Bread Crumbs YOUR Way, and Free!

One cooking item that my husband and I use often are bread crumbs.  We have found that they are cheap and versatile.  However, we haven’t bought bread crumbs in at least 2 years, because we have learned to make our own!  Here’s a great money saving tip on how to take any stale bread and turn it into bread crumbs:

1. Take the stale bread, break it into manageable chunks,  and toast it.  You want to put it on low heat for at least 20-30 minutes, depending on the thickness of the bread.  You want the bread to be completely dry but NOT burned.  Toaster ovens work wonders for this purpose, but a normal oven will work just as well!
2. Once the bread is dry, place the chunks into a food processor.  Along with the bread, you can add any spices/herbs you would like to use to flavor the bread crumbs.  Usually, we make our bread crumbs into an “italian style” with the following:
   • Italian Seasoning
   • Cracked Peppercorns (we use a mix of black, red, green and white)
   • Salt (we use fresh ground sea salt but again choose your favorite salt)
   • Garlic Powder
3. Once everything is added to the food processor, pulse until the spices are mixed and the bread is ground into crumbs.  You can work this until they are as fine as you might like.
4. You now have homemade bread crumbs!  Place into a plastic bag or airtight container for maximum freshness.  We originally used an old bread crumbs can, but we recently bought this budget-friendly container at IKEA (the 30 oz. size is perfect).

This is a VERY basic idea that you can take and modify to make bread crumbs that have any flavor you might like.  A few variations you might try:

• Spread olive oil or sauce on the bread before drying in the oven.  (I’ve often thought about using Frank’s Red Hot on my bread to make buffalo bread crumbs!)
• Only use a specific spice or herb combination.  I’ve made rosemary-olive oil bread crumbs, or sage bread crumbs to use with a sage chicken recipe.

Over the years, this has definitely both saved us money on bread crumbs, as well as kept us from wasting stale bread!  We often buy baguettes and french breads that have a very short shelf life.  With only two of us, we would often find that the bread would be stale before we could finish it.  Now we just grind it up and add it to our bread crumbs jar!

Squash Pasta Primavera

Ok, so it’s fall now, and today was a rainy, cool Friday in Pittsburgh.  Needless to say, I was looking for a meal that would be hot, quick, and involve some autumn favorites.  My husband and I ended up with this Squash Pasta Primavera:

Estimated Time:  30 minutes

Estimated Cost: $10 or less

Ingredients from the Store:

- 1 Medium Zucchini, sliced and quartered

- 1 Medium Yellow Squash, sliced and quartered

- 1 Can of Diced Tomatoes, undrained

- 2 Green Onions, sliced thickly

- 1/2 Box of Linguine

Ingredients from the Kitchen:

- 1 Tsp. Dried Italian Seasoning or Oregano/Basil

- 1/2 Tsp. Salt

- 1/2 Tsp. Pepper

- A dash of Garlic Powder

- 1 Tbsp. Canola Oil

Make linguine as directed on the packaging.  Heat oil in a medium saucepan on med/high heat.  Once oil is heated, add zucchini, squash, italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Saute for 5 minutes.  Add green onions.  Cook until squash and zucchini begin to brown and onions begin to soften, about 4 minutes.  Add diced tomatoes, undrained.  Cook down until liquid has evaporated and mixture is thick (stir often).  Veggies should be still intact but cooked through.  Serve over linguine, and enjoy! Happy Fall Everyone!