I’m sure there are many of you out there who already make your own bread crumbs. Less-knowing cooks like me had to figure it out in a pinch when *gasp!* the canister in the pantry was empty! And not having time to stale-out bread, or even make toast, I pulled up my boot straps and made some up – blindly, not knowing if it was even going to work!
I know that they turned out correctly because Hubs said his meatloaf was better than ever… oh great, now I’ll have to do this all the time… My recipe called for 2 cups breadcrumbs. I hauled out the food processor, which has been very dear to me with making my own baby food for Red.
Along with a new box of Ritz crackers. Although I freely admit I used the last of the box, and threw in some Pepperidge Farm butterfly crackers leftover from the last appetizer party we had. I used 2-3 sleeves worth to get the correct amount of crumbs, but with the buttery, crispy texture built, in, there weren’t any extra steps. My processor has 2 settings – chop for finely blended particles, and Grind for more coarse pieces. I started on Grind to get smaller pieces and then blended on chop for about 30 seconds afterward. It made for very small, even pieces.
Tada! nearly 2 cups of bread crumbs – toasty, crumbly, buttered!
They were a little more “moist” than my canister crumbs, but Hubs said they were delicious. I’m sure it doesn’t matter too much, but they worked well inside the meatloaf well. My apologies if you’ve figured this out yourself, or even know it as an old housewife trick, but I’m still a budding chef… my mother’s instructions went in one ear and out the other – so bear with me! 🙂
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