Toasted Italian Breadcrumbs

Remember these:

I turned them into this:

A great way to save a little money is to create your own breadcrumbs. One of my favorite restaurants is Johnny Carinos.  I love their bread and a friend got me hooked on adding balsamic vinegar, parmesan cheese to the garlic dipping oil.  YUM! These breadcrumbs remind me of that combination. I like the fact that they are already browned ready to top my favorite dish.  I am really wanting to use them to make chicken parmesan.

Toasted Italian Breadcrumbs

crusts from 1 loaf of bread

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup parmesan

3/4 teaspoon garlic salt

1/8 teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Combine oil, parmesan, garlic salt, pepper and vinegar in a large bowl.  Add bread crusts and toss to coat.  Pour on to a cookie sheet and arrange in a single layer.  Bake at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes until the bread is dry.  Stir after 10 minutes and then watch closely so they do not burn.  Remove from oven and let cool.

Place in a food processor or blender; process into fine crumbs.

My yield would of been higher except my daughter kept eating the toasted crust before I got them processed. 

Some cool information from Better Homes and Gardens

*1 slice of bread will yield 1/4 cup fine dry crumbs. 

*To make 1 cup of cracker or cookie crumbs, you'll need 28 saltine crackers, 14 graham cracker squares, 22 vanilla wafers, 19 chocolate wafers, 15 gingersnaps or 24 rich, round crackers (such as Ritz).

~Tiffanee