow onion
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup small pasta
5 cups fresh baby spinach (stems removed)

Place chopped carrots, celery and onion with olive oil in large soup pot and sautee for about 10 minutes or until veggies are soft.

Add broth and white wine, bring to boil (should take about 15 minutes.) Add pasta and cooked meatballs and cook for 5 minutes (I choose letter pasta because we like to spell inappropriate words while eating)

Tah-Dah! Almost as good as O.G's

 Add spinach and cook for about 3 minutes or until wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste (I used about 1/2 tablespoon salt and 1 teaspoon pepper)