Mozzarella Baked Cheese Bites

Cheese, one of the greatest gifts given to Earth. Melty, chewy, gooey, stringy goodness. It's good on pizzas, enchiladas, nachos, pasta, fries, hamburgers, tacos, you name, I'll put cheese on it. One of my favorite ways to eat it is fried, but boy does that go against my life style change. In my search for all that is healthy AND cheesy, I came across a recipe that was baked, not fried. Was this too good to be true? Could I have my cheese and eat it too? YES, I could!

True to style, I used the recipe as a template to build my own baked cheese goodness. Instead of breadcrumbs, I used panko. Instead of Italian seasoning, I used Parmesan bread dipping mix. Add the best part, Weight Watchers just came out with 1 points plus cheese sticks. This master cheese plan was all coming together. It only took about 5 minutes to prepare, 3 to bake, and in under 10 minutes (minus oven preheating of course,) I was chowing down on glorious nuggets of cheesy bliss. I served them of course with marinara sauce and at 2 points a serving, I enjoyed two. I know I've guaranteed a lot in this blog, but you can bet that you won't miss all that grease one bit! Recipe below for 4 servings.

Mozzarella Baked Cheese Bites

• 4 Weight Watchers (or any brand of your liking) mozzarella cheese sticks
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup panko crumbs
• 2 tbs Parmesan bread dipping mix or Italian seasoning (if using seasoning, add 1 tbs paremesan grated cheese)
• 1/4 cup flour (all of this will not be used and is subtracted from the points total)
• Cooking spray
• Marinara sauce for dipping

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Put flour in one bowl, egg in another, and panko mixed with seasoning in another. You will have 3 separate bowls.
3. Cut cheese sticks into 8 pieces each.
4. Place cheese pieces in flour and shake off excess.
5. Dip floured cheese bites into egg.
6. Shake off excess egg and roll pieces in panko mix to cover.
7. Continue with all cheese bites and put on cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.
8. Spray lightly with cooking spray and cook for 3 minutes.

Tips and Tricks

• Use any type of cheese stick you would like
• Use seasoned panko crumbs to save time
• Use egg beaters or just egg whites to cut down on points (though I don't know if this will actually cut points to 1 or not)
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1. Remove and eat immediately with marinara sauce.
2.