On a whim I decided to try my hand at making my own croutons.  This was after already making my own little version of chicken-veggie-pasta soup.

I started by turning on the oven to 350F, and grabbed the loaf of unsliced bread that I got on sale at Kroger ($1.99)

Cut off a few slices (7, to be exact):

Removed the uneven crust parts, and cut the slices into really unequally sized cubes.  There were a lot of crumbs and sunflower seeds on the bread, so I collected those and added a small packet of sunflower seeds.

Then I collected the bacon grease from this morning’s bacon

And then, because it was so little, I added corn oil to make 1/2 cup all together, added in some garlic powder and Italian Seasoning spices, all stirred up together, which I gently drizzled over the bread while tossing to even distribute the seasoned oil, along with the crumbs and other stuff in the little bowl above.

By this time, the oven was plenty heated.

I distributed the bread over an ungreased baking sheet (I use foil out of habit, but you can just use the baking sheet plain and ungreased).

Popped it into the oven for 15 minutes.  When the timer went off it was almost-but-not-quite what I liked, so I returned it to the oven for another 10 minutes.  I think I used more oil than necessary; I think next time I will use about 1/4 cup.

But it tastes REALLY good.   Here, grab a handful, tell me what you think!