On the 9th Day of Christmas - Homemade Mozzarella Cheese Sticks

I have to start this one off by saying, I took my Mom out for her Christmas present last night. I bought her tickets to see Johnny Reid, so it was a pretty awesome evening out. I was able to go and meet the opening band, Pear, and get a picture and autograph from them, which is totally cool! I've never been able to do that before, so it was a first for me! And for a person (myself) who's never really listened to Johnny Reid before, well lets just say he's gained a new listener! He was so energetic and awesome...he just never stopped moving, which made it that much more interesting to watch! But anyways...Here is the 9th Day.

Mmmmm, Now who doesn't like Cheese Sticks?! Melted cheese covered in bread crumbs and herbs...I'm making my mouth water just thinking about it. I love cheese, and cheese sticks are definitely one of my favourites around the holidays!

I found this recipe the other day...on Pinterest (I refused to get it for the longest time and I finally caved. So now every time I say it I roll my eyes!). Well I needed something small to add to the dinner menu and decided to add it to my list because lets be honest I'm too cheap to spend $10 for a dinky little package of like 15 Mozza-sticks at the grocery store. So why not spend about the same amount and make about 80, depending on their size.

So all I did was buy a block of the Part Skim Pizza Mozzarella. I cut the block in half, not knowing how much I was really going to get out of it and I began slicing the block into thick slices. I then took the thick slices and cut them in half the long way, then again the short way making rectangular pieces. After that I dipped them into table cream, I actually let them sit for a minute in the cream before moving them into the Italian Herb Bread Crumbs.

Totally covering them in the bread crumbs. I made Homemade Bread crumbs as well (really simple), but store bought works just the same, but don't forget the spices if you just bought plain bread crumbs!

I took them off the fork and placed them on a plate/tray.

I covered them in saran wrap and froze them until I needed them, so the cheese was hard (it's better to melt when hard, they'll keep their shape more!) and pulled them out 5 minutes before I needed them. They only needed 4 minutes in the oven at 450.

I wasn't able to get a picture of them after they were cooked as they were gone fast!

So here's what you need for the Italian Herb Bread crumbs:

4-6 slices of dried out bread (your choice of kind) - I put mine in the oven to dry out
Italian Seasoning Mix - add to your liking
1 tsp Garlic Powder

Grind the Bread so it's crumbled. What we do here is put the bread in pieces into a Coffee Grinder so it's crumbed well. You can also use a bag and rolling pin (I've done this way before, but it can really suck when you accidentally get a hole in the bag). Mix in the spices and the Garlic Powder, and shake until mixed well. Let it sit for a couple of days and it will be set to use!

Here's what you need for the Homemade Mozza-Sticks:

1 block of Part Skim Mozzarella Pizza Cheese (or use Mozzarella Cheese Strings in cubes)
1 cup of Table Cream
2 cups of Italian Herb Bread Crumbs - you might not use all

* Just remember to freeze them before you cook them! - They will melt better!*