We spent last weekend at a girls’ fastpitch tournament in Sebring, FL, and lived out of our minivan, tent, and cooler. Feeding a family of four out of a cooler makes for limited options. Smelling the fried food in the concession stand, my wife stated she was going to “fall off the (Paleo) wagon”, and get some breaded fried cheese sticks. I didn’t blame her, it has been a favorite of ours for the last 15 years. I even ate one, breading and all, though I did try to remove the breading…it just doesn’t work.

Fast forward three days, and the wife tells me she had an idea for a Paleo cheese stick. Here it is, and we are mighty proud of the ingenuity and end result. In fact, I’d not be surprised to find something like this becoming as popular as the breaded ones.

Lacto-Paleo Ham-Wrapped Fried Cheese Sticks

Ingredients:

• a bag of cheese sticks (we had low-fat mozzarella)
• 4 slices of ham for each cheese stick
• clarified butter, bacon grease, or some other less tasty Paleo-approved oil
• toothpicks

Directions:

Cut each cheese stick in half, leaving two cylinders of equal length

Wrap two slices of ham around each section of cheese stick. Optional: add spices to the cheese, keeping spices inside when wrapping. We added hot pepper flakes.

Using a toothpick (or two!) hold the ham in place

In a pan over medium heat, add the oil of choice and let it heat up.

Add in the ham-wrapped cheese sticks to the hot oil

Using tongs, rotate the tasty bites being sure to brown each side.

As the ham starts to brown, you’ll find the cheese has started to melt. Once they are to this point, remove them from the heat.

At this point, we opted to slice eat half-stick into two bite-sized 1/4 sticks.

Allow to cool, and eat with your favorite tomato sauce

Just one more reason to love my wife!

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