Today, I learned…
- I can hear my kitchen weep after long baking days (or is that me?).
- Trying (and failing) to get rid of a huge spider in the basement and injuring your toe in the process is a little something called Karma.
- I will always feel a twinge of fear when I go into the basement.
- It is possible to eat a whole tub of hummus in 1 day.
- It’s best to pretend that my neighbours can’t see me when I’m photographing my breakfast outside in my robe and slippers.
- Hummus will always make me feel warm and fuzzy inside and should be a food group (see above).
- New Wal-Mart slippers make me happy. Very, very happy. Even if Eric laughs at me.
- I want to invent thigh-high slippers for Northern climates. Slippers are fun and all, but I’m still freezing.
- Sketchie steals all my bobby pins and hair elastics and drops them down the heat vents.
- Making delicious homemade croutons is much easier than I thought!
It has been far too long since I have had homemade croutons on a salad! What gives?
Homemade Croutons
Endlessly customizable.
Adapted from here.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 Loaf of fresh Italian or sourdough bread, sliced and cut into 1/2-1 inch pieces
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons Earth Balance OR olive oil (I prefer taste of Earth Balance on these though), melted
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 2 tbsp Vegan Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp dried Parsley
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Kosher salt, to taste (I used about 1/2-3/4 tbsp I think)
Directions: Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Mix together the melted Earth Balance/butter, granulated garlic, paprika, oregano, and pepper in a large bowl. Add in cut up bread pieces and mix well making sure that the bread cubes are evenly coated. Season generously with salt, to taste. Arrange the croutons in a single layer on a baking tray and bake for 15 to 24 minutes, or until golden brown and crisp. Let cool. makes about 3 cups worth (I used 1/2 loaf of bread).
I only used half a loaf of Italian bread because I wanted to save the rest to make homemade sandwiches to go with our salads.
Slice it up, whatever size you desire!
Cut into however big you like your croutons! I was going for huge ones today. :)
Mix into sauce.
Taste. Mmmm. Adjust seasonings. Mmm.
I like my croutons a bit chewy in the middle so I only cooked them for 15 minutes at 375F.
Today, I also learned that I advanced to Round #6 of Project Food Blog….a big THANK YOU for your votes!!! :) My heart was in my throat as I scrolled down the page to see if I advanced.
Onward to Challenge #6- a packed ROAD TRIP MEAL- that is due Sunday.
What did you learn today?
I learned today that no matter what, sometimes my dogs will fight and I really need to learn how to separate them by myself without getting injured. Today they went at it and my neighbor heard my screams and came over with his son to help me. The dogs are ok (lots of cuts, scrapes and blood – but they’ve had worse). The neighbors didn’t mind, but I was embarassed.
But, later in the day I learned that the smile and laugh of little kids in the neighborhood really warm my heart. Two 10 year old boys came knocking on my door and asked if they could rake my leaves. I asked them how much, and they didn’t know, so decided they’d split $5. I told them to go ahead, and it sounded like they had so much fun. I didn’t get my afternoon nap (I’m working from 5:30pm-5:30am tonight), but that’s ok, watching them have fun and then paying them for their efforts (they got an extra $1 each because there were so many leaves) was much more important than that nap!
Ha! I often wonder what my neighbors think when I’m taking photos out front.
Congratulations for making it to round 6!
Congrats on making it to round six! I love your project food blog entries. I could probably eat a whole tub of hummus in a day too! I love hummus.
Today I learned that cinnamon raisin bread+greek yogurt+honey peanut butter is my new favorite snack.
I love croutons! Salad please! : )
Oh, boy. My neighbors think I’m a total weido taking photos outside in the morning of my foods. It’s the only time of the day that I’m home during daylight these days. So, they’ll just have to keep thinking I’m weird. Hahah.
Homemade croutons are the best! I love it when they’re crunchy but still a little soft on the inside. :D
Yesterday while doing an assignment for my nutrition class I learned that it costs me approximately $11.53 to eat for one day. Apparently that’s almost double what it should be! Yikes!
My cat steals all of my hair ties too! She stalks the house searching for them, then runs off with them in her mouth. I find a lot of them under rugs…and am guessing the rest are in our heating vents :)
Congrats on round 6…can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Ohhh yes eating a whole tub of hummus is possible in one day…and it is definitely a food group for me too!
yes! i actually googled this before. cats have a thing for hair elastics. my cat does that too!
Those croutons look delicious! I am jealous of your basement… we cannot have those in Florida. And just be careful, my friend’s cat used to eat her hair bands and had to have surgery to have them removed from her intestines. Eek!
I learned that thigh high slippers are totally what’s lacking in my life :)
Funny you should be making croutons! I am making them today too… we had sourdough bowls for our chili last night and today I am using the ‘scoopings’ to make croutons. Love the sourdough flavor.
Enjoy!
i thought hummus WAS its own food group…ive been known to eat family sized tubs in one sitting. one day is 3 tub territory. dont try and tell me otherwise…
(this is practically an add for costco)
#5 cracks me up!!
I love homemade croutons! The ones out of the bag are so gross! As for thigh high slippers maybe you should go the kiddie route and ger footie pajamas! I know target has some cute/funny adult ones!
Not that you have any time on your hands, but when you do, can you do me a favor? Can you write a post on why you would choose a certain spice when you cook. Like why would you add Cumin or Basil. What does that do to the dish? Can you tell I am new to cooking? Thank you! ;)
I have fuzzy thigh-high socks that I wear under my jeans. I live in the Arctic, I will do anything to stay warm!!
I love the crouton recipe. I will keep this in mind when I make a salad for a party!
I had my 300 hr yoga teacher training and today I learn most yoga teacher feel like “frauds” and that they dont know enough about yoga to teach. I’m glad I’m not alone. I also learned that regardless of my eating disorder history of starvation, these days two hours without food and I turn into the grinch.
Congrats!! :)
.. and home made croutons are the best, thanks for sharing!