But missing breakfast is like driving without gas in your car.  Many of us make breakfast for our husbands and children but only grab a cup of coffee for ourselves on the way out the door.  Imagine trying to run your car with no fuel. Even though most cars have about a gallon of gasoline after the line hits E, you still shouldn’t ride around for too long without re-fueling. Our bodies are similar, and we should not expect that we’ll perform well  if we don’t eat in the morning.  Breakfast literally means breaking the fast. Your body has been digesting and distributing the nutrients from the last meal you ate overnight, so it’s most important to re-energize yourself in the morning. With summer just around the corner, we’re in a good time of the year to transition our diets and take advantage of the fruits in season, such as strawberries, blueberries and raspberries.

And that’s where the blender comes in handy. If you’re on the run like so many of us are, using the blender to make fruit smoothies is the perfect tool  for making sure that you are nourished before you leave the house.

Add berries to orange juice, almond milk or unfiltered apple juice, along with yogurt, a little bit of ice and a banana for thickness and you’re good to go. If you want to get protein, folic acid or fiber into your morning meal, just add a tablespoon of wheat germ or spirulina.

The best thing is that by having a morning meal even while on the run, you will find yourself feeling more energized for longer periods throughout the day.

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Now mind you, I hate for my children to eat on the run. I think it’s rude, crude and probably not too good for their digestive tracks. However, I’d much rather hand them food to walk with than to have them not eat at all. I also know that other people are already doing this.

So the next time I make pancakes, I will glaze them with a fresh fruit compote mixed with a little syrup and butter, and roll them tight. That way my children can still get a hot meal into their bellies before they begin their school day.

I’ll feel better as their mother, and they’ll be able to put on their thinking caps fueled by a full belly.

Fresh Fruit Compote Stuffed Pancakes

Use whatever pancake mix you like or make the pancakes from scratch.

For the compote, melt 2 tablespoons of butter over a low flame.

When it’s completely liquid, add your favorite berries – blueberries,  strawberries or blackberries – plus 1 tablespoon of sugar, and simmer together until the fruit opens.

Turn off heat and cover.

Make a large pancake, put the compote in the middle and roll tightly.

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3. Blender drinks for breakfast

I never stood around watching my grandmother – who made great biscuits – cook them. Neither did I watch my mother, who doesn’t bake biscuits often but loves making cakes (her red velvet is the bomb).

My friend and business partner Yvonne told me once about an aunt of hers who makes the best biscuits. Get me the recipe, I begged. And begged. And begged. I still don’t have the recipe and, bless her soul, the aunt passed away in January. Now, Yvonne tells me that she has another aunt who brags that her biscuits are even better. 

I’m still waiting for that recipe.

Sherry's buttermilk biscuits, which always turn out flat and non-flaky.

Meanwhile, I combed my cookbooks and the web looking for a recipe for flaky buttermilk biscuits that rise high. Mine always bake flat, even when I follow the recipe – all of which are basically the same (all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, shortening or butter, salt and buttermilk).

I came across a recipe for Food Network star Alton Brown’s buttermilk biscuits, which had the same ingredients and directions as all the others. Beneath it, though, was a note from Ma Mae (Mae Skelton), which I found funny and sensible:

“I don’t have much use for recipes but the one you get on a bag of White Lily(r) self-rising flour is hard to beat. And it’s a lot easier than the one my crazy grandson dreamed up.”

My friend Janet always asks a friend to bring her back a five-pound bag of White Lily  flour when the friend visits relatives in North Carolina. The company’s website has a video that shows you how to make biscuits using their self-rising flour.

Do you have a wonderful recipe for biscuits that are flaky and rise high? I’d love to try it.

- Sherry L. Howard

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Over the weekend, my budget was extremely tight and I needed to make some filling food to feed the five of us. I also needed to make a soup that my mate Natu, who’s suffering from stage-three colon cancer, would appreciate. A side effect from chemotherapy that isn’t talked about much is the serious dental challenges, and Natu suffers from that as well. Everything I make for him has to be soft, so we do lots of blending.

Those facts considered, I made a big pot of  yellow split pea soup and loaded it up with vegetables.

For years, I hated split peas. They looked nasty and tasted even worse. Or, at least I always thought so until I realized that what I disliked the most was the green color of traditional split peas and the fact that so many folks insisted on putting pork in them. Why so many people still believe that they have to season so many foods with pork is beyond me. Yellow and orange split peas cooked vegetarian-style look so much better.

