Sunday, August 16, 2015

THE CASE OF THE CHAOTIC CREPES

Old Mother Frugal is forever looking at a variety of ways to recreate leftovers. The key to a successful recreation is the vehicle used to deliver the new dish.

 

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.
 
 
                                        A TRAY OF FILLED CREPES

 
STACKED AND READY TO BE FROZEN

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