Crepes with Oranges, Cream cheese and Maple Syrup or Blueberries

       A crepe is basically a thin pancake, a French pancake, a Swedish pancake. Add extra milk to your favorite pancake recipe to make a very thin batter .You can add an extra egg too  if you like that eggy flavor. Cook it in an 8 inch sauté pan - frying pan, non stick or a really well seasoned one so the batter doesn't stick. Less batter is more in this situation. You want a very thin pancake.
       Ladle the batter into the medium hot preheated oiled pan(olive or veg oil)  and tilt pan in a circle till the entire bottom is covered with a thin skirt of batter. Cook a couple of minutes till bronze and flip with fingers, spatula or a fork and bronze the backside. Place on plate in oven and make many more, keeping warm in oven. Serve rolled up around chopped fresh oranges, cream cheese and maple syrup, or with blueberries, cream cheese and maple syrup. Garnish with same and fresh mint - which I didn't do in the photo, but you should. I used whole wheat flour for the nutty taste and nutritional benefits, but you can use white flour or half white and wheat.                                                                                                                     

Eggplant French Fries

                Cut eggplant into strips and soak in milk and salt( 1 tsp per pint)  for 15 minutes, roll in  flour( white or whole wheat) and fry in med heat plus olive oil till golden. Drain on paper towels. Serve with lemon basil garlic mayo for dipping.

A Porterhouse With The Dog Because The Daughter Is Gone

              My 16 yr old daughter is in Florida for a week so my dog Woody and I are sharing a porterhouse steak for dinner. I bone out the steak into the filet mignon ( smaller round side of the bone) and NY strip (long side of the bone) portions, season w/ salt and fresh ground black pepper and cook them in a black cast iron pan over medium heat in a little olive oil for about 3 minutes and flip them and cook  2 more minutes. You want the filet side to be rare. Get the filet out of the pan and do the strip an extra minute or so. The strip side is denser and needs a little more cooking time.  The tender filet less.
             The filet will melt like butter in your mouth, the strip has some chew to it.
              First you want to sauté onions and mushrooms w/chopped garlic in the same pan for about a minute, move to the perimeter of the pan, then add the steaks. You can add chopped spinach and  brandy to the pan for the last half minute.
             Serve over artisanal or whole wheat toast. Give only about one quarter to your dog because it is so good and you don't want to spoil him.