Olive Garden Imitation Meal

I love the Olive Garden.

Really, it could be considered an obsession.  But honestly, how can you not love it.  The unending supply of buttery bread sticks, the yummy scent of garlic in the air, white chocolate raspberry cheesecake.... delicious! 

There is only one part of my Olive Garden meal that I truly dislike - the bill!  I worked as a hostess at my local Olive Garden a few years back when I had just graduated from high school.  The only thing I liked as much as the food was the discount I received on my meals while I was employed there!  These days, I get to pay full price for my trips to the OG.  While I do love splurging on a nice meal every now and then, it's just not financially possible to eat there as much as I'd like (which could possibly be every day)!

By Saturday, Matt and I were both so tired of eating Thanksgiving leftovers.  Don't get me wrong, the foodie in me loves the holiday.  But turkey and mashed potatoes for three days gets a little boring!  In the midst of my craving for an amazing Italian meal, I came to an incredible realization - I could make this myself.

Olive Garden Seafood Alfredo is my all-time favorite.  A simple Google search for "Olive Garden seafood alfredo recipe" took me to a really nice blog called Mrs. Happy Homemaker.  I followed this recipe to make the sauce for my pasta.  I left the scallops out of my recipe, being as neither Matt nor I like them (and when I order it from the restaurant, I usually pick them all out anyway) which also helped save a buck or two at the grocery store when getting all the ingredients for this meal.  And of course, what good would an Olive Garden imitation meal be without bread sticks?  Following a Good Morning America recipe exactly (as this was my first time making bread from scratch) I made what I'd like to think are a pretty good replica of the Italian chain's bread sticks.

In total, I spent about $30 at the grocery store for this meal.  This may sound pricey, but there are some important factors to think about when shopping for your ingredients.  Firstly, I had to purchase some items that many people have on hand in their kitchens already (such as bread flour, olive oil, and active dry yeast). Secondly, some things shouldn't be skimped on.  Buying fresh (not frozen) shrimp was a bit more expensive, but I prefer working with fresh seafood and I feel that it really makes a difference in the flavor.  If you prefer to tighten your budget, frozen seafood would do just fine.  Finally, These recipes make a lot of food.  I'd say you'd be safe making this meal for a family of four at least.  We had tons of leftover pasta and sauce, which you can also use to dip your bread sticks into (which I highly recommend doing).

All in all, this meal was a HUGE success.  This was my first time making anything from scratch, and I couldn't be happier with how it all turned out.  The bread sticks tasted just like the ones from the restaurant, mine were just slightly fatter!  And the pasta sauce was incredible.  Not exactly like what you would get from the restaurant, but to be completely honest, I may have liked this better.  After all, the recipe does say "Better than Olive Garden seafood alfredo."  I'll definitely be saving these recipes and making them again.

What restaurant recipe would you copy if you could?

I'd like to try my hand at making an imitation of Raising Cane's dipping sauce.

xoxo,

C