5 ways to use leftover bread!

This weeks post is not a traditional recipe y'all, I've had this question come up a few times, 'What can I do with leftover bread?!' Well this happens in our house a lot! We have Italian during the week and we get those huge loaves of fresh bread from the grocery store, eat about half of it and the other half is left in the bread box for days! So here are some of the things I have tried with leftover bread, and all have come out really good!

Ingredients
- Leftover bread (half a loaf-5-6 slices 3/4 inch thick)

1. Breadcrumbs
- Cut bread into cubes and place in an oven or toaster oven and toast for about 5-7 minutes, until bread is a golden brown color and hard. Let cool completely
- Pulse toasted cubes in a food processor until fine crumbs form.
Tip: If you want to season the bread crumbs add a big pinch of salt and pepper, along with your favorite dried herbs!

2. Croutons
- Cut bread into cubes and place in a medium sized bowl. Drizzle 1/4 cup olive oil, pinch of salt and pepper along with some dried herbs. Mix well, until all the cubes are coated.
- Spread cubes on a baking sheet (make sure they are not overlapping) and bake at 400 degrees for 6-9 minutes or until light golden brown.

3. Grilled Crostini/bruschetta
- Slice bread and brush olive oil on both sides. On a medium-hot grill cook about 1 minute each side until grill marks appear.
- Top with ricotta, basil and cherry tomatoes for a delicious yet simple appetizer!

4. Greek Panzanella salad
- Cut bread into cubes, and mix into this Greek salad and vinaigrette. Let stand for 30 minutes until bread cubes have soaked up the vinaigrette.

5. Pizza baguette
- Slice bread horizontally, so you have two open faced pieces. Toast bread until a light golden color (about 2-3 minutes).
- Spread pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella along with your favorite toppings and place in the oven at 350 for about 6-9 minutes, until cheese is nice and bubbly and bread is golden and crispy.

Herby Sandwich Spread

This recipe was one of those that you kind of just make up on the spot. Throw some things in the food processor and hope for the best! Thank god it was delicious, now I get to share it with y'all! The good thing about this is you can use whatever herb you want to use and its still really good. A bunch of us  went to a Texas Rangers game recently and thought sandwiches would be perfect. I didn't want them to get soggy by the time we ate them, so this was excellent! It's pretty versatile, you can use this as a dip for fresh cut veggies, pita chips, crackers or as a spread for wraps! These are approximate measurements, but feel free to add more olives, jalapeños and herbs! If mixture gets too thick add a couple extra TBSP's of sour cream.

Ingredients

- 8oz reduced fat cream cheese at room temperature

- 1/4 cup sour cream

- 1/4 cup cilantro

- 1 TSP fresh oregano

- 1 TSP fresh tarragon 

- 1/3 cup black whole olives

- 1/3 cup jalapeños

- salt and pepper to taste. 

Directions

- Combine all ingredients in a food processor and mix until herbs, olives and jalapeños are combined with the cream cheese. (Mixture should be slightly chunky)

Serving size- Yields about 1-1/2 cup.

Cucumber Mint Tea Sandwiches

I absolutely love mint and anything that has anything to do with mint! This includes girls scout Thin Mints cookies, mint chocolate chip ice cream, mint fudge...you get the point.  So this recipe is near and dear to me bc it contains one of my favorite ingredients.  I've made these little sandwiches for all sorts of get togethers and they have been a hit every time.  With the holidays right around the corner, try making these at your next gathering and I promise your guests won't be let down!

Ingredients:
1/2 pack of whole grain or white bread
salted butter - room temperature
1 English cucumber peeled and thinly sliced
2 TBSP + a little more of Salt
10-12 fresh mint leaves
Pepper to taste

Directions:
1.  Peel the cucumber and slice them thinly at an angle (diagonally).
2.  In a separate container, mix the cucumber slices and 2 TBSP of salt and let it sit there for 10-15 minutes.  (Here's a little trick I use, I put the cucumber slices in the container, add the salt, cover the container and shake it so that I don't have to mix anything)
3.  In the mean while, using a mini food processor or coffee grinder, grind the mint leaves.
4.  Once the cucumbers are done, squeeze out all the water that was released,  and place the cucumbers on a paper towel and wipe them dry and take off the access salt.
5.  Spread butter on a slice of bread, place cucumbers on top, spread a bit of the ground up mint, sprinkle some salt and pepper, and top with another buttered slice of bread.
6.  Cut off the edges of the bread and cut the sandwich diagonally so that it forms into 4 triangular pieces.  (Because I hate to waste food, I use the discarded edges to make croutons at home - if you want that recipe, leave a comment on this page and I'll put it up for you)

Enjoy with tea, coffee, or your favorite beverage!

Arugula Pesto Panini

Yesterday, my book club met at one of my favorite little cafe's in town.  I love this place because it quaint, cozy, intimate, and just a great place to meet friends, enjoy some coffee, and of course, discuss a good book - especially on a rainy day like yesterday.  Anyway, they serve this AHH-MAZING sandwich that I just had to make at home because it was too good to not share with y'all.  Here is my version this cafe inspired favorite!

Ingredients:

2 Slices of your favorite bread 

Cream Cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)

Avocado slices from 1/2 of an avocado 

Spinach

Arugula Pesto

Salt & pepper to taste

Cooking Spray (I use Pam with Olive Oil)

Directions:

1. For the arugula pesto, I made a pesto sauce using a basic pesto recipe (see Krishma's Pesto Recipe) and replaced 1/2 of the basil with organic arugula (so if your pesto recipe calls for 2 cups of basil, use 1 cup basil and 1 cup arugula) to give it a nice sharp taste.

2.  On a multi grain bread, spread cream cheese on one piece of bread and the pesto on the other piece of the bread.

3.  Place the two pieces of bread together and put them in a panini maker that you have sprayed with some cooking spray.

4.  Once your bread has toasted and you've got the nice grill marks on there, pull it out of the panini maker and let it cool for a few minutes.

5.  Open the sandwich and place more cream cheese and/or pesto on the inside if needed.

6.  Place sliced avocado and a little salt & pepper on one side of the sandwich.

7.  Finish off with some spinach, place your second piece of bread on top, & enjoy!

Note, typically a panini is made on Italian white bread but as you know, I like to make things as healthy as possible, so I switched it up and made it on a multi grain bread instead.