Crunchy Little Croutons

At the end of the week, I inevitably have bread left. Today, it happened to be rolls that hubby and I just couldn't eat up fast enough. One thing I can't get locally is croutons. Raise your hand out there if you DON'T like croutons. Yep, that's what I thought :). Why, what's a Caesar salad without the croutons?

You can add different spices to these, depending on what you like and have. This recipe is for a good ol' standard garlic parm crouton. A classic crouton in my house.

Crunchy Little Croutons

Stale bread (whenever have you seen me use this in a recipe? The staler, the better. It will cut down on baking time

Olive oil (or melted butter)

Garlic salt or powder (be sure to add salt if you are only using powder)

Parmesan cheese (Kraft will work, but use the fresh if you have it.)

Preheat oven to about 325 degrees. Cut the bread into cubes, leaving the crusts on. I prefer larger croutons, but cut to the size you like. Place the bread cubes in a bowl and drizzle in olive oil, lighting coating cubes. Stir with your hand or a spoon. Mix in garlic salt and Parmesan and continue to stir until bread is coated. Place on a jelly roll pan/cookie sheet in a single layer. Bake in oven for 10 minutes and check croutons. They are done when they are toasty brown. Watch the last few minutes so that they don't burn (this has happened to me!!!). Once out of the oven, cool completely. Store in sealed container for up to 1 month.

Next time you're looking for a little crunch in your salad or just need a little something before dinner, break these bad boys out. You'll never buy the packaged kind again.