Pat Ernst Dugan loves to cook, eat, travel and learn about regional foods. She's been doing it for 18 years. Dugan, of Corning, shares her culinary knowledge with readers in a weekly food column. "Foodly Yours" covers cooking, dining and Finger Lakes foods, from locally grown produce, cooking gadgets and tools to a a new recipe each week, proposed by Dugan to be "quick-fix, limited ingredient and realistic."   Corn Flakes more than just cold bowl of cereal Pat Ernst Dugan February 2, 2006 Today is Groundhog Day, a time when one town, Punxsutawney, Pa., has its 15 minutes of national fame. It's about a bunch of folks willing to get up way early to watch a little critter pop out of the cold ground, look into the future and tell us the weather. Something about this scene reminded me of corn flakes. So in the spirit of having fun in the kitchen, I have turned to breakfast cereal, corn flakes specifically, and wondered how to extend its usefulness at lunch and dinner. On fast-paced workdays or don't-want-to-cook nights, I ask what people eat for supper. The idea of a simple bowl of cold cereal comes up in some conversations. One cereal manufacturer even touts what it calls its extremely effective diet plan: replace two regular meals each day with cereal and milk. I don't doubt it, but it's not for me. Not even with sliced bananas on top. But there sat the unopened box of corn flakes on the cupboard shelf. Thinking creatively, I decided to challenge my recipe development skills and see how many ways I could use the box of corn flakes without eating "the bowl of cereal and milk." The history of the Kellogg brothers and the beginnings of the cold cereal industry is a cloudy, somewhat quirky story. John Harvey Kellogg was a physician and his younger brother, Will Keith Kellogg, the business manager, when both worked in a Battle Creek, Mich., sanitarium in 1894. Dr. Kellogg, with assistance from Will, was looking for a bread substitute that might be more digestible for his hospital patients. It's generally agreed that one of the brothers accidentally left a pot of boiled wheat standing for a few hours. Frugal times forbade throwing the wheat away. The surprise was that the softened wheat, when dried and rolled, emerged as a large thin flake. When toasted in the oven, these flakes had a delightful taste. Patients agreed. This cereal was called Granose and the brothers sold it through mail order. Working with corn, they developed a similar flake, which they called Corn Flakes. In 1906, Will Keith Kellogg decided to mass market Corn Flakes and broke with his brother over a disagreement about adding sugar. Will felt it needed sugar to have mass-market appeal and he set up the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Co., now known as Kellogg's. The signature of W.K. Kellogg appeared for many years on all the company's cereal boxes. Today, Corn Flakes' basic ingredients are milled corn, sugar and vitamins. It is only one of a myriad of Kellogg brands that generate $9 billion in sales and qualify it for the leading cereal producer in the world. DAY 1: BLUEBERRY CORN FLAKE CRISP Try this for dessert or a warm breakfast. In the bottom of a small baking dish, mix 4 cups of frozen blueberries with a 1/2 cup Splenda, 1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice, 2 teaspoons orange zest, and 2 tablespoons cornstarch. Top with a mixture of 1 1/2 cups coarsely crushed Corn Flakes, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 teaspoons light margarine and 2 tablespoons corn syrup. Bake 30 minutes in a 400-degree preheated oven. DAY 2: CORN FLAKE COOKIES The cookies are nice and crunchy. The recipe made 6 dozen cookies. Tasters ate them eagerly for breakfast, after lunch and after dinner. Ingredients: 1 cup butter 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup brown sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla 2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 cups rolled oats 2 cups Corn Flakes 1 cup mini chocolate chips 1 cup chopped pecans Preparation: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugars. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla. Measure flour, soda, cinnamon, baking powder and salt onto a sheet of wax paper. Stir into sugar/egg mixture. Stir in cereals, chocolate chips and pecans. Drop by the spoonful onto a sprayed pan and press with fork. Bake about 8 minutes. DAY 3: CORN FLAKE-CRUSTED COD Cut one pound of fresh cod into 4 pieces. Whisk together 1 egg white and1/3 cup skim milk. Separately, coarsely crush 1 3/4 cups corn flakes. Mix with 3 tablespoons flour, kosher salt and pepper. First dip fillet into milk mix, then into the Corn Flake mix. Heat 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil in skillet. Add fish to pan. Cook on medium heat until brown, about 4 minutes each side. It comes out surprisingly crispy and beautifully golden! Pat Ernst Dugan is a private chef, educator and food/recipe writer. E-mail her at foodlyyours@aol.com or send comments and questions to be forwarded to: Foodly Yours, Star-Gazette, Attn: Features Department, 201 Baldwin St., P.O. Box 285, Elmira, NY 14902.