Homemade Croutons

My husband enjoys a lettuce salad with almost meal, so we go through a lot of croutons in our house. My little girl loves them just for a snack, too. As tasty as the store-bought croutons are, I cringed when I read some of the ingredients in a box I recently bought: high fructose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, monosodium glutamate, disodium phosphate, sodium caseinate, etc. Yikes!

I've been making homemade croutons when I have some extra bread laying around and my hubby loves them - even more than any kind I buy in the store! Plus I know all of the ingredients and know that they are reasonably healthy for my family. I made my most recent batch this week from leftover bread bowls I made on Tuesday for broccoli cheese soup. This batch turned out awesome!



Croutons

4 c. bread, cut into approximately 1-inch cubes
3 T. olive oil
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt (I always use a little less)
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. oregano

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together spices in a bowl. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat. Toss in bread to coat. Season with the spices and stir. Lower flame and saute for 1 minute. Transfer to a baking sheet and bake for 4-5 minutes. Stir, and bake and additional 4-5 minutes, checking often to make sure it doesn't burn.