Homemade Croutons

Nothing is better than being home for the holidays…especially since I get an entire week to cook alongside my mom in her beautiful kitchen! 

This morning I woke up to my favorite breakfast – poached eggs and thick sliced bacon over spinach topped with blue cheese, walnuts and sweet vinegar dressing. I washed it down with hazelnut flavored coffee from a cute store in Baraboo, WI where you can buy a variety of flavored coffee beans called Coffee Bean Connection. (http://cbeanc.com/) I highly recommend my 608 coffee drinkers to check it out. (My favorite is the snickerdoodle) 

Next came lunch and my turn to cook! It was a pretty dreary day so decided to make butternut squash soup and homemade croutons. I started by boiling about 6 cups of butternut squash with 8 cups of chicken stock. Meanwhile, I sautéed a sweet white onion and an apple to add when the squash was ready to puree. I love this soup because it’s so easy to make! When the squash was soft I added the onion and apple just used an emergent blender until the soup was smooth. I decided not to add any additional spices since I was making croutons but nutmeg, cumin, ginger or curry are great additions if you prefer to cook this soup solo! 

Don't my moms flame colored Le Creuset French oven and salt crock just scream fall? They are both perfect for soup! 

For the croutons, I cut a mixture of week-old French bread and whole grain baguette and added to a mixing bowl. (About 4 cups total) To flavor the croutons, I added 1/3 a cup of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of oregano, 1 teaspoon of basil and 1 teaspoon of thyme, salt, pepper, and 2 garlic cloves to a small sauté pan and cooked for about 5 minutes. Last, I removed the garlic cloves and drizzled the hot oil on top of the bread cubes, mixed well, then transferred to a cookie sheet and baked on 350 for about 10 minutes. 

To serve, I topped my soup with a mixture of sour cream and milk to give the soup a creamy texture! My kinda lunch for a lazy day at home sweet home :)