St. John Bosco Sticks

Tomorrow, January 31st is the feast of St. John Bosco. He is best known for starting a school for boys to help keep them off the streets. He first caught their attention by entertaining them with things like juggling and magic tricks. As an educator myself I admire his commitment to educating the entire person, mind, body, and spirit. His advice to the young boys he taught, "Run, jump, make noise, but do not sin!" would make a wonderful motto for any classroom. Learn more about St. John Bosco here.

When I was subbing at a small Catholic school, I quickly learned that everyone's favorite school lunch day was Bosco Stick day. A Bosco stick is a mozzarella cheese filled breadstick. It would usually come with some marinara sauce for dipping.

In my classroom I liked to write the saint of the day up on the board, and read a short bio about that saint. When St. John Bosco day came around, the kid's first reaction was "did they name Bosco Sticks after him!?" I don't know how the Bosco Stick company decided on their name, but in that spirit I decided to try to make my own "St. John Bosco Sticks" to help celebrate this Italian saint.

Ingredients:
1 tube thin crust pizza dough
4 sticks of string cheese
Marinara sauce for dipping.

Makes 8 breadsticks


First open and unroll your pizza dough. Stretch it or roll it out so it is more or less an even rectangle. Peel the string cheese in half long ways so you have eight sticks. Place these on one half of the dough. 

 Next fold over the dough and use your hands to seal on the bottom and inbetween each cheese stick.

 Next use a knife or a pizza cutter to cut into individual breadsticks. You will end up with leftover dough. You could re-roll it to make more breadsticks, or just shape into plain breadsticks and bake along with the cheese ones.

 Bake at 400 degrees for ten minutes. You will probably end up with some cheese oozing out of some of the breadsticks, but hey that just makes it better! Serve with your favorite pizza dipping sauce. I like marinara, but you could also use ranch or garlic butter.  I made a large batch for a big group I'm cooking for tommorrow and froze them after I baked them.

* Update: Click here for reheating instructions and to find out the origins of the name of the Bosco Pizza Company!

A Prayer for St. John Bosco

O glorious Saint John Bosco, who in order to lead young people to the feet of the divine Master and to mould them in the light of faith and Christian morality didst heroically sacrifice thyself to the very end of thy life and didst set up a proper religious Institute destined to endure and to bring to the farthest boundaries of the earth thy glorious work, obtain also for us from Our Lord a holy love for young people who are exposed to so many seductions in order that we may generously spend ourselves in supporting them against the snares of the devil, in keeping them safe from the dangers of the world, and in guiding them, pure and holy, in the path that leads to God. Amen.