Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs: Make your own!

One of the challenges of being a university students is budgeting. We tend to eat according to what's in season and whatever's on specials. I remembered us stocking 10kg of cheese because they were half price! One of the ways to save costs for cooking is to make our own spice mix and special ingredients. It's definitely cheaper than buying one of the pre-made ones and you can bet that yours will be all natural, healthier and tastes better than supermarket bought ones . You can also buy yours from gourmet shops that specially sell good quality gourmet food but they are usually out of the average Uni student's budget range.

Now this time, I will share with you one of my favourite for coating my food. It's got a nice bite and flavour to it: Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs. We use bread crumbs for many things and I am sure most people love to coat chicken pieces or other foods with bread crumbs; bake them in the oven or deep frying them. This one will taste better baked. You will need something to blend the your dried bread - I use my trusted Shimono to process my bread crumbs. There are other methods too - just takes more time.

Here's the recipe:

Italian Seasoned Bread Crumbs

Leftover bread slices

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dired basil

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

Save leftover bread and dry it (either out on your counter or in the oven at 250F for about 15 minutes) until completely dry and crisp.

Using your food processor, blender, or by rolling with a rolling pin between sheets of waxed paper, make fine bread crumbs.

Save these crumbs. They are useful in a wide variety of ways.

When you have a large amount, take out 2 cups and mix with the remaining ingredients noted above. Store in an airtight container in your refrigerator and use within 2 months.