Pizza Dip with Homemade Breadsticks!

This is one of those recipes that is really simple, but so delicious it is ridiculous!  I originally saw the pizza dip on one of the best Internet sites ever invented, Pinterest!  My niece, Whitney introduced me to Pinterest and I loved it the first time I got on and saw what it was all about.  It just has the most creative thoughts of people from all over in one place...amazing! 

This dip is such a good party food or great if you have to feed a bunch of teenagers (double the recipe for that though)!  The bread sticks are something I have been making for  a while, because I love Olive Garden's bread sticks and for a long time we didn't have an Olive Garden here in town  (for some reason they closed it), but now we do have a new one only five short years later...go figure, only in corporate America are such decisions made...lol.

Here is what you will need for the dip:

 

Ingredients:

4 oz. cream cheese softened
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1 cup pizza sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried basil
sliced pepperoni (about a cup)

Mix the softened cream cheese, mayonnaise, sour cream, and 1/2 of the Parmesan cheese and 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese. I added the garlic powder and the basil to this mixture and also chopped about half of the pepperoni and mixed it with the cheese mixture.  Spread this mixture in a pie plate.  Top with the cup of pizza sauce, the other 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, the other 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese, and the rest of the pepperoni.   You can add any pizza toppings you like at this point.  The recipe called for black olives and chopped green peppers.  My family doesn't care for those, but I think it would be really good.  Some chopped mushrooms would also be great or some jalapeno slices.  Add whatever your gang likes. 

Place in a 350 degree preheated oven and cook until hot and bubbly... about 20 to 25 minutes.


The bread sticks are even easier.  This all you will need for them:

1 loaf of Rich's Frozen bread dough  (this is the loaf not the rolls) or any frozen yeast bread loaf
1 stick butter
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Thaw the bread dough on your counter until it is pliable but still fairly cold.  Cut it with a very sharp knife or kitchen shears (the handiest thing ever) across the loaf like you are slicing a loaf of bread, not longways.  You should be able to get about 9 or 10 pieces.  Take each piece and roll it between your palms like you did when you made Play-doh snakes...lol.  Roll it into a long piece about 9 inches long.  This sometimes takes some rolling and stretching. 

Melt your butter in a shallow dish, like a pie plate and mix in the garlic powder and Parmesan cheese.  Roll each piece of dough in this mixture and coat well.  Place on a large cookie sheet.  Space these far enough apart to allow them to rise, because they will almost triple in size.  Put your cookie sheet in a warm place, I usually put it on the stove top at the back.    Let these rise for about 2 hours to get the complete rise out of the dough.  Place on the middle rack of your oven and bake at 375 degrees until they are brown.  Different ovens take different amounts of time, but mine usually takes about 13 - 15 minutes.   Keep an eye on them though because the bottoms will brown first and can get too brown quickly.

These are perfect for dipping in the pizza dip.  They are also great with spaghetti, lasagna or any pasta meal and they are so much better than the premade frozen bread sticks.  You will never want those again!