Is dairy good or bad?
In my haze of weighing calcium intake versus my body's ability to process enzymes, a little girl of no more than four years old wheeled her little person cart up next to me and proceeded to attempt to extract one little cup of mixed berry yogurt from the shelf.
She could almost get it. Her round little fingertips could just barely reach the edge of the container but if she pulled that container out, the 2 stacked on top of it would have toppled down.
So, she stood there, in front of the multitudes of yogurts, with her little hands folded in front of her, just staring at the mixed berry yogurt with her big brown eyes.
I reached over pulled the container of yogurt off the shelf and handed to her.
What happened next made my entire week.
She drew in one long, hushed breath and with her biggest, loudest, outdoor voice she said, "THANK YOU!" and then she turned around and yelled at her mom, who was now half an isle away, "MOMMA, I GOT SOME YOGURT!" and then she motored away with her single cup of mixed berry yogurt.
I don't know why I thought it was so awesome. It might have been the fact that she was so unexpectedly loud. It was like her little ears were plugged up and she was over compensating. Or maybe because she was so grateful. I just handed her a yogurt. Or maybe it was how excited she was about being able to pick something out and put it in her own little cart.
I wish I was still that excited about grocery shopping.
You know what I really don't get excited about putting in my grocery cart? Croutons.
What a rip off. It's essentially stale bread with some stuff sprinkled on it. And you're paying four to five bucks for that dinky little bag. Absurd! Especially since making them at home is so, so, so easy!
It starts with stale bread.
These don't look like they're stale, but they are. And yes, shame on me for letting these guys go. I had full intentions of making toasted garlic rounds to spread soft cheese on but by the time I got to them, they were too far gone.
Then you cube it up. There's no scientific way to do it. You can make them as big or as small as you want. These are your croutons.
And then you melt some butter. Yep, butter. You don't think that croutons get that tasty on their own, did you?
You mix the garlic powder and dried parsley into the melted butter and drizzle over the cubed bread and toss until thoroughly coated.
Watch out for those rogue cubes.
They like to jump out of the bowl, shoot across the floor and roll under the stove which you will then only find 8 months from now. You will dislodge the dirty, dustbunny studded crouton-to-be, and you will shudder at your disgustingness. But then you will remember that you made your own croutons and that ingenuity cancels out the disgusting. It's totally okay.
Then you're going to spread the coated cubes out evenly on a sheet pan.
Once again, watch those sneaky little guys. The one under the oven is trying to recruit friends.
The last step is toasting them in a 350 degree oven for 30 mins. Like I said, super duper easy.
This is what we had for dinner last night. This was done to try to counteract the nachos for dinner we had the night before. Yes, that happened. That's why salad happened last night.
Garlic Parsley Croutons
Serves: Approx. 8 servings (depending on how fond of croutons you are)
4 Cups of cubed stale bread
4 Tablespoons of salted butter, melted
1 Teaspoon of garlic powder
1 Teaspoon of dried parsley
Please note that you can use pretty much any kind of bread you want. I've used wheat sliced sandwich bread and french baguettes. Both turned out great.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place cubed bread in a medium bowl and set aside.
In the microwave, melt the butter in a microwave safe bowl , just until totally melted. (please don't do this in a plastic bowl.)
Stir the garlic powder and dried parsley into the melted butter.
Drizzle half of the butter mixture over the cubed bread and toss until thoroughly coated. Repeat with remaining butter mixture.
Spread cubes on a rimmed baking sheet into a single layer and bake for 30 mins, stirring the cubes half way through.
Time may vary depending on your oven. Cubes should be golden brown and crunchy all the way through when done. You might need to do some testing for quality control.
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