The Namesake

Yesterday as I was getting ready to post my Lasagne post, James thought it would be a fun idea to blog about why our blog is called Clawson Live. About 4 1/2 years ago the Food Network had a cooking contest called "Cooking With Your Kids" that I thought would be fun to enter. All you had to do was submit an application along with a small essay about cooking with your kids and then a 5 minute video of your family cooking together. In my mind it was going to be a cooking demo on our family's favorite breakfast (and Sunday dinner, or Christmas brunch). Crepes filled with cheese and warm berries. I was think along the lines of the Julia Child cooking shows I used to watch on PBS when I was a kid. I can't believe I just admitted to watching that show, but it is too true. I also watched the Galloping Gourmet , and the Frugal Gourmet. I loved watching them. You know, they were right after old reruns of Bewitched, and Little House On the Prairie. Those were the days. That was quality tele. I remember telling my mom that her pie crust was much prettier than Julia Child's after watching an episode. It really was. My mother knew how to crimp her crust! Well on to the story.

My fabulous brother Marc and his wife Susan came up for a family night and video session. He taped, and zoomed and rolled the camera all night in the hopes of catching us Clawson's at our best. Well our best was not to be had. When it finally came time to editing and cutting the footage down to size Marc said there was way to much screaming and yelling, and loud laughter to create any cooking demo. What remained was a fun music video that had no monologuing what so ever and starred we Clawson's!

I remember sitting in Marc's office in Ogden as he made the disclaimer that he really didn't have time and just threw it together at the last moment. It had to be postmarked on Oct. 15th. and it was 3:00pm on the 15th right then. He pushed play, and I was hooked. He did a fabulous job, and the whole video was so fun to watch. The kids were themselves, and it showed our family really cooking together.

After I mailed in the video James kept telling the kids that the Food Network would be calling us on the 30th of Oct. to tell us we had won. I thought he was just creating a lot of hype for a huge letdown when it didn't happen......but of course James was right! On Oct. 30th a woman from Food Network studios called to inform the Clawson's that we had won 1st place in the Cooking With Your Kids Contest. On Nov. 16th. we would all fly out to NYC and spend 6 days touring the city, and spending 1 day at the Food Network studios watching a taping of Emeril Live.

After the taping we were able to prepare a huge family style dinner with Emeril Lagasse, and eat with him and the 3 other families who also won. We went to Central Park ice skating, ate cheesecake every night for a late snack, and bagels every morning for breakfast. We had great pot stickers at Ollie's and tried every Reuben sandwich in NY searching for the best one. (Of course our Reuben's at the bakery here in Logan are far superior to any we had in NY!) We ate gelato in Little Italy, and great Chinese food in China Town. It was an amazing trip all the way around. I don't think the kids will ever forget that experience. Every now and then if I'm watching the Food Network, I catch a glimpse of some of the footage they took of our family while in the kitchen with Emeril. Also we've seen bits of our video that we submitted for the contest in between segments of different shows. The name of our video was The Clawson's Live, in reference to the cooking show Emeril Live. I hope you enjoy our movie, and also I'm leaving the recipe for our award winning crepes. Just kidding! I think it was cute kids that won the contest, not fabulous crepes but enjoy!!

Clawson Family Favorite Crepes

Crepes

1 c. flour

2 eggs

1 c. milk

1/4 t. salt

2 T. melted butter

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.

Cheese Filling

1 16 oz carton cottage cheese blended smooth with a wand blender

1/2 - 1c. powdered sugar (to your liking. We like it a bit on the sweet side)

a pinch of salt

Warm Berry Sauce

2 c. frozen berries of choice. We used Huckleberries that we had picked, but raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, or any kind work fantastic

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. water

Combine all ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let it boil for 3 minutes. Serve warm on crepes or waffles.

To make the crepes just spread a few tablespoons of the cheese mixture down the middle of a crepe. Roll it up and top with warm berries. We eat tons of these when we make them. Like 10-12 a person sometimes. My new favorite crepe variation though is to spread Nutella on the crepe and then slice some bananas on top and serve with fresh whipped cream!!! To die for!!