Homemade Croutons

Homemade croutons are so easy to make and less expensive than store bought croutons.   These homemade croutons were crispy and delicious.  I hate wasting bread and using leftover bread to make croutons is an excellent way to not be wasteful.  These homemade croutons are great with a Caesar salad or any salad if you want to add some crunch.  I used slices of leftover simple yeast bread since I had it in the freezer.  I took the frozen slices the night before and left it out to defrost on my kitchen counter.  They were ready the next morning to make these homemade croutons.  So if you have leftover bread, you can have homemade croutons anytime. 

Homemade Croutons

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

6 slices white bread, stale (I used leftover slices from my simple yeast bread recipe.)

5 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes

1 teaspoon granulated garlic

¼ teaspoon salt

Optional

¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Cube bread into bite size pieces.

In a large bowl, mix together olive oil, parsley, garlic, and salt.

Toss bread cubes into bowl with seasoned oil until bread cubes are evenly coated.

Spread bread cubes onto a cookie sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes until bread cubes are crispy and golden brown.

Stir croutons and bake for additional 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and toss croutons with parmesan cheese if desired. 

Store in an airtight container or Ziploc bag for up to 1 week.

(For simple yeast bread recipe - http://sophieinthekitchen.blogspot.com/2012/07/simple-yeast-bread.html)

Avocado Caprese Pesto Salad

So far I've been lucky and I still have power during Hurricane Sandy.  It is definitely rainy and windy outside.  Also my office is closed today and tomorrow, so I haven't been to work since last Thursday!  Woohoo for a 5 day weekend!  I'm crossing my fingers so that my power stays on.  If you don't have power, maybe you can try this no cook avocado caprese salad recipe.  This avocado caprese pesto salad is fresh and flavorful.  It is a combination of some of my favorites - pesto sauce, caprese salad, and avocados.   I love how quick and easy this salad comes together too.  Feel free to make your own pesto sauce, I just made it more easy for me since my favorite store-bought pesto sauce is from Costco.   In case you didn't know, you can freeze pesto sauce.  I always portion out the large container of the pesto sauce to freeze in individual freezer bags.  Overall, this is a really healthy salad, you can even substitute the fresh mozzarella for low-fat or skim mozzarella. 

Avocado Caprese Pesto Salad

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 tablespoon pesto sauce (I used Kirkland’s brand from Costco.)

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

spring salad mix (enough to serve 2)

1 tomato, sliced into wedges

1 avocado, diced

½ cup fresh mozzarella, diced (I used 2 or 3 slices.)

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk together pesto with extra virgin olive oil to make a pesto dressing.

In a large bowl, combine salad mix, tomato, avocado and mozzarella. 

Drizzle in pesto dressing.

Mix together salad and pesto dressing.

Serves 2.

Caprese Salad Pizza

I love caprese salads, especially in the summer time.  I threw this pizza together with ingredients I already had on hand and it came out perfect.  I wanted to use up the rest of my salad mix so you could make this pizza without the "salad" part if you want.  I also wanted to mix up the fresh mozzarella with the shredded mozzarella, it made the pizza extra cheesy and that wasn't bad at all :)  I absolutely love the taste of grape tomatoes from the farmers market, the ones at the grocery store do not taste the same at all.  The tomatoes from the farmers market are sweet and fresh, while the ones from the store taste bland.   If only I had a yard so I can have a garden!  That's the downside of city living, so I'll just have to rely on the farmers market for now.  

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Caprese Salad Pizza

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 batch homemade pizza dough, recipe here

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ cup grape tomatoes, halved

½ pound fresh bocconcini mozzarella, halved

¼ cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 bunch fresh basil leaves, chiffonade

½ cup salad mix

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

salt

freshly ground black pepper

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Roll out dough and press down onto a greased baking sheet. 

 

Drizzle 1 tablespoon olive oil on pizza dough.  Spread minced garlic on top of pizza dough.

 

Bake for 5 minutes so garlic is lightly roasted.

Remove pizza from oven and top with grape tomatoes and mozzarella cheeses.

 

Bake for an additional 10 to 12 minutes until edges of dough are crisp and cheese is melted

Top with basil and salad mix.

 

Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.

 

Best served immediately.

Serves 2 to 4.