I got over my split-pea phobia after I tasted some delicious Indian food that frequently incorporates the yellow and orange split peas into sauces like Dahl and curry. I like to mix both peas.

Although my soup  is Indian-inspired, I also include my own spin. I have a passion for red onions, and sweet and white potatoes in my soups. I also go heavy on the garlic and tomatoes, which are great because of the antioxidants they contain. This soup is good either thoroughly blended  like I did for Natu or with the vegetables chunky.

Yellow Split Pea/Tomato soup

1 large package yellow dried split peas, rinsed and soaked for 3 hours

1 gallon spring water (add more later if it cooks down too thick)

one boiling pot of water, enough to cover the tomatoes

3 vegetable cubes or replace one cup of the water with a cup of vegetable broth or pot liquor

1 large red onion, skinned and quartered

1 yellow pepper, diced

2 cups baby carrots

3 large sweet potatoes, skinned and cut into wedges

2 large Yukon Gold potatoes, skinned and cubed

5 large ripe tomatoes blanched, skinned and quartered

2 large zucchini, cubed

1 large yellow squash, cubed

1 bag baby spinach

1/4  cup finely cut fresh parsley

salt/black pepper to taste

1 tsp white pepper

1/2 cup virgin olive oil

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/8 cup  Tamari sauce

5 cloves garlic, pressed

1 cup rice milk

Directions

Wash tomatoes and pierce the skin. Plunge into boiling water until the skin peels, then remove and set aside until cool enough to peel off skin.

Bring spring water to a rapid boil and add split peas. Stir in both kinds of potatoes and the carrots, turn flame to low and simmer covered while you prepare the other vegetables.

In a wok or large pan,  heat olive oil on a low flame and add garlic, then the onions and peppers. Saute’ for five minutes, then add all of the vegetables except the tomatoes and cook on low flame util the vegetables are soft.

Add the vegetables to the split peas, then add tomatoes, rice milk and all of the spices, except for the parsley, which should be added just before serving (saving some for garnish).

Let soup rest for five minute, then add parsley, stirring in most of it but saving some for garnish.

Serve family-style in bowls, along with piping hot muffins or crusty bread.

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Since I’m no longer a stay-at-home mom who can have the smell of fresh-baked cookies wafting through the house when the kids come through the door from school, I now have to plan ahead every morsel of food that they eat. Making my teenaged girls healthy snacks, in particular, takes some creativity. Besides, they’re old enough to manage their own.

But if I left my youngest in charge of her diet, she’d be in the hospital from malnutrition.

Baby girl hates to eat just about anything healthy. Her preference is to eat fried chicken and pasta every day. Snacks are the worst to plan for her because she hates fruit and is some-timey about salads. Don’t even talk about getting her to eat vegetables. The best way to get her to eat anything green is to hide it in pasta. She does like applesauce, though. But I’m always hesitant to buy it packaged because so much pre-packaged food includes sugar and preservatives.

Determined to help her expand her mind about food, I decided to introduce her to my applesauce, which is much different than store brands.

I also tricked her and added pears in an effort to get her to eat other fruits. Applesauce is simple to make, and she loves it next to cinnamon toast, which she can make herself.

Not Your Grandmother’s Applesauce (Serves

 Ingredients:

12 mixed apples:

3 Gala

3 Granny Smith

2 Red Delicious

4 Macintosh

5 Pears (mixed)

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 tablespoon apple cider

Directions:

Skin and core apples and pears. Cut into halves and poach covered until soft. Blend with seasonings and cider. Serve warm with buttered toast.

Garnish with: black walnuts, shredded coconut, and/or currants

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So, when I compare our circumstances to those of our ancestors, I realize that beating this unbelievable heat wave in this day and age should be a snap for most of us. I dislike intense, suffocating heat just as much as the next person, but when I think of them, my whining subsides immediately! Imagine what it must have been like to work in hot southern fields picking cotton, tobacco or vegetables, or cooking in hot kitchens while being malnourished, mistreated and most likely very thirsty.

We’re at least two generations past slavery, but circumstances are still really tough for some folks. And just in case you aren’t fortunate enough to have air conditioning throughout your house (or any at all), here are some tips that folks used  just a generation ago on hot summer days.

My mom says that she would visit my great Aunt Louise at her house in North Philadelphia back in the 1940s. There was no air conditioning and most likely only one fan in the house. 

