make your own | croutons

Do you ever end up with a single hot dog bun, hamburger bun or heel of bread and wonder what to do with it? Here's a simple and tasty solution -- make croutons.

I found 3 hot dog buns, 2 sandwich buns and 2 heels of bread in my bread basket. Not wanting them to go to waste was my incentive for making croutons. I hate throwing food away. You too can avoid food waste.

Here's a simple recipe.

Cube bread/buns. For every 5 slices of bread, you'll need:
2 T butter
2 T olive oil
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 c. finely shredded Parmesan cheese

Melt butter in skillet with olive oil. When butter is melted, add the garlic and cook on medium heat for about 1 minute. Turn off heat. Add bread cubes and stir thoroughly. At this point you can place the oregano, thyme and cheese in a paper bag or heavy ziploc bag. Add bread and shake. Place on a cookie sheet or pizza pan and bake at 300 for 30 minutes or until nicely toasted. Stir after 15 minutes. Allow to cool and then place in a storage container. I keep mine in the freezer and take out what I need as I need it.

Easy and quite possibly the best croutons you've ever eaten. They give salads a nice crunch and if you need seasoned bread crumbs, it's easy to place them in a ziploc bag and crush them.