Gluten Free Bread Crumbs

Well here I am making spaghetti and meatballs for dinner and thinking "oh I should post this", meanwhile my chicken cordon bleu recipe is waiting in the wings, and I realized that I really should have my breadcrumb recipe posted somewhere on this site since I use them so much. I mentioned bread crumbs in my turkey meat loaf recipe, but this will be a post that I can link back to every time I use them. So here it is...

Basically you are just using whatever bread you normally eat. We make our bread from Pamela's Amazing Wheat Free mix (available through my Amazon store to the right). Emily doesn't usually eat the heels, so I cut them off and dry them overnight on the counter. If I cut her bread into shapes, like her flower hamburger buns, I set the scraps out to dry too. If you don't have extra heels or scraps then by all means you can just dry out a few slices of bread. Also, if you are a more sanitary person than I, and you don't like the thought of your bread sitting out all night, you can bake it in a low temperature oven until it is completely dried out.

Now that your bread is dry, we are going to grind it into crumbs and add some seasonings. Put the bread into your blender with some salt and pepper and whatever dried herbs and seasonings your little heart desires. OK, OK, you want a recipe??? Here is a VERY general guideline. Tonight when I made breadcrumbs for Emily I measured what I put into them for the first time ever and this is what I came up with...

1 c Breadcrumbs
½ t Salt
¼ t Dried basil
½ t Onion powder
A couple of dashes of dried oregano
A couple of grinds of black pepper

Blend all together in blender, pulsing or shaking when needed, until it reaches a very fine crumb.

I would definitely add garlic powder too, if Emily weren't allergic to it. Now you have dried, seasoned bread crumbs that you can put into an airtight container and keep indefinitely, adding to it whenever you have more to add. I have found so many uses for it now that I make sure I never run out.