Hi everybody!

I hope you had a great 4th of July celebration and enjoyed fun times with family and friends!  We surely did enjoy our time.  Treasured friends, Sam and Elisa Chaney from Charleston, SC, came on Friday afternoon and we just had a wonderful time catching up with them and renewing a few memories made over several years of friendship.  Our friendship first began when we all lived in Greenville and attended the same church.  We love spending time with them and it was sad to say goodbye when the time came!  Stacy also joined us on Saturday morning and God smiled on us with incredibly beautiful weather!  In the afternoon we girls checked out a couple of places in the area - looking for girl stuff.  We found the White House at Heath Springs to be a really neat place.  We all succumbed to the temptation to buy a few things.  Gorgeous vintage linens of every kind and yards and yards of cotton quilting fabrics, etc.!  Of course, there were Jim Shore pieces for sale all over the place.  His works are really interesting and this area is quite proud to call him a native son.

Art, Merritt, Danelle, Max and his friend, Sara Parker, joined us for a cookout on Sunday evening, a little after sundown when the temp was REALLY nice.  Sam is an expert griller and Bill sort of turned over this aspect of the cookout to Sam!  Under his watchful eye and with Elisa being invaluable in the prep area, we had a wonderful meal, including Elisa's yummy shrimp and avocado appetizer.  Homemade ice cream topped off the menu, followed by a few rounds of Mexican Train.   

I suppose there is nothing better than being with friends and family, all joining together to share good food and blending together our thankfulness to God for allowing us to enjoy the freedom of being an American.  May we never take this blessing for granted.  At times, it seems like we are on a slippery slope, and we often forget that freedom is not free and that we must guard that privilege every day.  And, may we always be able to sing "My Country 'tis of THEE" and really mean it.

Just in case you have an abundance of blackberries and/or blueberries on hand and don't know what to do with them, I tried a new, easy cobbler recipe. It's a slightly new twist on the old tried and true cobblers.  If it sounds a little heavy for you right now, I believe it would freeze beautifully for those winter months when you might be craving a bubbly cobbler and need a dessert to magically appear when unexpected guests arrive at your door.  A little vanilla Blue Bell would pair well with it, although it's pretty good on its own.  I'm just sayin' ...:

(adapted from Taste of Home)

3 cups fresh or frozen blackberries

1 cup sugar

¼ tsp. ground cinnamon

3 T. cornstarch

1 cup cold water

1 T. butter

BISCUIT TOPPING:

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 T. sugar

1-1/2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

½ cup cold butter (1 stick)

½ cup 2% milk

Whipped topping or vanilla ice cream, optional.

In a large saucepan, combine the blackberries or blueberries, sugar and cinnamon.  Cook and stir until mixture comes to a boil.  Combine the cornstarch and water until smooth; stir into fruit mixture.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Pour into a greased 8-in. square baking dish.  Dot with butter.

For topping:

In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in milk just until moistened.  (May have to use a bit more milk) Drop by tablespoonsful onto hot berry mixture.

Bake, uncovered, at 350 deg. for *30-45 minutes or until filling is bubbly and topping is golden brown.  Serve warm with whipped topping or ice cream.

Note from Velta: * I had to bake mine several minutes longer; I also sprinkled a bit of sugar on top of the topping before baking.  The topping seemed slightly dry; next time I will probably add a bit more milk.  Also, I did not have quite enough blueberries, so I added some frozen mixed berries and the result was excellent!  The picture above is how mine looked when I took it out of the oven.

  

Thought I'd share one photo with you from the weekend.  Following church on Sunday, we made a few snapshots.  Here is one of the girls "trio" - Me, Stacy, Elisa (left to right):

I trust you will have a great rest of July!  Stay cool, and may God bless each of you!  If you have vacations still in the works, have safe travels, and remember that you are loved!

If you are traveling our way, please stop by!  I'll look for that cobbler!