She cooks for two- and four-legged friends

Sheila Horst approached the culinary arts as a blank slate, coming at it without the homey, family narrative of so many cooks.

Her mother prepared a few basic dishes "by the seat of her pants," her aunts weren't interested and her grandmother was unable to cook because of poor health.

None of her siblings developed a flare for it, either.

As the first in her clan to take an interest in things culinary, Sheila says she "filled a void in the family. I wanted something different."

At age 12, when her family moved from Des Plaines to Mount Prospect, she turned to cooking for something to do before she started making new friends. She enjoyed the process and the results so much she never looked back.

Eventually Sheila read from cover to cover her mother's early edition of "The Fanny Farmer Cookbook" and a World War II edition of "The American Woman's Cookbook."

During college at Loyola University, Chicago, she branched out from the basics to more elaborate dishes with Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" and a subscription to Gourmet magazine.

With a friend she prepared lasagna and beef Bourguignon for ravenous students so numerous that they had trouble finding dishes to eat from.

"I remember someone eating out of the cat's dish."

For that time and her age, it was exciting.

"No one in my age bracket was cooking like that," she says. "We would make stuff all weekend."

Later, Sheila and her husband, Harry, a former pilot and travel industry executive, sampled the cuisines of Argentina, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, France and other European countries.

She brought all those tasting experiences back to the kitchen where she has built a 100-plus collection of cookbooks. She also subscribes to a handful of cooking magazines and surfs the Web for new recipes.

Retired from the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board, Sheila works twice a week for the Mount Prospect Park District, leaving her plenty of time to plan meals that meet the needs of a diabetic (her), a quadruple bypass survivor (him) and a picky eater (Toby, a Japanese hunting dog called a Shiba Inu).

Discomfited by moving to a new household, Toby had refused to eat even premium dog foods. Sheila researched recipes online and in animal cookbooks, tweaked her own turkey-and-rice formula and presented it to the homesick pooch.

"He has been eating home cooking ever since," says Sheila. "I make a batch every two weeks" and freeze it.

For the humans in her life, Sheila scours through her cookbooks. Among her favorites: "Julia's Kitchen Wisdom" from the late French chef, "Desperation Dinners" by Beverly Mills and Alicia Ross, "The Olive Oil Cookbook" by Beverley Jollands and "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison.

She particularly enjoys recipes from friends.

"It allows a friend a spotlight in which to share personal memories, food being so intimate," she says.

From her smaller collection of "tinkered with" recipes Sheila offers us something new for breakfast, cornmeal pancakes, something fast and fresh to do with fish fillets and a package of tri-color peppers and a stir-fry that turns a leftover pork chop into a complete meal.

The slate is not so blank anymore.

Fish fillets with tri-colored peppers

2 tablespoons flour or panko

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

4 fish fillets, 5 to 6 ounces each (salmon, sea bass, cod)

4 tablespoons lemon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

½ green bell pepper, cut in ¼-inch strips

½ red bell pepper, cut in ¼-inch strips

½ yellow bell pepper, cut in ¼-inch strips

½ cup ponzu sauce (see note)

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped, or herb of choice

In a shallow bowl, combine flour or panko with salt and pepper. Dredge fillets in mixture, patting on the coating.

Heat oil and butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fillets and saute 2 to 3 minutes per side if fillets are -inch thick (see note) or until browned but not quite cooked through. Transfer to a platter and cover loosely to keep warm and finish cooking.

Add peppers to the skillet with ponzu sauce and cook, covered, over medium-low heat 5 minutes, or until peppers are slightly softened. Uncover and remove just the peppers.

Cook remaining liquid over high heat 1 to 2 minutes to reduce slightly. Mix cornstarch with a little water to dissolve and add to pan. Bring to boil and cook 1 minute to thicken. Sprinkle in parsley. Divide peppers among four plates, top each with a fillet and spoon sauce over. Serve with rice.

Serves four.

Editor's note: Ponzu sauce is a Japanese, soy-based sauce. Cooking time will vary depending on the thickness of fillets. Add more time for thicker fillets.

@Recipe nutrition:Nutrition values per serving:380 calories, 19 g fat (4.5 g saturated), 10 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 44 g protein, 105 mg cholesterol, 1340 mg sodium.

Brown fried rice with pork

2 tablespoons canola oil, divided

6 ounces (1 jar) sliced mushrooms

1 pork chop, 1-inches thick, cooked and shredded (see note)

½ cup red bell pepper, chopped

½ cup peas

2 scallions, sliced

2 cups cooked brown rice, cold

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 egg

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

Heat 1 tablespoon of the canola oil in skillet. Add mushrooms, shredded pork, red pepper, peas and scallions. Cook until vegetables are tender-crisp. Remove from skillet.

Heat remaining tablespoon canola oil in same skillet. Add rice and cook over medium heat until hot.

In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce and egg.

Make a well in the center of the rice and add sesame oil. When hot, add egg mixture, cooking and stirring until set. Shred egg with fork, mix with rice.

Serves two.

Cook's note: I usually use a leftover pork chop from a restaurant meal.

@Recipe nutrition:Nutrition values per serving: 980 calories, 25 g fat (4 g saturated), 161 g carbohydrates, 8 g fiber, 30 g protein, 115 mg cholesterol, 740 mg sodium.

Cornmeal pancakes

cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

¼ cup cornmeal

4 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg

2 cups buttermilk

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon oil

In a medium bowl. whisk together flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a separate bowl whisk together egg and buttermilk; add to dry ingredients, mixing gently just enough to moisten everything.

Heat a griddle. Add butter and oil to hot surface. Spoon batter onto griddle in 5-inch circles. When batter surface is bubbly and bottom is brown, about 1 to 2 minutes, flip pancakes over and brown other side.

Makes 24.

@Recipe nutrition:Nutrition values per pancake: 40 calories, 1.5 g fat (0.5 g saturated), 5 g carbohydrates, 0 fiber, 1 g protein, 10 mg cholesterol, 150 mg sodium.