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Name: Harold Herron.

Home: Oxford.

Work: Mortgage loan originator at Fifth Third Bank in Oxford.

How long he has been cooking: Herron has been cooking since he was a kid peeling potatoes in his mother's kitchen. He has a close family; while growing up, everyone helped cook. Also, the whole family has worked in food service at Miami University in Oxford.

How often he cooks: Herron cooks at least three times a week, and always breakfast on weekends. He can't wait to get up early, before the rest of his family is up, and cook omelets, biscuits and gravy, and huge pancakes on Saturday and Sunday for his wife, Jennifer, and their 4-year-old daughter, Mackenly.

Cooking mentors: Herron's mom, Kathy Beachler, of Oxford, and his late Grandma Lambert. As a child, he loved to wake up on the weekends and smell sausage or biscuits and gravy and fried potatoes sizzling on his mom's stove. Also, his grandma had breakfast, lunch and dinner on the table at the same time every day. "You couldn't walk through her kitchen without eating."

Favorite cookbook or culinary resource: Family recipes that've been passed down and recipes he obtained while working at a bakery in his younger days.

Most memorable kitchen experience: He remembers how good it felt to be together around the big kitchen table full of food. He remembers huge weekend breakfasts, so he's carrying on those family

traditions.

Favorite restaurant: Red

Lobster.

Favorite recipe: Southwest white chili soup.

Southwest white chili

1 tbs olive oil

1 lb. boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into cubes

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 cup chicken broth

1 (4-oz) can chopped green chilies

1 (19-oz) can white kidney beans (cannellini), undrained

Spice blend:

1 tsp California Style Blend

garlic powder

1 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp oregano leaves

1/2 tsp cilantro leaves

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

Heat oil in 2 to 3-quart saucepan over medium-high heat. Add chicken and cook 4 to 5 minutes, stirring often. Remove chicken with slotted spoon; cover and keep warm. Add onion to saucepan and cook 2 minutes. Stir in broth, green chilies and spice blend mixture; simmer 30 minutes.

Stir in cooked chicken and beans. Simmer 10 minutes. Garnish with Monterey Jack cheese and onions, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

Cheesecake

1 large homemade graham cracker crust

40 oz. (5 8-oz packages) cream cheese

12 oz. sugar

10 oz. eggs

6 oz. sour cream

1/4 tbs vanilla extract

2 oz. butter, melted

pinch of salt

(Note: Herron uses a liquid 2-cup measurement for everything listed in ounces. When measuring eggs, he just keeps adding eggs until it reaches 10 ounces on the cup.) In a large bowl, mix cream cheese and sugar until lump free. Add eggs to mix and beat with electric beaters. Add sour cream, vanilla extract, and salt. Pour in melted butter; beat until lumps are gone.

Make graham cracker crust and press in bottom and up the sides of a round Springform (12 x 3 inches) pan. To make crust: Put 2 whole boxes of graham crackers in a blender; add at least 1/2 stick of melted butter, or more, to blender and blend. This makes a very thick crust.

Pour cheesecake batter into pan with the crust; then bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Lower heat to 300 to 325 degrees, then bake until done or about 30 more minutes. If the cheesecake cracks and you want to cover it, put a topping over it such as thick chocolate syrup or cherry pie filling. Refrigerate.

Yield: 10 servings.