Croutons are super yummy, even on their own. The homemade ones, well, these are better than any you can buy in the store!

Every since I was a little girl, like three or four years old, I was a salad lover. My mom told me stories of her and her best friend having to drive all over town because I had to have salad and her best friend’s son had to have chicken nuggets. We were spoiled!

To this day, I love me some salad! With a slight variation in toppings, I could eat them literally at every meal for quite some time!

Everyone knows the toppings on a salad can add so much.  These scrumptious little croutons are quick and easy, plus you can make them to hold any flavor you’d like.

I made mine with garlic flavor, but I am a garlic nut.  LOL. I’m growing basil and oregano, thinking I may try them next time but we shall see.

Salad Sides

I love salads as a main dish! Big surprise, I know. Toast is always good, but if you’re trying to be healthy or don’t want to add more carbs, I recommend trying out my Great Granny’s Pick’ams!

My Granny grew up in Louisiana low country, which for those of you not familiar, means central Louisiana. I’m not sure if that’s where that recipe came from or not but a lot of her recipes came from there and, best of all, her thick Louisiana accent that I loved so very much.

Or, if you are all about the tasty carbs, try out Tina’s Baked Spegetti (I know, it’s spelled wrong, not my recipe, not my spelling). That stuff is absolutely delicious, but it’s certainly a dish to reserve for special occasions as it is full of cheesy, delicious calories! Oh, how good it is though! Honestly, the recipe I’m sharing there is modified from the original as it was a little too much for my family, tried to make it at least a little healthier!

Croutons: Homemade & Amazingly Delectable!

Ingredients

4 slices wheat bread

2 Tbsp butter

Seasonings of Choice

Parsley & Garlic

Red Pepper Flakes & Black Pepper

Garlic Powder, onion powder, oregano, basil

Garlic Powder, onion powder, dill

Seasoning Salt

BBQ Seasoning

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees.
2. Melt butter, set aside.
3. Cut bread up to desired size.  Remember that if you cut all the bread in a stack at once, you’ll have to go back and tear it apart.  It’s still faster than cutting the bread one at a time.
4. Stir in seasonings of choice. Adjust as you please to make your favorite flavors stand out.
5. Spread onto baking sheet (no need to oil).  Bake for about ten minutes or until done. Keep an eye on it as different ovens will cook at different times.

Make Ahead and Freeze

You can make these ahead of time and freeze them to use later. To do so, lay them out on a flat pan so that they aren’t touching. We use plastic cutting boards and place them on cookie sheets. Once they are frozen, put them in an air tight container and take them out as needed.

Check out our post on ice cube trays and learn some new uses for them while your at it!

What’s your favorite seasoning for croutons?