“There were just the two of us ladies, so we often walked around in cotton slips (remember slips?) all over the house,” my mom tells me. Aunt Louise, who made a twice-daily ritual of opening and closing her blinds and curtains, would always keep them closed in the summer to keep the sunlight out. And there was always a fresh pitcher of fresh squeezed lemonade to quench their thirst.

One of the best things we can do for ourselves in the heat is drink water, water, water. Infuse the water with any type of citrus (lemons, grapefruit, oranges or limes), because they are all loaded with vitamin C.

So keep an abundance of citrus fruits around to  squeeze in the water. Citrus drinks are always worthy hot or cold, but on sweltering 100-degree days like we’ve been having for the past few weeks, a nice cool citrus drink is  essential.

For that one special drink, the following will tickle your fancy.

Burst of sunshine blender drink

Blend the following on high for five minutes in a very large blender:

1 quart of orange juice with some pulp

1 cup vanilla yogurt

1 cup fresh blueberries

1 cup fresh strawberries, raspberries or blackberries (or a mixture)

2 ripe bananas

1/2 cup ice

Garnish with sprigs of fresh peppermint.

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Ask anyone who has southern roots what they used to drink on a hot summer day and they’ll most likely tell you a tall glass of ice cold lemonade. It quenches the thirst like no other drink on the planet, and it has many health benefits as well.

What I love most about lemonade is that you can drink it hot or cold, and blend it with many other fruits, like strawberries, blueberries, peaches or oranges. It’s delicious, helps to cleanse the palate and is great for our insides, too. It’s also my favorite drink, with or without …

Lemons can also be used medicinally to treat many ailments, like colds and infections. And they can be utilized as a natural disinfectant or a deodorizer on the body and in the house.

The other day, I ran out of hand soap and had garlic on my hands. I wanted to get rid of the smell fast to take a letter from the postman. I remembered my grandmothers telling me to use fresh lemon juice to get rid of the garlic smell, and it worked like magic.

Another drink I make is ginger tea, which is good for upset stomachs. Whenever my children have upset stomachs, I make them tea from fresh ginger root. I also use it to enhance my voice if I’m broadcasting on the radio or I mix it with Turbinado sugar, shea butter and olive oil as a foot scrub (but that’s another blog). The only time I didn’t use ginger was during my pregnancies (those days are long past), because it can be dangerous to the mother.

But both ginger and peppermint can also be used as natural remedies both internally and externally.

So in the midst of a heat wave,  a cold glass of natural lemonade is both soothing and refreshing. Just imagine how wonderful it tastes with both ginger and fresh peppermint.

Fatimah’s Peppermint-Ginger-Lemonade

Ingredients:

1 handful of fresh peppermint leaves washed and pulled from the stems

1/3 cup of ginger root, skinned and sliced lengthwise

Juice from 8 lemons (no seeds)

1 cup boiling hot spring or filtered water

½ gallon of cold spring or filtered water

2 cups of ice

½  cup of  raw honey or Turbninado sugar (or more to taste)

Directions:

Dissolve honey or sugar in hot water, add the ginger and boil for one minute.

Allow mixture to cool. Mix with lemon juice, cold water and peppermint.

Pour in tall glasses over ice. Garnish with peppermint leaves.

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I use szechuan instead of barbecue sauce, and this brand delighted me even more when I read the ingredients: soy sauce, water, wheat, soybean, sea salt, cane sugar, distilled vinegar, corn starch, fresh garlic, garlic powder, soybean oil, dehydrated onion, cherry peppers, salt, crushed red pepper, ginger.

But just when I was about to get you excited about using it on wild caught Alaskan salmon (which is delicious),  they have to go and spill all of that oil into the ocean. So much for my love for wild caught salmon. I hate to go back to eating farm-raised fish – it has too much bacteria – but who knows how far that sludge will travel?

My grandmother Muddie always made her fish cakes with canned salmon, but I try to avoid cans as much as possible. So, even though my family had a taste for salmon cakes tonight, we’re going to get away from seafood and try to stick with organic vegetables.

Szechuan sauce is heavy and can drown out traditional spring vegetables like peas or asparagus, especially if you use too much of it. It needs something meatier like eggplant. My favorite Chinese restaurant serves baby eggplant with a black bean sauce that is delicious. Here’s my version of their dish, using szechuan sauce for my base.

