Low Calorie Mozzarella Sticks

As you know, mozzarella sticks are delicious! If you've never had one, a mozzarella stick is fried breaded cheese that is available as an appetizer at most Italian restaurants. They are usually served with a side of marinara sauce for dipping. And, as you can imagine, since they are breaded, fried, and cheese based, they are very high in both calories and fat.

A few weeks ago, I realized that I had the perfect ingredients to make low calorie mozzarella sticks in my kitchen, so I decided to go for it. I've actually written about most of the ingredients separately, so now it is time to just combine them together!

Ingredients (makes 2 servings):
- Two low calorie mozzarella string cheese sticks
- A quarter cup of egg beaters or egg whites (you'll only end up using about half)
- One quarter cup of your favorite Italian bread crumbs or whole wheat breadcrumbs (you'll only end up using about 1 tablespoon per serving, so regular Italian breadcrumbs are okay)
- Two tablespoons of your favorite low calorie pizza sauce

Instructions:
(1) Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees
(2) Cut two mozzarella sticks in half and set aside
(3) In a shallow bowl, pour 3 tablespoons of egg beaters or egg whites
(4) In a separate shallow bowl, weigh out a quarter of a cup of whole wheat or Italian breadcrumbs using your food scale
(5) Dip each individual cheese stick into your egg beaters so that it is completely coated
(6) Once cheese stick is coated, roll it in your breadcrumbs until it is coated
(7) Place cheese stick into oven safe bowl
(8) Repeat for the other three cheese sticks
(9) Lightly spray each of your cheese sticks with a bit more oil
(10) Put oven save pan with cheese sticks into the oven for about 7 minutes -- keep your eye on them, you want to take them out right before they begin to flatten and melt
(11) Put two tablespoons of your favorite pizza sauce in a separate bowl for dipping!

Okay, so in the calorie department, each serving (two breaded halves of a string cheese) comes out to approximately 110-120 calories (depending on what ingredients you use), with 3-5 grams of fat (depending on your string cheese) and approximately a gram of fiber.

Enjoy!
Juliet

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