Baked Zucchini Fries

Lately guys, I've been pinning. Do you guys pin? Pinterest has been such a great resource for gatherings ideas for all different areas of my life-- decor, fashion, and even cooking. I came across this image a while back and I knew it definitely needed to be put on the To-Cook list. So I pinned and eventually got around to making it. The photo I pinned took me to Our Best Bites's version of Baked Zucchini Fries, and I noticed that her recipe was an adaptation of one from Aggie's Kitchen. I feel like I'm playing six degrees of the food blogs, ha. Anyhow, I looked over both versions and went with something sort of in between. I served this alongside some grilled Italian sausage. We had some sweets to eat on hand, so I kept dinner short and to the point that night. These turned out really deliciously. Josh enjoyed them too, and I'm glad to have another way to prepare one of our favorite veggies.

Baked Zucchini Fries
Adapted from Aggie's Kitchen and Our Best Bites; Serves 2

1 medium-to-large zucchini
1 egg
1/4 cup plain panko breading
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon dried garlic powder

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat a foil-lined baking sheet with cooking spray. Set aside.
• Trim the ends from your zucchini. Halve it crosswise, then halve each piece lengthwise. Again, halve each piece lengthwise, so that you have several "planks" of zucchini. Then slice your zucchini planks into sticks lengthwise.
• Whisk your egg in a shallow bowl or deep plate. Mix the panko, Parmesan, oregano and garlic powder in another shallow bowl or plate.
• Working with several zucchini sticks at a time, coat them completely in the egg mixture and then coat them in the breading. Place on your prepared baking sheet and continue until all the fries are dipped and breaded.
• Bake zucchini fries for 10-12 minutes. Flip each fry over, and continue baking for another 10 minutes. Serve.

My notes: If the directions for slicing the zucchini seem confusing, jump over to Aggie's Kitchen or Our Best Bite through the links above. They both have excellent tutorial photos for preparing the recipe. Also, this is a halved version of the recipe, since there's just the two of us. I think next time I might try the plain breadcrumbs to see what the difference is.