Garlic Breadsticks with Cheese and Onion - quick & easy

I recently posted a recipe showing how to make very quick and easy cheese breadsticks that are delicious with soup. Here's another variation on the theme.

This recipe features my number one convenience food, my favorite ready-to-bake dough. There's nothing like the smell of freshly baking bread permeating throughout the house! Kids love to make these too because they're a fun mix of playing with 'modeling clay' and food - the latter usually being close to most kids' hearts. They feel very grown up and accomplished when they make their own food, too.

The last time I made these, it was as an accompaniment to our favorite soup but they are great as a side to go with almost any meal. They are also good for serving as nibbles with drinks if you want to be a little more sophisticated. Make them ahead and serve them cold or pop them in the oven when your guests arrive. That lovely baking bread smell will delight them while you're pouring the drinks. Or quickly whip up a batch to make a quick and easy meat-free lunch served with your favorite soup and salad.

Photographs © BritFlorida.

Here I show the ingredients for the entire quick and easy lunch.

• 1 tube breadstick dough
• 1 medium onion
• A little olive oil
• 3 oz. cheese. For family meals, I use Cheddar
• 1 clove garlic

• Your favorite ready-made soup
• Side salad - mine was simply salad greens, scallions and slice black olives

PREPARATION

Heat the oven according to the directions given on the tube. Set a skillet / frying pan onto a medium heat on the stove and pour in the olive oil.

ONIONS AND GARLIC

Chop the onions. The easiest way to do this is to cut them into slices and then cut the slices into small chunks. Chop the garlic also. Gently sauté them both together in the oil.

DOUGH

Kids love this. Open the tube of dough and separate the breadsticks. On a floured board, roll them into 'sausages' about six inches long. Using the heel of your hand, flatten them into lozenge shapes.

CHEESE

This just needs to be roughly sliced - there's no need to be pretty or accurate. (And no need to get the grater out - I hate cleaning those things!)

PILE ON THE TOPPING

Place the dough onto the countertop and add the onions and garlic - distributing them between the dough sheets. Add the cheese too.

FOLD

Fold them over and crimp at the top. They will open up when they are baking but this gives two advantages. Firstly, the cheese won't melt too quickly during baking and will be cooked to perfection. Secondly, this gives the final product a 'boat' shape. In fact, kids refer to them as cheese and onion boats! They also act as a handy scoop. If you're having these with soup, you can almost use these as a spoon.

BAKE

These will take about ten to fifteen minutes. This gives you time to prepare the rest of the lunch; in my case, heating the soup and making a quick salad. I like to use black olives with this meal - the cheese, garlic and tomato have an Italian connotation and the olives are a perfect accompaniment.

You might be new to a vegetarian diet. It may be that a member of your family has recently decided to stop eating meat and fish. Or you could be like me and himself who haven't eaten meat since we were teenagers. Or it may be that you have simply decided to have a meat-free meal once or twice a week. Whatever your circumstances, these great cookbooks can help. Variety is important in our diets and although we have firm favorites, it's wonderful to experiment with new ideas. Find them here.

So easy and so good!