Repurpose a stale bagel as a new snack
I am not a big fan of potato chips. There's nothing really wrong with them, but I prefer to think of them as a vehicle for getting various dips from my plate to my mouth...an edible spoon, as it were.
When I was a kid, my grandmother - who would not waste anything - used to slice up stale bagels and toast them. She used to spread these crispy chips with cream cheese or top them with mozzarella and salami (I was not raised a vegetarian) and serve them as appetizers when unexpected guests would arrive.
As a teenager, I thought that serving stale bread to guests was old fashioned and, definately, uncool.
Today, bagel chips are being served at the fanciest of parties and even teenagers think they're a cool food. It's funny how all the things our family did to save money - from recycling to repurposing items - is now the "right way" to live. In our household of four people, we would throw out less than a regular paper shopping bag of refuse a week. Most everything got reused.
So, back to those rescued stale bagels. Instead of tossing the last stale bagel in the bag, I sliced them up and spiced them up and now I have a bag of chips to dress up in a variety of ways.
Garlic Bagel Chips
2 unsliced bagels2 tablespoons of butter, melted
1 teaspoon of garlic salt
- Refrigerate bagels for 1 hour.
- Cut into 1/4-in. slices. Place on an ungreased baking sheet.
- Combine butter and garlic salt; brush over bagel slices.
- Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.
