Broken pieces of bread not suitable for zwieback, crusts, and trimmings of the loaf make excellent croutons, a most palatable accompaniment for soups, gruels, hot milk, etc.  To prepare the croutons cut the fragments as nearly uniform in size as possible,—­half-inch cubes are convenient,—­and place them on tins in a warming oven to dry.  Let them become crisply dry, and lightly browned, but not scorched.  They are preferable to crackers for use in soups, and require so little work to prepare, and are so economical withal, that one who has once tried them will be likely to keep a supply on hand.  The crumbs and still smaller fragments may be utilized for thickening soups and for various dressings and puddings, recipes for many of which are given in preceding chapters.

If crumbs and small bits of bread accumulate more rapidly than they can be used, they may be carefully dried, not browned, in a warming oven, after which put them in a mortar and pound them, or spread them upon an old bread board, fold in a clean cloth and roll them with a rolling pin until fine.  Prepared thus, stored in glass fruit cans and put away in a dry place, they will keep almost indefinitely, and can be used when needed.  For preparing escalloped vegetables of all kinds, these prepared crumbs are excellent; they give a fine, nutty flavor to the dish, which fresh crumbs do not possess.

LEFT-OVER GRAINS.—­Left-over grains, if well kept, may be reheated in a double boiler without the addition of water, so as to be quite as palatable as when freshly cooked.  Small quantities of left-over grains can be utilized for preparing various kinds of desserts, where the ingredients require previous cooking.  Rice, barley, pearl wheat, and other whole grains can be satisfactorily used in soups in which a whole grain is required; oatmeal, rolled oats, corn meal, grits, etc., with the addition of a little milk and cream, may be made into delicious gruels; they may also be used advantageously in the preparation of vegetable soups, many of which are even improved by the addition of a few spoonfuls of well-kept cooked oatmeal or rolled oats.  The left-over grains may also be utilized in a variety of breads, directions for the preparation of which are given in the chapter on Bread.

LEFT-OVER VEGETABLES.—­Left-over portions of most varieties of vegetables can be best utilized for soups as stated on page 275.  Cold mashed potato may be made into potato cakes as directed on page 237 of the chapter on Vegetables, where will also be found many other recipes, suited to the use of these left-over foods.

LEFT-OVER MEATS.—­Most cook books offer numerous recipes for croquettes, hashes, and fried dishes prepared from remnants of meat and fish, which, although they serve the purpose of using up the fragments, are not truly economical, because they are generally far from wholesome.  Most fragments of this character are more digestible served cold as a relish, or utilized for soups and stews, than compounded into fancy dishes requiring to be fried and highly seasoned or served with rich sauces.