birthday, breadsticks and all-around goodness....

This weekend I have chosen to do as any good wife would-- to take that which belongs to my husband with the old adage, "what's yours is mine". Last week, it was his dessert. Today, it was his blog.

Tomorrow is Rob's birthday, so we invited a few family and close friends for a little birthday party Friday night. His gifts: snickerdoodles, Twizzlers and coconut bars. They know him well.

Since Rob and I have been married, I have enjoyed hosting many parties with him and trying out new recipes on my unexpecting guests. The poor guests seem to have lost their sense of taste and ate nearly everything I made. So, I thought I would share the most popular recipes.

Herbed Cheese Breadsticks from BHG.com and a few of my own changes....
1 1/2 - 2 c. flour
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1/2 c. warm water (105 deg. to 120 deg.)
1 T. honey
1 T. olive oil
1/2 t. salt
2 T. grated Parmesan cheese
1 t. dried oregano
1 slightly beaten egg white
Directions

1. In a small bowl, stir yeast into warm water. Let stand for 5 minutes.

2. In a large mixing bowl stir together 1/2 c. of flour and the yeast mixture. Add honey, oil and salt. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes.

3. Using a wooden spoon, stir as much of the remaining flour as possible and 1 T. of cheese and 1/2 t. of oregano.

4. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining all-purpose flour to make a moderately soft dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total). Shape into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl. Cover with a damp and let rise in a warm place until double (about 1 hour).

3. Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover with damp towel and let rest for 10 minutes. Lightly grease two baking sheets (I used cooking spray and it worked, too).

4. Roll dough into a 15x7-inch rectangle. Cut into fifteen 1-inch strips. Place strips on prepared baking sheets. To make shorter bread sticks, I cut the strips in half. I also twisted them to make them look more fun. (That's important, you know!)

5. Cover and let rise in warm place until nearly double (about 30 minutes).

6. Brush breadsticks with egg white. In a small mixing bowl stir together 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese and 1/2 teaspoon oregano. Sprinkle over breadsticks.

5. Bake in a 375 degree F oven about 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from baking sheets. Cool on wire racks.

Spicy Chicken Tortilla Roll-Ups
I got this recipe from another blog. I couldn't find flavored tortillas, so I used the white flour and wheat flour tortillas. It was easy, but a little time-consuming. The nice part is that you can make it a few hours to a day in advance. I doubled the recipe and they went fast!






I hope you can enjoy these fun little treats. I hope to add more recipes and other fun little posts in the future.