Gluten Free Cheese Sticks-Cheat treat

Of all the food that I miss from Illinois now that we are living in the south, it's the fried cheeseballs.  Between The Pub and Green Gables, you can get slightly crunchy, super cheesy, balls of fried cheese that can almost make you forget how incredibly unhealthy they are for you.  After spending about 2 months on strictly fruits and veggies, I have begun to add some foods back into my diet....within reason.  As much as I love cheese, I have managed to steer clear of all dairy.  Tonight, however, I was craving a little bit of home.

I wasn't going to go full force and just fry up some mozzarella, but I wanted it to taste similar, yet healthier.  My husband has been begging me to cheat a bit and try to make egg rolls with spring roll paper (since I am grain free, the rice starch in these make them a no go).  As I was walking through Whole Foods today, I figured I would give it a try, but use them for cheese sticks.  I grabbed some mozzarella goat cheese (goat cheese proteins are smaller and much easier on your digestive track than cow's milk cheeses).  Pretty much anything with goat cheese is a sure hit for me, so finding this mozzarella goat cheese made my day!

Making these is super easy, you just have to have some patience.

Fried Cheese Sticks

1-Package of Spring Roll Skins
1-Block of Cheese of choice cut into sticks(I used Mozzarella goat Cheese)
about 1 cup of Coconut oil-or enough to fill up 1 inch in your pan of choice
Shallow pan filled with about 1/2 inch of water

Start by dipping your first spring roll skin into your pan of water for about 10 seconds.  Create each cheese stick one at a time, do not stick them all in at the same time or these will begin to disintegrate before you roll them up.  Once you pull the skin out of the water, shake some water off of it and lay it flat.  Put your first cheese stick on the edge closest to you and begin to roll away from you and fold in the sides as you roll.  You may need to press the edge of some of the rolls to get the edge to stick.  Move on to your other rolls until you are out of cheese.

Pour your coconut oil into the pan and heat  until it just begins to boil and turn the heat back to medium.  Place your cheese sticks in one at a time until you get the hang of the oil temperature and then start frying 2 at a time.  My husband found the most success turning the pan a bit on the side so the cheese stick could float in the oil instead of sitting on the bottom of the pan and burning a bit.  Once you see a golden brown, scoop out of the oil and let cool slightly before enjoying!

**Note-The goat cheese Mozzarella does not stay solid and gooey like cows mozzarella, but still adds a cheese flavor like a "normal" cheese stick.