Cooler Nights Mean it's Cobbler Time

Tonight between football games (Ohio St./Michigan and USC/Cal), I was able to talk DH into cooking some Italian sausages on the grill. I warmed up some hoagie rolls (also called submarine sandwich rolls), and sautéed some bell peppers and onions with a bit of garlic to top the sausages.

By the way, what do YOU call these long sandwiches? Hoagies? Subs? something else? I’ve called them both hoagies and subs, but I know there are some other names for them.

For a side dish, I made my mother’s pasta salad. Her ingredients for pasta salad are identical (except for the pasta, of course) to her potato salad: boiled macaroni, chopped sweet pickle, chopped onion, hard boiled eggs, pimentos, and Miracle Whip.

It’s our dessert that I’m highlighting tonight. I’ve decided that in order to defrost the freezer, I need to start using up all the food that’s in it! I’ve had a bag of berry blend (blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries) from Costco in there the longest, so I decided to create a mixed berry cobbler. I lightened it by substituting Splenda for about two-thirds of the sugar, then I switched out some all-purpose flour for some white whole wheat, and added flaxseed to the batter. I also cut about a quarter of the butter out of the batter. This is sooooo good!

Mixed Berry Cobbler

1 cup white whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup ground flaxseed
1 cup Splenda granular, divided
3/4 cup sugar, divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick cold butter, cut in small pieces
1 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup boiling water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
6 cups mixed berries, rinsed and drained

Preheat oven to 400˚. Line a large cookie sheet with foil.
In a large bowl, mix the flours, flaxseed, 1/2 cup Splenda granular, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in almond extract and 1/2 cup boiling water just until mixture is evenly moist. In a separate bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in cold water. Mix in remaining 1/2 cup Splenda, 1/2 cup sugar, lemon juice, and blackberries. Transfer to a cast iron skillet, and bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Drop dough into the skillet by spoonfuls. Place skillet on the foil lined baking sheet. Bake 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until dough is golden brown. Serves 8.

Weekend Herb Blogging is being hosted this week by Nandita of Saffron Trail. I just realized that my berries "count", since we've been celebrating herbs, fruits, vegetables, and plants in general. After Monday, go to Saffron Trail to check out the roundup.

food & drink