One of the things about having a little one with food allergies is you start to read labels on EVERYTHING, and some things that seem like they should be pretty simple and straightforward have way more ingredients than they should have, So out of necessity I started to make a few pantry staples and over the next few weeks I will be sharing some of the stuff from my pantry, a few little tricks and secrets and I may even show you how I organize it.
Home made is always better it tastes better and is better for you then store bought, you have control over the ingredients that you add into your staples and can adjust it to suit your family's likes and dislikes. You can make up just a little bit or a lot, and contrary to popular belief it really really does not take that long to prepare these staples in fact most of them take less than 5 minutes and can be whipped up while you are standing around keeping an eye on dinner.
So how did I manage to get two pantry staples for 50 cents, and what pantry staples did I make.
Well I started by picking up a loaf of french bread from the bakery. (yes you could also make your own) I don’t need my bread to be fresh, so here is how I saved money I bought day old bread and got it for 50 cents. I have on occasion also gotten a loaf for free from the baker and it doesn’t hurt to ask they are more than likely throwing it out anyways or making there own pantry staples to sell you. So what am I making with this loaf of bread, well we are going to make croutons and bread crumbs. So take your loaf of bread home and leave it for a few more days or longer if like me you get busy and forget about it. The harder the loaf is the better. Take your loaf of bread and slice it up into cubes
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As you can see from the picture I did not use the whole loaf to fill my 8 cup measuring glass.
Set the rest of the bread aside. While you are cutting the bread into pieces turn the oven on to low broil, so it will be ready to toast up your croutons by the time you are finished cutting the bread up.
Toss your bread pieces in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil, and spices to taste, I toss mine with a little bit of garlic powder and parmesan but have made them with other spices as well just depending on what you like. Once you have tossed them in the evoo and spices of your choice line a cookie sheet with them and toss them into the oven. (Keep a close eye on them as you do not want them to burn and it does not take long to lightly brown them. ) once they are brown let them cool then toss them in salads, on top of french onion soup or do as my kids do and munch on a few for a snack. 
You will notice while you were cutting up your crotons that there is a lot of crumbs on the counter, and some bread left over I toss it in my blender and use it to make bread crumbs, I do not add anything to my breadcrumbs as I like to flavour them based on what I may be in the mood for that evening.
And that is it two easy and quick pantry staples for a whole whopping 50 cents and about 10 minutes of my time.
Hope you enjoy, that’s me for today living life one puzzle piece at a time.
J.
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