Shellie’s Homemade Croutons

Hello folks! Welcome back to the All Things Southern kitchen.  I’m making good on a promise. Last week we cooked my Cheesy Vegetable Soup and I promised y’all we’d do home-made croutons. I’m a woman of my word. Ready? Let’s get to it!

Ingredients:

Day old French bread (3-4 cups)

2 tablespoons Butter

2 tablespoons Olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

*optional seasoning of your choice

Red pepper flakes

We’ll begin by cutting up a loaf of day old French bread. We’ll need, oh, three to four cups. I like to make ‘em big.  You know, at least the size of dice, if not bigger…

Now, we’ll get our butter and oil started in a skillet. We’ll use about two tablespoons of each. This is an old trick folks. The oil keeps the butter from burning. The butter makes the dish more flavorful. Once the butter is melted and frothy, we’ll toss in our bread crumbs and stir them to coat. That’s important, too. If your oil and butter aren’t good and hot, your bread crumbs will get soggy. That’s not good.

We’ll add salt and pepper to the bread crumbs and stir and any other seasonings you might want to use—say Italian seasoning, for instance. We’ll continue to toss as we brown them for five to ten minutes. This is always where my attention deficit self is challenged. We want toasted bread, not burned toast. Now, if you want to add some cheese, you’ll want to add it in at the last couple minutes of cooking time. That’s it! Serve immediately in soup, over salads, or in casseroles. Leftovers are good for several days but you’ll want to let them cool and store in a zipped plastic bag. Enjoy my Homemade Croutons, folks. It’s good eating, from the All Things Southern kitchen to yours.

Hugs, Shellie