Fried Cheese Sticks

I keep forgetting to take pix of my ingredients. Sorry about that!  Well, these are so simple, you can remember the list.  All that is needed is:

Egg Roll Wrappers
Mozzarella Cheese Sticks
Oil for frying
Marinara, if desired

Start by wrapping a cheese stick up in an egg roll wrapper.  Start at the bottom corner and roll half way up.  Fold in the sides, then continue wrapping the rest of the way. Wet the edges to seal.

Heat your oil up in a pan. I just kept it shallow, but really should have gone a little deeper with it.  As you can see in the next pic, the cheese didn't quite get melty enough.

Turn every minute or so until they are browned on all sides.  Drain on paper towels.  Serve up with some marinara.

I decided to make a little treat with some of the leftover wrappers by cutting them up and frying them.  I sprinkled some with powdered sugar and some with cinnamon/sugar.

Notes:

1) Use at least 1" grease or your cheese won't melt properly.

2) If I made these again, I'd use Lumpia wrappers.  They are thinner and crispier.  These didn't get cooked all the way through and were kind of gummy/chewy/flour-y.  My hubby and my son loved them anyway.  

Restaurant cheese dip at home!

Wayyyyyy back when we used to dine out, we loved going to a local Mexican restaurant for their cheese dip.  Having a major hankering, my son begged me to make some at home.  I wasn't sure exactly what they had in theirs, but it was worth a shot.  It turned out pretty good.  Here's what you need...

8oz Pepper Jack Cheese, shredded  ( real cheese, not a processed 'cheese product')
2T Butter
2T Flour
1C Milk

Melt the butter in a small sauce pot over low/medium-low heat.

Sprinkle in the flour, stir.

Cook for a couple of minutes to cook out the raw flour taste.  Stir constantly.

Slowly add in the milk.  I like to add a couple of tablespoons, stir to combine, add in a couple more, stir, and so on.  I find I don't get any lumps that way.  We're basically making a white sauce here.  I would normally be stirring constantly, but I needed my hand to take the picture.  Ya know, it's funny, my son never asks me WHY I have to take pix of the food I'm preparing, lol!  What will be weird is if he goes to a friend's house some day and asks their mom why they don't take pix of their food!  ;)

Turn the heat up to medium and the mixture will thicken.  Stir constantly so the bottom doesn't scorch.  

Turn heat back down to low.  You could even remove it from the heat at this point if you like.

Add in small handfuls of shredded cheese.  Stir to incorporate, making sure it's melted before adding more.

Continue until you have the flavor you like.  Mine took about half of the package shown above, or 8oz.   If you don't have pepper jack, you can always use mozzarella or cheddar and add in some salsa, green chiles or some diced (canned/pickled) jalapenos.

Your end product should look something like this, thick and creamy.  If it's too thick, you can always thin it down with some milk.

Serve it up with some tortilla chips

and you have a tasty snack!

Mmmmmmmmm, craving satisfied, kid approved, simple and frugal!

This whole batch of cheese dip AND the bag of chips cost me less than one order of cheese dip at the restaurant!  But my recipe made 3 times the amount of dip!  This makes about 1 1/2 cups, if I had to guess.  Yup, the boys polished it off in one sitting!

Fried Cheese Sticks...yum!

Mmmmmmm, fried cheese!  Why is it that everything that tastes so darn good is so bad for you?   Oh, well. Let's make 'em anyway!

Ingredients:
Mozzarella Cheese
Vegetable Oil
1/4C A/P Flour
Panko Bread CrumbsPaprika
Black Pepper
Salt
Parsley

Start by cutting your cheese into sticks. 

Mine are approximately one ounce each. 

Set up your breading station.  Flour in one, egg in another, panko in the last.

I added a little bit of salt, pepper and paprika into each container.  (Be careful

with the salt, depending on the cheese you choose)  I saved the parsley

for the container with the panko.  How much?  Ehhh...

as much as looks good.  I stayed away from garlic powder because I 

knew it would burn and get bitter.  Note: my containers will change order

when I bread use them. I wasn't thinking when I set up this shot.  I should

also tell you that after I mixed the panko together, I decided it was too 

chunky, so I processed it in my coffee grinder. 

Start by dipping your cheese in the flour mixture.

Then dip in your egg mixture

And lastly in your panko mixture.

Set aside and continue on with the rest.  Note:  Now would have

been a good time to throw these in the freezer for a couple of hours.

They came out okay, but as you read on, you'll see what happened.

Heat up about 1/2" of oil in a skillet (or use a deep fryer if you have one).

Toss about 4 in at a time.  Okay, don't toss them, gently lay them down.

If you look closely, you can see how my cheese is already melting.

Turn and brown on each side.  Put on paper towels to briefly drain,

saying "arrrrrggghhhh" aloud when one of your cheese sticks escapes

from it's crusty shell, darn it!

Fry up the rest and serve with some marinara, if desired.

Or, like me, throw some El Pato in the microwave, make

a mess of the little bowl, but take the picture anyway.

Thank goodness I'm not a food stylist.  I'd fail miserably!  :)

Next time, I'm freezing them for sure!  While these tasted really good, they were really falling apart as we were trying to eat them.  I just pulled what spices appealed to me, and I was really surprised at how good they were.  I would definitely make these again.  Try them yourself and let me know what you think!

{Printer Friendly Version} 

REAL FOOD OPTION : if I were to make these for my family now, I would use Non hydrogenated Lard or Expeller Pressed Coconut Oil to fry these in.  I would also probably use pork rinds that had been powdered in a coffee grinder for the coating.  Spices would be the same.