Some
favorite vehicles for delivery include large pasta shells, manicotti shells,
tacos, tortillas, lettuce wraps and crepes.
When
lacking a vehicle, an alternate way to recreate leftovers is to transform them
into a casserole.
Many
years ago frugal guru, Amy Dacycyn, described a casserole as a combination of any
protein, any starch and any vegetable with a thick liquid to hold these three
components together. The combinations are endless.
If
you are not familiar with Amy’s work, she is worthy of a Google search!
Recently,
the task at hand was to turn a package of mushrooms, one chicken breast and a
few slices of Muenster cheese into a delicious crepe dinner for four adults.
The
crepe recipe was experimental as it was adjusted to be gluten free. These were
delicious when eaten fresh but freezing/defrosting them turned into an epic
fail.
Once
stuffed with filling and placed into a baking dish, all the crepes split. Oozing
out of the sides of the crepes were mushrooms, sliced chicken strips and gooey Muenster
cheese!
In
this format, this was not a suitable dinner presentation. It was pure chaos
disguised as crepes. Minutes of long glares and stares came the realization
that this would convert perfectly into a casserole.
Remembering
the definition of a casserole, all this baking dish needed was a liquid to hold
the chaos together.
A
mixture of flour, butter, milk and additional Muenster cheese slices churned
into a viscous cheese sauce necessary to hold together the dinner components
for a casserole. The sauce covered the crepes to hide the underlying chaos of
the casserole. Topped with a few pieces of chicken, mushrooms and dried parsley,
the casserole baked in the oven and the dinner rescue was complete. Phew!
SOUND
THE BUGLE! Today’s tip: Need to find a use for those
cereal crumbs at the bottle of the cereal box? Save them as a crunch topping
for a casserole or as a breading for chicken tenders! They also be sprinkled on
top of yogurt or ice cream.
STACKED AND READY TO BE FROZEN
