I just love to take a morning walk through the garden's here at The Cottage. Many plant's are beginning to bloom and the aroma of the garden is divine.  I invite you to take a walk with me this morning, bring your coffee and we will get started. Blackberries Are Loaded with Beautiful Blooms Tomato Bushes are Blooming The Wild Chives Are Everywhere The Collard's are Beautiful Sage Smells So Good Japanese Maple Made It Through The Drought of 2011 The Climbing Don Juan Heirloom Roses are Just Beautiful In Full Bloom The Beautiful Magnolia's I sure hope that you enjoy the walk through the gardens with me this morning. I just love it when you can stop by for a visit and sure hope you come back soon! Peace and Joy Miz Helen

It has been very sad here at The Cottage, we lost our beloved Jaque this past week. He was with us for 12 1/2 years and was a member of our family, we will miss him.   Spring is a time of renewal of life so we are given the hope that we will see him again at The Rainbow Bridge. Come on to the back porch and sit with me and we will talk about next week's menu, sounds like it might be time for some good comfort food. Sunday Baked Nutty Pretzel Chicken    Herb Roasted Sweet Potatoes Swiss Chard Saute' with Fresh Onion and Bacon Fresh Salad Greens with Strawberries Hot Cottage Rolls Aunt Bluette's Spicy Peach Shortcake Monday From  Full Plate Thursday     Mediterranean Black Bean Burger at   Gluten Free SCD and Veggie Sell Your Soul Deviled Eggs   at  2 Crafty 4 My Skirt Black Bean Salad   at  Mere Thoughts from a Mommy of Boys Bottomless Key Lime at  The Tasty Alternative Tuesday Tuna Salad Lettuce Cups Asparagus Soup Can

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday! I am so happy to see you today, you got here just in time we are heading to The Garden Gate to tour the new vegetable plantings and the yummy vegetable dishes that we will be making this spring and summer.  We are definitely seasonal food lovers here at the cottage and I know that some of you are as well. I can't wait to see what you have in your basket to share today, so lets get started.  Thank you so much for coming to Full Plate Thursday and sharing your wonderful food with all of us! I am adding a New Feature   for the Spring and Summer that I think you will enjoy and I know I will. Spring and Summer Canning or Preserving  Projects This Is How I Filled My Plate Last Week Breakfast Apple Puff Pancake at  The One With the Cupcakes Morning Snack The Go To Smoothie and Smoothie Secrets at  Cookin' Up Good Times Peanut Butter and Jelly Crepes   at  Cook with Sara Lunch Mediterranean Black Bean Burger at   Glut

We grow Bell Peppers in our garden every year and one of the ways we enjoy the Bell Pepper is stuffed, we just love Stuffed Peppers.  When we have an abundance of peppers in the summer we will make up several Stuffed Peppers and freeze them, it is great to have that much of the meal already prepared. If you follow along with this blog you may have noticed that Stuffed Peppers are often times on my menu, "What's For Dinner Next Week". I have had several request for my Stuffed Pepper recipe so today I am happy to share it with you. Stuffed Peppers   Stuffed Peppers Miz Helen's Kitchen The Stuffed Peppers 4 large Bell Peppers, washed, cut in half and seeded 1 1/2 pounds ground chuck ( we are very fortunate to have grass fed beef) 1 medium onion, chopped fine 1/2 cup oats 1/4 cup Worcestershire Dash Tabasco (sometimes I put more than a dash) 1 egg, beaten 2 teaspoons salt 1 teaspoon pepper 1 tablespoon dried basil 1 teaspoon garlic salt

I was having my morning coffee on the back porch today and I had the best surprise, our first humming bird of the season came to visit. We really enjoy our humming birds, they are always so fascinating to watch and we are so excited when the first visitor comes to our Cottage in the spring. Come on back to the porch with me and have some coffee and coffee cake, then we will watch for the humming birds to come back. I am planning next weeks menu and you can give me some suggestions. Sunday Black Bean Salsa Chicken Green Tossed Salad Southwest Spoon Bread Strawberry Cake Monday Vegetable Crock Pot Chili Grapefruit and Avocado Salad Corn Bread Muffins Left Over  Strawberry Cake Tuesday Made With The Left Over From Sunday Black Bean Salsa Chicken Black Bean Salsa Chicken Casserole  Tossed Spring Greens Cottage Rolls Pineapple Crisp Wednesday Skillet Chops and Corn, Black Bean and Pineapple Salad Cottage Bread Brownie Sundae

