Homemade Croutons

Croutons is something that we use quite frequently. I have a few recipes calling for it, plus they make salad so much better! A friend of mine gave me a great tip. She said she saves up all the butts of her bread in a baggie in the freezer and when there is enough she makes croutons out of it. WOW! What a great *frugalistic idea! Love it.

So I did that. I’ve been saving up the butts of my bread in the freezer for a while. I have more than enough. I have like 14 cups of crumbled bread. Could have done it long ago, plus I put some bread butts back in the freezer for another time. Anywho....

Here’s what I did....
9 cups crumbled bread
1/2 cup olive oil
1 1/2 tsp fresh pressed garlic
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp italian seasoning
sprinkle with real shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, toss in the pan and bake another 10 minutes. Or until crispy enough.

The second batch I did....
6 cups bread
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
little bit of onion powder, and garlic powder
sprinkle with parmesan cheese before baking. Same bake time.

This is a great frugal idea....First of all, you always have bread butts. And I usually would eat them, to make good use, but this is an even better use, because let’s face it...who really likes to eat the butt of the bread? Not many. :) Plus, if you have any extra buns left over from your hotdogs, or hamburgers that you know you are not going to be able to use before they get moldy, then put those in the freezer too, to save for your next batch of croutons.

*Frugalistic- if you couldn’t tell, I was taking the word frugal and adding the ending of fantastic to it :)