Panzanella (Bread Salad)

I altered the original recipe. Basically, use this as a guide. As the salad comes together, you'll know if you need more or less of an ingredient.

1 loaf french baguette chopped into hearty crouton sized pieces.

2 cucumbers, seeds removed, chopped coarsely.

4 cups halved cherry toms (or plum toms with seeds removed and coarse-chopped)

4 scallions chopped (white and green parts)

2 Avocados coarse chopped (I added this because avos are soooo good)

Basically you kind of want all the pieces in this salad to be chopped roughly the same size except for the scallions which will be smaller.

Bake the chopped french baguette pieces at about 375 for 20 min or so. You need them to be crunchy.

For extra credit and goodness on this one, peel a garlic clove and chop off one end. Use it to rub each crouton piece a little bit (just one side is fine). You will need 2 or 3 cloves to do this. Not necessary though.

Dressing:

3 Tbls Balsamic Vinegar

1/2 Cup EVOO

2 tsp minced garlic

Whisk the dressing ingredients together in a large bowl or mix with your stick blender. Toss in everything together in this bowl except the croutons. You can refrigerate this part (30 minutes at least) until ready to serve. About 5-10 minutes before you are ready to serve, toss in as many croutons as you feel meets the proper ratio. The croutons will be soggy/crunchy this way. Salt/Pepper to taste.

If you want to take a small risk, toss in some chopped mango. I bet that would be good.