Fried Chicken and Cheesesteaks

Life with three kids gets interesting.    Someone, probably someone with the same last name, left the freezer open a little bit ... enough that the ice bucket had chilled water and most of the food thawed.     Including a whole quart of New Jersey blueberries frozen for a winter pie.   I also had three ready-for-baking overripe bananas.  So I decided the only course of action (besides tossing thawed meat and cleaning the freezer) was to make muffins - a LOT of muffins: Melt (or better yet brown !) a two sticks of butter.    Stir in three mushed overripe bananas.  Cool a little bit then stir in 1 1/2 cups of milk and a cup of sour cream, then 5 eggs, 1 Tablespoon vanilla and if you have it on hand a dash of orange oil .     Then add one cup of brown sugar and one cup of white sugar.  In a separate bowl measure 7 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon salt and 3 Tablespoons of Baking powder (YES TABLES...

A quick dessert from ingredients on hand - and a VERY flexible recipe to boot. Any combination of berries (actually almost any soft fruit) will mix well. Just adjust the sugar added to the tartness of the fruit. Berries, from your freezer. I used blueberries: Cranberries, and some mixed berries - about 8 cups in total: I added about a cup and a half of sugar (less if it hadn't included all those tart cranberries) and a splash of vanilla: Meanwhile in another part of the kitchen: Butter was melted: Leftover, stale storebought cookies were tried and sentenced to execution by spatula: Then mixed with about three cups of oats and the butter. (I didn't sweeten because of the cookies. If you're using all oats, add a bit of brown sugar) Pour the berries into a 13 x 9 pan, followed by the topping. Bake at 375, 35-45 minutes. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream!

Same recipe as earlier in the week, EXCEPT: I only had three peaches, but added 1 1/2 pints of blueberries. No ginger this time, and no cinnamon sugar topping. Serve for breakfast - warm (microwaved) with a bit of milk.

~ 12 peaches, ripe to very ripe 1 pint blueberries 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tsp cinnamon few grates of nutmeg 2 cups old fashioned rolled oats 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 stick butter Peel, pit and chop peaches. (don't worry about the size - I had pieces from marble to golf ball size). Add the blueberries (washed, of course). Stir in the vanilla and cinnamon and pour into an 8 inch square pan. Melt butter in the microwave. Stir in brown sugar and a tsp of salt. Mix in oats, and spread over fruit. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes. Serve with vanilla ice cream. Note that this is NOT a very sweet dessert. I actually like the leftovers for breakfast - lots of fruit and oatmeal. If your family is accustomed to sweeter dishes, you might want to double the sugar.

We're having a heat wave here in Philly. Sometimes a big meal just is NOT what you want when it is hot, especially if you are also packing and moving boxes, as we are this weekend. So this is just a little public service announcement, in case you too tend to forget about the wonder of fruit smoothies. Things I add (not all at the same time!) - strawberries - frozen strawberries - blueberries - frozen blueberries - banana - frozen banana - watermelon - canteloupe - honeydew - peaches - cherries other additions: - orange juice - plain yogurt or greek yogurt - vanilla yogurt - soy protein powder (not if I'm serving it the Southerner - it doesn't agree with him) - vanilla ice cream - ice my favorite combos to throw in the blender: Watermelon, blueberry, vanilla extract and soy protein powder for breakfast strawberry, a few ice cubes, vanilla ice cream (obviously this is a dessert) milk, banana Today's selection: two bananas, chopped and frozen for a few hours: about a cup ...

I think this is officially a "deep dish" pie, because I only put a top crust on it. But this would actually be a "shallow dish" pie if there was such a thing - it probably is only enough for four people. Because I have yet to remaster the art of making pie dough (I could in my teens, but lost the touch), and I only had one roll out pie dough in my refrigerator. Combine: 1 pint blueberries - they were a bit old - when they start to look like raisins 5 large strawberries about 3/4 cup of frozen raspberries mix together: 1/2 cup sugar 4 teaspons cornstarch Mix the sugar into the berries and pour into a pretty tart pan. Top with pie crust - I cut mine into long strips and made a lazy man's lattice. Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes, then turn down to 350 and bake another 30 - until the juices are nice and bubbly and the crust is starting to brown. Serve with vanilla ice cream!

Yesterday I bought ten pounds of blueberries. WHY, you might ask would anyone want ten pounds of blueberries? Well because blueberries are the freshest and most economical in Pennsylvania in late June and early July. So I washed the berries, picked out the stems and the few little green ones (NO ONE wants to eat that bitter bite), and put them in three cup containers in my freezer. Once I filled all my little containers I still had about a cup and a half of berries left - breakfast!! A wonderful start to a Monday morning for the resident Southerner and I - just in a bowl with cantelope and raspberries. All winter I'll be able to make blueberry crisps (place blueberries in a casserole dish, cover with a mixture of melted butter, brown sugar and old fashioned oats. bake until hot and bubbly. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream); baked blueberry oatmeal, blueberry pancakes (or better yet REGULAR pancakes, layered with plain yogurt, with a lightly sweetened blueberry topping); and of...