Baked Zucchini Sticks

I've been stuck on Taste of Home recipes for a few weeks now, and decided I needed to venture out. I did a little blog searching and came across this recipe on Gina's WW Blog. I only made the zucchini from this recipe, not the marinara sauce. We had pizza sauce in the fridge, and decided to use what we already had. As for the zucchini sticks, I followed the directions pretty much to a T. The change I made was using egg beaters instead of egg whites. After making them, I would recommend placing the bread crumbs in a shallow bowl to dip the zucchini instead of a bag. With the bag, I found that the bread crumbs became soggy and clumped together after the first half of the zucchini sticks. I made this change for the 2nd half of the batch and found it much easier and I was able to use all of the bread crumbs. I would also recommend eating them as soon as they come out of the oven. They became a little soft when they got cool. Overall, great recipe. I think next time, I will make these as discs.

Servings: 3 servings • Total Time: 25 minutes • Points: 1.33 ww points (sauce extra pts)
3 medium zucchini sliced into 3" x 1/2" sticks
1 large egg white
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs ( I used Panko bread crumbs)
2 tbsp grated Pecorino Romano cheese
cooking spray
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt
fresh pepper

1 Point Quick Marinara Sauce (1 cup)
1 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 28 oz cans crushed tomatoes (I like Tuttorosso)
1 small bay leaf
1 tsp oregano
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
salt and fresh pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 425°.

Sauce: In a medium pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until golden, being careful not to burn. Add crushed tomatoes, salt, pepper, oregano, basil and bay leaf. Stir and reduce heat to low. Cover and let simmer about 20 minutes.

Sticks: In a small bowl, beat egg whites and season with salt and pepper. In a ziplock bag, place breadcrumbs, garlic powder and cheese and shake well. Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray and set aside.

Dip zucchini sticks into eggs then into bread crumb and cheese mixture, a few at a time and shake to coat. Place the breaded zucchini in a single layer and spray more cooking spray on top. Bake at 425° for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve with 1/2 cup marinara sauce for dipping (.5 pt)