You know our love of Nature’s Own Butterbread. This is NOT sponsored. Nature’s Own has absolutely no idea who I am or that I am talking about them. We just love this bread. Every week when I do our grocery shopping I bring home at least two loaves of this stuff.
It is inevitable though that we are always left with the heels. Do you call the ends of bread heels? No one wants to eat them as sandwich bread. I can, but even I don’t want to eat the heels of the bread. So I came up with alternative uses for them, that way they aren’t just chucked into the garbage each week.
- Toast.
I LOVE the heels of bread as toast. They are usually a lot more robust than the slices of bread, therefore, I feel like I am eating a thick, crunchy piece of homemade toast instead of the thin slices.
- Breadcrumbs
If I haven’t used them as toast at the end of the week, I stick the heels into a freezer bag and stash it in the freezer. Then when I need breadcrumbs for meatloaf or anything else, I throw them into my food processor for 30 seconds and I have FREE breadcrumbs.
These are the things I do on a weekly basis. But here are other things I’ve done in the past that are pretty fantastic too:
- Croutons
Cut into bite sized pieces, drizzle with olive oil or melted butter, sprinkle with salt, garlic powder, and parmesan and bake until golden brown.
- Grilled cheese
Butter the INSIDE of the heels and put the cheese on what is normally the OUTSIDE of the bread and fry as normal. Yummy grilled cheese sandwich.
- Cheese Toast
This is something my husband taught me. It tastes very different than a grilled cheese. Put a piece of cheese on the bread, and bake on the oven rack until melty and golden. It’s delicious.
- French Toast Casserole
Liv loves this one. I’ll post a proper recipe soon. Essentially you tear the bread into bite sized pieces, beat eggs and milk together with spices of your choice, put the whole thing into the oven and 30 minutes later you cover it with syrup. YUM.
Now, rapid fire ideas that just popped into my head that I’ve done in the past:
- Homemade french toast sticks
- Bread pudding
- Soften your brown sugar
- Make stuffing
- Last but not least: Feed them to your dog. Oreo loves them!
- Homemade Panko
I haven’t actually put this one into practice yet, but I am going to give it a try. We go through Panko like the house is on fire. I’ll let you know if it turns out! It seems very simple though. I wouldn’t want the breadcrumbs to brown, just dry out. How hard can it be? Very famous last words, right?
What do you do with your bread heels? Please don’t tell me you throw them away!