Homemade Freezer Croutons

Does anyone other than me hate when you have like 2 hot dogs buns left and nothing to do with them or you are down to the last of your bread and are a afraid it will go bad before it is used? Well here is a solution to your dilemma:

Make Homemade Croutons

Ingredients:

left over bread (loaf of bread, hot dog buns, hamburgers buns, etc)

Your Choice of Seasoning:

I have down ranch (using a ranch dressing powder packet) croûtons and cinnamon and honey croutons.... both are yummy and simple to make.

Here's what you do:

1) Break your bread up into pieces and place in a big bowl. The amount of bread can vary. I did a whole pack of hotdog buns that we weren't going to be using.

2) Melt one stick of butter in the microwave and then pour over bread. If you do use more bread than this you may want to add some more butter.

3) add seasoning. For the ranch croutons I used an instant ranch dressing packet and just mixed it into the bowl. For the cinnamon and honey croutons I add a generous amount of white sugar & cinnamon. I basically add a bit and stir and then taste it. If it taste good then I move onto step 4. If not I keep added the seasonings.

4) Place the bread crumbs out on a baking sheet in one layer. If you are doing ranch croutons just pop them in the oven. For the cinnamon and honey croutons I drizzle honey over the croutons before placing them in the oven.

5) Bake @350 for 15 minutes.

I have used these straight from the oven or I make a bunch and freeze them. They thaw out pretty quickly so you can take them out an hour or so before dinner and then you will have homemade croûtons ready to top your salad in no time.

P.S.

The salad in the picture has mandarin oranges (canned), raisins, cinnamon and honey croûtons, and I top it with Honey Mustard Dressing. This is such a super yummy and simple salad!