I am so excited to see you today and Welcome to Full Plate Thursday!  Come on back to the Garden area we are having our party out near the Herb Garden today, some of the herbs are in full bloom and they smell so good. We have some nice herbed tea both hot and cold, it is very refreshing and I just know that someone will bring just the perfect treat to go with the tea.  I can't wait to see what you have in your basket today so lets get right to it. Thank you so much for coming today  your visit is always special to me! This Is How I Filled My Plate Last Week Breakfast Carrot Cake Pancakes   at Recipes to Nourish Morning Snack Fudgy Chocolate Muffins   at Colletta's Kitchen Sink Lunch Bacon and Mushroom Stuffed Chicken   at The Kitchen Witch Bacon and Green Bean Potato Salad   at Lady Behind The Curtain Banana Colada Ice Cream with Spiced Fruit Compote    at Sumptuous Spoonfuls Afternoon Snack Cherry Chocolate Chip Muffins   at Cozy Home Scenes Cherry Limeade  

Aunt Bluette is a southern character in Michael Lee West new Novel "A Teeny Bit of Trouble". I have made this Spicy Peach Shortcake because it is a dish that I think Aunt Bluette may have made and really enjoyed serving to all her southern friends and family. Aunt Bluette's Spicy Peach Shortcake Aunt Bluette's Spicy Peach Shortcake Miz Helen's Kitchen Spicy Peaches 2 1/2 cups Peaches, sliced 1/2 cup Peach Juice from the Peaches or 1/2 cup of water 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 1 cup sugar 1/8 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper (optional) 3 tablespoon Corn Starch mixed with 3/4 cup water Peel the peaches and slice them. Place the peaches in a medium sauce pan with the liquid.  Add the sugar and all the spices and mix well.  Heat over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil, stirring the mixture. When the mixture come's to a boil pour the mixed Corn Starch into the peach mixture and remove from the heat, stir the mixture until it is thick.

It is already time for the The Secret Recipe Club , time goes by so fast when we are having fun. It has been fun to be a part of this monthly event. I always look forward to receiving my assignment to find out who I will meet that month and get to pick out one of their recipes to make.  This month I was excited to have  Angela's Kitchen as my assignment. Angela has a great blog that is Gluten and Dairy Free, she says "because everyone deserves a cookie", and I sure agree. Although she has many great recipes I choose one that will really stretch the dollars and is very tasty. Black Bean Salsa Chicken Slow Cooker Black Bean Salsa Chicken Servings:18 Angela at Angela's Kitchen Prepared In Miz Helen's Kitchen 4 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breast or thighs, chopped 45 ounces canned black beans, rinsed and drained 3 cups frozen corn 4 cups gluten free salsa 2 cups chopped onions 2 cups chopped green pepper 1 1/2 cups chopped red pepper 1

We are so excited, we finally have all of our row crops planted in our garden. We are so thankful that we have had plentiful rains this spring, but it delayed some of our planting. We have had so much fun just playing in the dirt, but now it's time for a little break so come back to The Garden Gate Patio and we will take a look at the garden and have a nice refreshing iced tea with these nice  hot blueberry muffins I just made. We will go over the menu for next week and pick you some fresh green onions to take with you. Sunday Brunch From Full Plate Thursday   Dutch Baby with Lemon Sugar   at  My Carolina Kitchen Stuffed French Toast   at  A Crafty Cook Asparagus and Bacon Quiche   at Go Ahead...Take A Bite Spring Vegetable Cheesy Breakfast Bake    at Cupcakes and Kale Chips Resurrection Rolls   at A Pinch of Joy  Orange Glory Rolls   at All is Amazing Peach clafoutis at Creative Kitchen Monday Ham and Pasta Casserole Brussels Sprouts Salad wit

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, I hope all of you had a great week end of Celebration.  Did you notice all the beautiful flowers as you were coming in the gate today. Spring is surely all around us and the weather has been beautiful.  I just love seasonal food's and am looking forward to see what you have brought for the party today so lets get started, I'm hungry how about you? Thank you so much for coming today your visit is always so special to me and hope you will come back real soon! This Is How I Filled My Plate Last Week Easter Brunch Dutch Baby with Lemon Sugar   at  My Carolina Kitchen Stuffed French Toast   at  A Crafty Cook Asparagus and Bacon Quiche   at Go Ahead...Take A Bite Spring Vegetable Cheesy Breakfast Bake    at Cupcakes and Kale Chips Resurrection Rolls   at A Pinch of Joy  Orange Glory Rolls   at All is Amazing Peach clafoutis at Creative Kitchen The Easter Egg Hunt Edible Easter Basket at Mrs Happy Homemaker Cracked Dyed Har

We have always tried to Compost here at The Cottage  and are very green and organic. We started out with a small Compost Bin and found it was not big enough to meet our needs on such a large property.   First Compost Bin "Little Beaver" Link We are very excited to start this garden season off with a larger Compost Bin that will serve the needs of our entire property and maybe even sell or give away Compost to our family and friends.  Meet Shreck   Leonard Putting The Finishing Touches On Our  Garden Compost Bin "Shreck" This is a double compartment bin that sits on a stand and it is very easy to access. Using both sides of the bin will enable us to put in up to 18 bushels of raw material.   We just give it a couple of turns a day with the easy turning handle and we have compost ready to go in two weeks. It is awesome!   This Is Where WE Feed "Shreck" To start your Compost Bin you will need One layer of dry gras