Oven baked zucchini fries

I hope everyone had a fabulous July 4th! Some of you may even be kicked back at the beach while checking up on a few blogs...if that's the case, I'm jealous.  Very jealous!  We didn't make it to the beach this week, but did hang out with some friends at a nearby lake yesterday.  Lots of jet skiing, tubing and Skinny Girl margaritas.  Well, the kids did lots of tubing/swimming, and I took care of the margaritas.  I wouldn't really recommend combining the two activities.  Water sports + alcohol = death or great bodily harm.  (PSA) 

We also took a very brief trip out on a pontoon boat, but that was cut short by a certain 3 y/o who was very tired and decided it was a good time to have an upset stomach.  Diarrhea + boating = going back to dock ASAP. 

Moving on....I have been getting lots of stuff from my garden - not a huge variety, but lots and lots of certain things...like zucchini.  and cucumbers.  lots and lots of cucumbers.  My green beans are doing well too.  So, I thought I would focus on the stuff I've been making from the garden this week.  I've made lots of pickles (first time for me!), several zucchini recipes, and a few other things. 

Today...oven baked zucchini "fries".  I have mega zucchini.  Large and plentiful zucchini.  I can't use it or give it away fast enough.  There are so many recipes for this on the web, that I can't really give credit to one person.  I've read several of them, and then kind of did my own thing one evening for dinner.

Oven-Baked Zucchini Fries

1 large zucchini (made what is on this plate)
one egg*
panko bread crumbs
Parmesan cheese

Cut your zucchini into "fries".  I removed most of the seed portion b/c I didn't want soggy fries :P  My problem was that I couldn't use egg to coat the zucchini in, and you have to have something for the panko crumbs to stick to.  I tried fat free half and half.  That didn't work well.  So I added a "flax egg" to that, which worked better, but not great.  So, if you can use an egg, that's what I would do.  Or, you may try plain yogurt, I've done that with chicken before.  Anyway, dip your zucchini in your egg and then into your panko crumbs.  I didn't measure these out, I just dumped them on a plate, poured some parmesan cheese in with it, and added as I needed it.  I know, I'm so professional.  After coating your zucchini with your crumb mixture, put them on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

Bake at 450 until your panko are nice and browned, this took about 20 minutes. Turn zucchini half way through cooking.

The verdict?  Pretty yummy.  Certainly not french fries, but a good side dish, and I don't even like zucchini all that much!  I love panko crumbs, and they really give this recipe it's flavor.  That's the good think about zucchini, it's so mild, that it tastes like whatever you cook it with.  It's excellent to use in breads and muffins b/c it keeps it nice and moist.  (Check out my Amazing Zucchini Muffins or Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread)

Did the kids eat it?  No.  Not even a little. *sigh*