Make your Own Croutons!

I am a crouton lover down to my very core. There is nothing better than that crispy, garlicy goodness atop a beautiful salad. It just makes it complete. Unfortunately, my youngest daughter has a lot of allergies and most croutons have some sort of milk in them. She could eat her weight in croutons, but can’t normally have them because of the milk. Well the other day, I was staring at the last few peices of bread in about 4 bags of bread. (Kids are great aren’t they) An idea came to me. Why not try and make my own croutons? It should be simple right. (Let’s hope it doesn’t turn into another tortilla chip debacle. Let’s just say there was a fire extinguisher involved)

Off to the kitchen I went, grabbing my crusty bread and  brain filled with ideas. Wouldn’t you know, I actually was able to make my own croutons. Plus it’s SO much cheaper than buying them. I can even make them flavored how I want them flavored. This particular batch I made for Caesar salads so they did have cheese on them, but then I made a plain version for my daughter. She just loved them.

This recipe is super simple, and a lot more frugal than buying the store varieties.

Ingredients

5-7 pieces of stale wheat bread

3 T grated parmesan cheese

1 T olive oil

2 T garlic powder (to taste)

1 T Italian seasoning

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

Set your bread out on the counter until it has a nice crust to it

Cut the bread into 1 inch squares. (bigger if you want bigger croutons)

In a ziploc bag pour the olive oil, parmesan, garlic powder and Italian seasoning

Place the bread in the bag, and shake, shake, shake (you may have to scrape the sides with some of the bread to get a good coating)

Place the bread on a cookie sheet, and then place in the oven for 15 minutes or until golden brown

Your croutons are ready to eat! Store them in an air tight container and enjoy!