Homemade croutons - from bread leftovers

Hello, and welcome! Today I'm sharing here an easy (and tasty) way to use up bread leftovers (and, of course, reduce food waste): homemade croutons.

Pick up all your bread leftovers and lets start. Any kind of bread works for this, including the crusts (if your kids are like mine, they will tend to leave a trail of bread crusts everywhere...). 

Make sure none of your bead leftovers are moldy, of course (to avoid mold, store your bread in a bread box, a paper bag or a fabric bag, never on plastic bags). 

If the bread is too hard to be easily cut, place it in the microwave for a few seconds, and then cut it while still warm (trust me, this is a great trick). 

Cut all the bread into small pieces. Store bought croutons come in pretty little cubes. If you can replicate them, by all means to, but the truth is that if you're using an assortment of leftovers, your pieces will most likely be a bit more inconsistent - and that's ok, they will be just as tasty (or even better). 

Place the bread bits in a bowl. For each cup of bread, add the following: 

• 1 - 2 table spoons of olive oil
• 1 table spoon of powdered garlic
• 1 table spoon of fine herbs
• salt & pepper to taste (optional - I usually skip both)

Mix the bread very well with all other ingredients.

Line an oven tray with parchment paper and spread the bread over it.

Bake at 170ºC for 10-15 minutes or until your croutons turn a nice golden color. Remove from the oven, let them cool and enjoy!

Once completely cool, the croutons can be stored in an airtight container for several days (though at our house they tend to disappear pretty quickly).

Click the image below for a printer friendly (pdf) version of the recipe: 

Happy Tuesday!

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