THE MASTER OF DISGUISE

The month of October is only a few weeks away and thoughts are turning to Halloween.

Empty stores are converted annually to selling costumes and accessories for the one day a year when the inner child comes out in many of us.

My Grand Little Helper seems to be considering his role as a super hero.

Like most little boys, he likes to play dress up, as his dad did before him. His dad’s super hero power was to be invisible. Really, he wasn’t but you have to play along.

His uncle’s super hero power was he had “power eyes”. This inner belief went on for well into his early grade school years. He would squint and stare and magical things would happen, if only in his imagination.

The Grand Little Helper is the “Blue Caped Crusader”. He dons his blue mask and his blue shirt with matching blue cape to combat crime. I suspect the criminal to be his little sister because 18 month old girls have the potential to drive their older brothers crazy.

The youngest of the Grand Little Helpers likes to be a cow. Just a little over a year, once he gets the “moo” sound going, I suspect he will believe too.

Why the topic of costumes and disguises?

Leftovers. The trick to getting the family to eat leftovers is to disguise it as something else to make them believers too.

A frugal yet simple way to disguise leftovers is to wrap them in home-made crepes. You have these ingredients in your kitchen. A cup of flour. Two eggs. One and one-half cups of milk. A pinch of salt and a tablespoon of oil. Wisk and pour 2 TBS or more into a hot, non-stick skillet. Flip when the edges brown. Cool. Repeat.

This recipe makes 12 crepes. They freeze well when layered with wax paper (or cereal liners) and stacked. These can be used as a breakfast or dinner entrée or dessert! It will take 20 minutes of your day to disguise ordinary leftovers and transform into an eloquent dish!

SOUNG THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Leftover chicken and broccoli with a white cream sauce is tasty in crepes. Drizzle sauce over the crepes and bake, covered in the oven at 350 degrees until warmed through. Serve with a salad and a crusty bread and you have a delicious meal.