Mozzerella Cheese Sticks

I LOVE Pinterest. I could lose whole afternoons on it. Food, clothes, crafts, party ideas, you're wandering around and it's all there with enticing pictures to boot.

I have a whole board full of food ideas. Very few are quick or healthy but this recipe that I found and the girls begged me to make fits the categories.

The idea came from this pin originally.

Here is the recipe in it's original location.

And here is the recipe for anyone who doesn't want to have to open 25 tabs.

- String cheese. Any flavor or brand will do. After doing a bit of research it was mentioned that fat free
   doesn't melt as fast. The original recipe called for 12 sticks we did 8.
- 1 egg
- flour
- 5 T of bread crumbs. I put 3 slices of bread in the food processor with a sprinkle of Italian seasoning and
   a tarragon rub and it was more than enough to do 8 full cheese sticks. I let the bread crumbs dry out over
   4 hours
- 2 T Parmesan cheese
- olive oil or cooking spray. The original recipe had you use this to coat your foil on the pan to
   avoid sticking. I used parchment paper and had no problems.

Cut your cheese sticks to size BEFORE you freeze them. Frozen cheese sticks are a lot harder to cut than you'd think. We cut our cheese sticks into thirds but next time I think I will go smaller to make them last 3 seconds longer, maybe.

Once the cheese sticks are frozen put an egg in a bowl and beat it well. 

In another bowl combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.

To coat the cheese sticks roll them in the flour (we put flour in a gallon baggie tossed in all the cheese and shook it up really well) dip them in the egg and then roll them in the bread crumb mix. 

Place the cheese sticks on your lined and greased, if necessary, baking sheet. 

Bake at 400* for 4 minutes or until crisp. Watch them closely so they don't become cheese puddles. Ours took 6 minutes and I think I could have left them in one more minute to get a little bit more crispy. 

Here are my lovely photos.

 

The girls loved them, George only had a few but she is so picky I'm amazed she tried them at all. ElCid though they were great, fried cheese is his favorite restaurant appetizer and would like more next time, he only got one!

Cream Puffs

Hopefully we all have fond memories of our moms making, buying, or providing some sort of snack for after school. You know cookies, chips, crackers, sandwiches, pizza rolls if you believe those commercials. At our house our mom made cream puffs. I never even knew people thought they were hard to make and a cool food until I was in high school and my friends were amazed that we had them all the time. I now make them for my girls and for their teachers on special occasions like Valentines day, and yes people were amazed I made them and thought they were a very cool food.

Cream Puffs
1 stick (1/2 cup) BUTTER do NOT use margarine you will be sad.
1 cup water
1 cup flour
4 eggs

Filling
pudding, cool whip, chicken salad, tuna salad, strawberries and whip cream - have fun!

Topping
frosting, powdered sugar, cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 400*. Bring water and butter to a boil in a sauce pan. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the flour. It should hold together in a loose ball. Mix in one egg at a time. Is it really important to do just one at a time? I don't know, I've never mixed in all 4 at once so I can't tell you, I've always respected the one egg at a time rule. Once the eggs are mixed in you should have a firm batter. Scoop the batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet. I usually line mine with parchment paper but it's not a disaster if you don't. How big of a scoop? It's up to you, I make mine in a range of 1/8 c. to 2 tsp. depending on the size of cream puff I want at the end. I made the teacher treats in the 2 tsp size and they came out 2 bite size. Put cream puff in the oven. If you made them 1/8 of a cup scoops you're going to cook them for about 40 minutes, if you went with the 2 tsp size it will be more like 20 minutes. When they are done they will be golden brown on top and all pretty and puffy.

While they bake decide what you are going to fill and if desired frost them with. The ones I made most recently were filled with a pudding cool whip mixture. I made the pudding (the 4 serving size package) and before it set I mixed in about 1/2 a regular size tub of cool whip. Chicken or tuna salad in larger size cream puffs are great for parties. I've made all kinds of fillings and it's fun to experiment.

Once the cream puffs are done let them cool. The easiest way to fill them is to slice off the very top. Remove the insides and plop a dollop of your filling inside. Replace the top and sprinkle on powdered sugar, cocoa powder, or drizzle on some icing. For my treat puffs I fit a piping bag with a long tip and poke it into the side and squeeze it into the puff. I also melted some canned icing and dipped the top of the uncut puff into it.

One batch will make 12 larger cream puffs or 45 2 bite cream puffs.

Once all your puffs are filled and topped enjoy! Impress your friends! Feel fancy on a Tuesday afternoon!