THE APRON GAL

One of my favorite things to buy is fresh bread from the bakery. I LOVE LOVE LOVE bread. Sourdough, rye, white, wheat, nutty, jalapeno cheese,  smothered in butter, smothered in peanut butter....you get the idea, right?

Little known fact about me:

If I was trapped on a desert island and could only eat three things, they would be:

 ( In no particular order)

1. bread

2. cookies

3. fruit

Anywhoo back to the point, I love bread and I buy a lot of it fresh from the bakery. Two problems with this: Husband and I mainly eat bread as a snack or as a side with meals (it's rare we make an official sandwich with bread) so we often find ourselves with bread that is just a little too crusty, moldy or hard. Bread is one thing I definitely hate wasting so I often refuse to throw it away even though it's just beyond that perfect when toasted and smothered in butter phase.

Solution?

Homemade croutons!

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Again, the recipe isn't rocket science. You cut or tear up your bread into bite size pieces, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake them. Voila!

These are so great because they totally look rustic, aka you can cut or tear them up into whatever shapes/sizes you want and it looks like you did that on purpose. Anything I can make and not worry about how they look is good in my book!

You can also cut the bread into long thin slices and bake it to make those crunchy bread things you get at Italian restaurants to scoop up your pasta, you know what I'm talking about right?


And finally, if you aren't convinced to make these already... if you dread those yucky croutons out of the bag but still like that crunch on your salad- these are the perfect solution!

Homemade Croutons
The Apron Gal

Ingredients
3 cups stale bread (any kind will do no matter the texture)
3 teaspoons olive oil
salt
pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Tear or cut up bread into bite sized pieces. Toss in a bowl with olive oil and pinch of salt and a dash of pepper.

Pour oil coated croutons on a baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes. Remove from the oven, toss and bake for up to an additional 5 minutes or until that perfect golden and "toasty" look is achieved.

Let cool for at least 5-10 minutes before tossing in a salad or storing in an airtight container.

Enjoy!