Roasted Beets

I got some beets earlier this week at the farmers market.  Beets are a root vegetable, so that's why they are also called beetroots. Did you know that beet juice is often used a red food coloring?  I also love that beetroots come in different colors, some come in red to purple, while I've also gotten yellow to orange beetroots.

One of my favorite ways to prepare beats is to roast them. You can also boil them too, either way cooking them will make peeling the skin off easier.  Sometimes beets are served warm with butter, or cold as a salad, or even pickling them.  I believe that pickled beets are more of a southern dish.  I have yet to try borscht, a beet soup popular in Eastern Europe.  I suppose I will have to try to make it one day.  Hope you try beets if you haven't already before, I have found out that I really enjoy them in salads with goat cheese. 

 

Roasted Beets

Printable Recipe

Ingredients

beets

olive oil

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Remove the tops (greens) and the roots of the beets.  Wash and scrub the whole beets to clean off any dirt.

You do not need to peel them.

Place beets on top of a large sheet of aluminum foil.  Drizzle some olive oil over the beets and toss lightly. 

Wrap beets with aluminum foil to cover into a pouch.  Place aluminum wrapped beet pouch on top of a baking sheet.  This will make cleanup easier if any beet juices are released.

Roast in the preheated oven for about 1 to 1 ½ hours or until beets are tender.

Remove from oven and unwrap foil carefully.  Allow beets to cool.

When beets are cool enough to handle, you can easily peel the skin off by hand.  I just peel them over the sink with the water running.

You can serve the beets warm or cold.  Cut each beet into slices, serve cold in salads or warm with butter as a side dish.  I love beets and goat cheese together too. 

Enjoy!

Tuna Salad

I wanted to make something that I could easily bring to work with me.  Tuna salad is so simple and versatile.  You can add whatever you want to it, as long as you have tuna and mayonnaise.  I also like that you can eat it with just crackers (I have matzah for Passover this week), or on top of a salad.  

 

Ingredients

2 (7 ounce) cans tuna, drained and flaked (I used solid albacore in water.)

½ cup mayonnaise (I used Hellman’s light.)

1 tablespoon mustard (I used Dijon mustard.)

1 tablespoon capers

2 or 3 celery stalks, chopped

2 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

Optional

¼ teaspoon seasoning blend (I used Mrs. Dash’s original blend.)

Directions

For hard-boiled eggs

Put eggs into a pot, fill with cold water and cover with a lid.  Bring water to a boil and turn off the heat.  Set a timer for 15 minutes.  Remove eggs and place in ice water.  They should be easy to peel after that.

 

For the tuna salad

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate.  Serve cold over crackers, in a salad, with pasta, or in a sandwich. 

Serves 4-6.  Enjoy!

Salad with Blackberries and Balsamic Vinaigrette

I am off work every Friday due to working a flex schedule at my office.  Since I am usually home for lunch, I was trying to think of what I wanted to eat today.  I like to eat a light lunch and what is lighter than a salad.  I had all these ingredients at home already to make this flavorful salad.  It took me less than 10 minutes to put it all together!

P.S.  Thank you Sarah for the LeRoux Pomegranate Balsamic Vinegar and Tracy for the Regusci California Extra Virgin Olive Oil!  I have such great friends who bring me back food gifts from their travels :) 

Ingredients

prepacked salad mix (I used an italian mix, but spinach would be great or any other type of greens you prefer.)

blackberries

goat cheese

pecans, chopped (You can also use walnuts, almonds, or pine nuts.)

salt

freshly ground black pepper

olive oil (I used an olive oil from the Regusci winery in California.)

balsamic vinegar (I used LeRoux pomegranate balsamicvinegar.)

 

Optional Protein Add-Ins

hard boiled or poached egg

sliced, cooked chicken breast

garbanzo beans

Directions

For the salad:

Place salad mix on a plate.  Top with crumbled goat cheese, blackberries, and some chopped pecans. Drizzle some balsamic vinegar and olive oil and top with salt and pepper to taste. 

For extra protein, I added in some leftover ChickenInvoltini, sliced.  Feel free to add in whatever leftover protein you may have or even an egg (hard boiled or poached) would be great.  For vegetarians, I bet some garbanzo beans would be good.

This turned out to be a beautiful salad.  I hope you like it as much I did, enjoy!

 Buddy and Ellie were hoping I had something for them too!