Hot and Spicy Eggplant with Black Bean Sauce (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 bag dried black beans

5 garlic cloves, finely chopped

5 scallions

½ tsp fresh grated ginger

1/4  tsp finely chopped red pepper

¼ cup sesame seeds

5 Chinese eggplants, washed and sliced the length in circles

½ cup Asian Szechuan dipping sauce

¼ cup virgin olive oil

Directions:

• Soak beans overnight, rinse and boil in six cups of spring water for 2 hours, until soft. Drain and set aside.
• Wash and slice scallions. Set aside.
• Set aside 3 tbsp. olive oil and mix the rest into a paste with ginger, pepper  and 1/3 of the chopped garlic.
• Sauté the rest of the garlic in 3 tbsp. of olive oil and add to beans. Simmer on low.
• Heat wok or cast iron pan on high flame.
• Brush each piece of eggplant with the oil paste.
• Heat  szechuan sauce in a small pot and simmer on low heat.
• Brown each piece of eggplant on each side and simmer until soft.
• Add hot szechuan sauce  just before serving.
• Serve over a bed of black beans with a side of brown rice.
• Garnish with sesame seeds and scallions.

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Most people I knew down south always had an assortment of mason jars when I was growing up. They used them for a variety of things, including canning, storing leftovers, rooting plants in and drinking from. My grandmother Muddie always had a collection of them, and at several of the homes I used to frequent in Greensboro, NC, some of the elderly women always had one special jar that they liked to drink from. Usually, they chose a specific jar because it was the right size and had a top. They’d claimed it as theirs exclusively by putting a rubber band around the neck, and we all knew not to ever touch it.

Lemonade is my favorite drink, and I throw it in the blender with strawberries or blueberries. My children like it better than Kool Aid or juice.

But lemons are also useful for a variety of other things besides making lemonade. They are a great disinfectant either for cleaning the house or to use on and inside of our bodies. Lemons have great medicinal powers.

We use fresh lemon juice on small cuts (although it really burns when you do this, but just for a minute). It can also help freshen up your breath, and it makes a nice air freshener. I even like a nice bowl or vase of lemons to use as a centerpiece on my dining room table.

Internally, lemons are a blood purifier, and also help lower blood pressure and clean out the intestinal track.

Finally, get used to squeezing fresh lemon juice into your glass of water. Of course it will be sour at first, but you’ll get used to the taste and thrilled with the health benefits (which you’ll realize almost immediately). Then you’ll wonder why you ever drank water without it.

Strawberry-mint lemonade

12 lemons juiced and seeded

½ lime washed and sliced

½ lemon washed and sliced

½ cup of honey (more to taste)

½ cup boiling hot water

6 cups cold filtered or spring water

1 cup of strawberries, washed, with tops removed (fresh is better but frozen is acceptable)

3 sprigs of fresh peppermint (washed and cut to fit in the glass)

 Directions

Stir honey into hot water so it dissolves completely.

Pour into blender along with lemon juice, strawberries and water, then blend.

Pour into a large pitcher with the lemon and lime slices floating on top.

Pour into glasses over ice and garnish with sprigs of fresh peppermint.

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Fresh fruit is relatively inexpensive and it’s good for us, whether it’s eaten whole or mixed into an exotic fruit salad. There’s nothing more delightful on a beautiful spring day than a wonderful, lush fruit salad. However you prefer it, fruit is delicious and I love the large strawberries and blueberries that you can easily find this time of year, no matter where you live. The next day, toss the fruit salad into the blender for a healthy drink.

Fruits salads are easy to make. They’re one of those foods that no matter how much or how little fruit you use, as long as it’s ripe, you can’t it mess up. Anyone – even a 2-year-old – can make a fruit salad. I like to make sure that my fruit is perfectly ripe, so I usually let it sit for a day after I bring it home from the store. I like to cut fruits like melons, peaches and nectarines at room temperature and then store them separately in the refrigerator  in glass bowls. Then it’s easy to pull out the fruit for on-the-spot salads.

Have a fruit-salad bar at breakfast or for dessert at night.

This is one of my favorite combinations morning, noon and night. Mine looks just like the one in Elana’s photo shown here,  but mine has a honeydew base.

Fruit Salad

1 ripe honeydew, seeded and cut, with juice

1 cup of ripe blueberries

1 banana

½ cup of strawberries, sliced

3 nectarines, seeded and sectioned, with juice

Optional garnishes

 1 ½ cups of vanilla yogurt

½ cup crushed walnuts

½ cup of granola

1/8  cup of shredded dried coconut

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