Preheat oven to 400ºF. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, combine tomato sauce and 1 teaspoon of oregano; set pan over low heat and simmer 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a food processor, combine bread, remaining teaspoon of oregano and thyme; process until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Place crumbs in a shallow bowl. (Tip: Use the ends of the loaf of bread for the bread crumbs since those slices are often uneaten.)

Coat cheese sticks with honey mustard. Transfer cheese to bread crumb mixture and turn to coat. Arrange cheese on prepared baking sheet and lightly coat with cooking spray.

Bake until golden brown, about 4 to 5 minutes. Serve with warmed tomato sauce on the side. Yields 2 cheese sticks and about 1/4 cup of sauce per serving.

Notes

Chef's Tips

We renovated "Fried" Mozzarella Sticks by:

Coating the cheese with honey mustard instead of eggs.

Creating our own seasoned bread crumb mixture for maximum crunch.

Using part-skim mozzarella cheese instead of the whole-milk variety.

Baking the sticks instead of deep frying them.

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