the accidental crouton.

I was making a salad for dinner because I had a crisper drawer full of romaine, yellow peppers, cucumbers, carrot, fresh mint, red onion and a refrigerator full of not much else.  Sparky is usually down for a salad as dinner as long as there is some sort of meat in it.  Well, I had no meat.  I didn't even have any cheese.  I did have a can of garbanzo beans and three stale onion bagels in a mostly bare pantry.  Hmmmm, I thought, I wonder if I can make a good crouton out of those.  And guess what?  I could and did.  They were actually the best croutons I've ever made, and next to the croutons at The Quiet Woman, they are the best croutons I've ever eaten.  (Great on a salad, but delightful as a snack with a large glass of cab while watching forbidden dvr'd television after littles have gone to bed.)

The Accidental Crouton
Onion bagel(s) (I had Sara Lee Deluxe.)
Extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Cut onion bagel into large bite size pieces.  On a rimmed cookie sheet, douse the bagel chunks liberally with olive oil and toss.  Make sure each piece of bagel gets coated in olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper and toss again.  Spread out into single layer on the cookie sheet.  Bake at 450 for 10 to 15 minutes until croutons are golden and crisp on the outside but still soft in the middle.