Hello Friends,

What a pleasant surprise to stop back by and find that two of my Favorite Friends had visited. Glad you liked the Berries, Ladies. I love all kinds of Berries; Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Black Raspberries, and of course, Strawberries. So you can imagine that this is one of my favorite times of the year.

Speaking of Berries, and who doesn't like Peachies, here's a delicious combination of blueberries, blackberries, and peaches which yields a sweet, juicy dessert, that's the epitome of summer. Believe it or not, this orginally came from a book which I read a while back, entitled The Un-Nimble Thimble, by Roberta Updegraff, published by Guidepost Publishing House, as part of their "Church Choir Mysteries" series.

Peach-a-Berry Cobbler

Ingredients

Filling:

• 3 (6-ounce) packages fresh blueberries
• 3 (5.6-ounce) packages fresh blackberries
• 3 medium peaches, peeled and sliced
• Cooking spray
• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Topping:

• 4.5 ounces all-purpose flour (about 1 cup)
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
  

Remaining ingredient:

• 4 cups vanilla fat-free ice cream (I use Blue Bunny No Sugar Added - only 4g of Sugar per serving)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. To prepare filling, combine blueberries, blackberries, and peaches in a 13 x 9–inch baking dish lightly coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle 2/3 cup granulated sugar, 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch, juice, and 1/8 teaspoon salt over fruit; toss gently to combine.

3. To prepare topping, weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 2 tablespoons cornstarch, baking powder, and 1/8 teaspoon salt, stirring well. Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add half-and-half; gently knead dough just until moistened. Drop dough by spoonfuls evenly over top of filling. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until topping is browned. Let stand 10 minutes. Serve with the ice cream.

Have A Happy Evening My Friends,

Phil

Hello My Friends,

Here's a little something that I wanted to add for our Friend Roger, as well as for our Friend Bill (Bj), who is home from the hospital following a bit of Surgery and mending quite well.

Before we start, let us be clear and let's get it right. Shepherds Pie is made with lamb, Cottage Pie is made with beef. Never in the history of the British isles has cheese ever come close to either. If you see cheese anywhere near a recipe for either, put it down to our obsession here in the USA to add cheese to anything that moves - it doesn't generally belong with meat unless you desire lead in your stomach, this said, here's a Traditional British...

Shepherds Pie

1 lb lean lamb, minced
1 large onion, sliced
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 stick celery, chopped
enough beef stock to cover
salt
pepper
3 to 4 tsp corn starch
2 lbs good mashing potatoes
4 oz butter
salt
pepper

Add minced lamb into a casserole dish, then add onion, carrot, celery, beef stock, corn starch, salt and pepper, to taste, and stir.

Cook in a slow oven, say 275°F for 2 hours. You can do all this on stove top for about 20 minutes BUT the flavor is never the same.

When complete, drain off gravy and reserve.

Boil and mash potatoes with milk, butter, salt and pepper, however DO NOT make it into a wet paste. It should be firm and almost chunky.

Add back enough gravy to the meat to make it moist. Gently add the potato to the top and build up. Spread with a fork, finally making fork marks both up and down and across to form a basket like pattern.

Put oven temperature at 400°F, then bake until potato is crispy and golden on the peaks, about 30 minutes.

Serve with remaining gravy and steamed cabbage (preferably Savoy, if you can get it). NO CHEESE, PLEASE.

Have A Happy Weekend My Friends,

Phil

Phil,

That's a great British dish.

I love shepherds pie.

On of my kids favourites iused to be a weird variation.

Many years ago when we had no money we wondered what to do for a meal.

I found a magazine advert for Luncheon Meat, Shepherds pie.

You take tinned processed Luncheon meat or Spam. Chop into squares and brown in a pan.

Add this to all of your other ingredients (except the lamb mince) and cook just the same.

Tha Kids loved it and frequently asked for it. Not the healthiest choice, but that's kids.

Roger

Hi Roger,

So glad you liked the Shepherd's Pie. It did sound rather British to me, and my British neighbors from my Childhood, whom I believe I've spoken of here before, had already hooked me on the Shepherd's Pie with the Lamb, rather than the Cottage Pie with the Ground Beef. Of course, I dated a Greek Girl for several years, so I already have a passion for Lamb.

That variation with the Spam or Treet, has been used a time or two here at my house as well. Not quite sure what goes into Spam, probably just as well, however, it does the job quite adequately. I also like Spam fried up with Scrambled Eggs & Onions. Speaking of Eggs, here's a neat item for Sunday Brunch. Around here, I preach at a Service at 8:30 AM, and then our Morning Bible Classes are out by 10:45 AM, so if the family is up for it, I'll usually do Brunch between 11 and 1, at least one Sunday each month. Hint: If you'll go over to my other Thread, Healthy Crockpot Recipes, you'll find that we're having Crockpot Chicken & Dumplings for Dinner/Supper tomorrow evening

But here's Breakfast/Brunch, a little something special, just right for a weekend morning, a one-dish casserole with all of your wonderful morning favorites: sausage, gravy, eggs, cheese, and toast.