Old Bread Turned To Crunchy Croutons

I wish that I could blog more often but I have been very busy with work and family obligations.  But since it is the end of the month I decided I wanted to share with you a ritual I make at the end of every month.  I never throw out bread.  Let's be honest we usually buy a loaf of bread but we rarely end up  consuming all of it.  So on the day that a the bread is to expire I keep any left-overs and store them in the freezer. I keep not just left-over white bread but also stale pandesal and even French bread. Then at the end of the month depending on how much old bread has found its way in the freezer I turn these into breadcrumbs or sweet bischoco, I'll share with you the recipes for those in another post.  But most of the time I make them into  my favorite croutons. 

To make croutons the first step is to cut the bread into cubes.  Then all you really need is enough oil to coat them with.  You can use any oil that you have, I prefer to use olive oil but corn oil just works well too.   To the oil add lots of  minced garlic then  season with some salt and pepper.  I like to add some dried basil for extra flavor but if you prefer not to it is okay.  Let this stand for at least 10 minutes so that the oil with absorb the flavor of the spices.  Pour it over the cubed bread pieces, make sure each piece is coated enough.  Then transfer it to an oven or even your oven toaster will do.  It takes just about 20 minutes for them to turn into these crunchy golden nuggets of deliciousness. Great addition to your salads and soups, and even yummy enough to just munch on if you need a snack, just like what I do when there are no potato chips at hand =)

Toothpaste

I am a proud kuripot.  My goal is always to make sure that for every peso, no wait for every centavo that I spend I get my money's worth.  My motto is dapat laging sulit (for non-Pinoys sulit simply means getting more than what you paid for). I got this attitude from  my dear Lola Ying who I believe is up in heaven still always on the look out for the best bargains and deals.  This blog is a tribute to her and her sulit ways =) 

So when the rest of the family thinks that it is time to throw that tube of toothpaste away I say wait a minute there's still a lot of paste in that.  In fact it is good for another 6-8 brushing.  You just need to get to it. 

Just cut-off  the bottom of the tube there is so much toothpaste at the sides. To get to it, scoop your toothbrush against the sides.  Like I said earlier there is enough there for another 6 to 8 brushes.  When done brushing merely fold the bottom of the tube to close it up or you can place this in a plastic container if you like to make sure that it won't be exposure to contaminants.   

See with just a little snip off the bottom, you can make sulit your next toothpaste tube =)