Happy New Year! We had a pretty low-key evening on Monday. My parents invited us over, the girls had fun playing amongst each other, we enjoyed a couple adult beverages and snacked on some appetizers. These mozzarella sticks were part of the spread and they were great!
I've started going through some of my cookbooks and bookmarking recipes I want to try. That way when I'm in the mood to try something new out, I can grab one and know exactly what recipes I'm interested in. These are in the newest Pioneer Woman cookbook and I'm really glad we decided to give these a try.
They didn't take much time to prep and only call for a few ingredients; everyone loved them. The recipe yields 32 small sticks so we took half with us and then left the other half in the freezer for another time. The only adaption I made was by adding some Italian seasoning to the panko crumbs. Next time I also might try adding one more coating because we did have some cheese peeking through. Overall another great recipe from Ree!
Fried Mozzarella Sticks
Ingredients:
16 pieces string cheese
1/2 c flour
2 eggs
1/4 c milk
1-1/2 c panko crumbs
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
Canola oil, for frying
Marinara/Pizza sauce for dipping
Directions:
Set up your dredging station using three separate bowls. Add the flour to one bowl. Mix the eggs and milk in another. Add the panko crumbs and Italian seasoning to the last. Remove the string cheese from their wrappers and cut in half for a total of 32 pieces. Start by rolling each piece of cheese in the flour, then briefly dunk them into the egg/milk mixture. Finally, roll in the panko mixture. If necessary, use your hands and pat the crumbs onto the cheese. Place mozzarella sticks on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and place in the freezer for 30 mins.
To fry mozzarella, heat 1-1/2 inches of canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, add mozz sticks (6 at a time) and watch closely, turn over to brown evenly. You should only have to cook for about 2 minutes. Remove to a paper towel-lined plate. Serve immediately with marinara or pizza sauce.
Slightly adapted from: The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food from my Frontier
Have you taken the time to reflect on the past year and make some goals for 2013? I like to make some goals to work towards each year. Last year I shared with you my pretty extensive
goal list. I did well with some and others like my DIY projects I bombed. This year I've decided to not over-do it and just focus on a few things, especially activities that I really do enjoy.
1. I wanted to give myself a good challenge this year, something that I would enjoy doing. I've had this idea in my mind for a couple weeks now and I think I'm ready to just give it a go. I'm going to cook my way through the new cookbook, Savoring the Seasons with Our Best Bites. My goal is to finish by the end of 2013, I figure I will need to cook 2-3 recipes from it each week. I've never tried anything like this, I think it could be a lot of fun.
2. Household Organization- This is always an on-going process but my hope this year is to continue clearing the clutter from our home and really start working with the girls on responsibility- make them help out around the house more and keeping their own bedrooms clean.
3. It's no secret that I love to read. I don't watch much television and use most of my spare time reading. So it's pretty easy for me to finish a book within a few day's time. Last year I read 35 books, I even had a few months where I didn't do much reading. So this year I'm challenging myself to read 50 books. I didn't make a list to follow because I'm always finding new inspiration from the library, etc but you can follow me on Pinterest, I keep track of the books I read throughout the year as well as books I'm wanting to read soon.
Well there it is, a few goals I'm working towards this year. I'd love for you to share some of your own!