Croutons

After a long, unexplained bout of silence, I bet you expected me to return with something a bit more profound than glorified toasted bread bits. And indeed, there has been a lot going on with the start of the semester and general life processing. But none of it is quite ready to be shared with the whole wide world (or the three people still actually checking in here…thanks mom).

And so, instead, I’m going to bring you something that will rock your world. OK, if you live in America within the vicinity of any sort of grocery store with aisles and aisles of promise, this likely will not change your life. However, if you happen to live in some foreign country where croutons, or for that matter, bread products, are rarely found, this just might dramatically improve your life…or at least your salads. It turns out croutons are super easy to make, especially if you have one of these bad boys.

Simply take a loaf of bread, and chop it up into small squares. Please don’t be overly concerned about the uniformity of the squares. Speaking of uniformity, my beautiful sister, during a late night cooking session of the Pioneer Woman’s famous cinnamon rolls, actually got out a ruler to assist in the cutting of said rolls. An action for which I mocked her mercilessly. Thank goodness she doesn’t read the blog…but if you are, I love you Elizabeth!

After dumping your bread in a large bowl, empty the packet of salad dressing mix on top of the bread, and toss it around so it all gets mixed up.

At this point, you can also add a bit more of other seasonings as well. This time around I added more garlic powder and onion powder. If you don’t have an italian dressing mix, you can use your own mix of seasonings instead to suit whatever type of salad you’re making.

Then simply pour in some olive oil. Probably around a quarter cup; I think I might have added a little more than that. Sorry, I’m not the one cutting rolls with a ruler…I don’t always do exact measurements.

Once again, toss the bread around as you pour in the oil. Don’t be afraid of getting your hands dirty.

Then simply spread the bread in a single layer on a cookie sheet, and throw it near the top of the oven at about 400 degrees.

Keep a vigilant watch, stirring the croutons every few minutes and removing once brown and nice and toasted.

And there you have it: simple, easy to make, delicious croutons. For those of you spoiled Americans, the next time you’re snowed in, have run out of croutons, and absolutely MUST have a salad, you can give it a try as well.