When the black eyed peas are ready and cooking in the pot, one of the dishes I know we will be making is my favorite Black Eyed Pea Salad. I always make sure when I cook a pot of peas that there will be enough left over for the salad. We have been making this salad for more years than I can could count and is one of our favorites. It is a great salad to serve as a side dish, take on a picnic, or even as a great dip. I am excited to share one of our favorites with you today.

It's cherry season and we can't seem to get enough of these wonderful cherries.  We just love cherry pie, cherry jelly and jam and don't forget an old fashioned cherry cobbler.  Chocolate and cherries is such a delicious combination, I thought why not indeed, lets have a Chocolate Cherry Cobbler.  Oh my goodness all you chocolate lovers this is one you will be coming back for seconds, the fresh cherries in a thick sauce covered with a chocolate crust, yes you will just have to taste it.  This has quickly become a favorite at The Cottage and sure hope that you will enjoy it as much as we have.

Summer is in full swing now, the lake is full, garden is growing, expecting house guest, the cottage is all a buzz.  Our meal plan this week will include the 4th of July Picnic, always lots of great food and fun.  We are picking out paint colors for The Cottage and will begin the painting process very soon, can't wait for the final touches, maybe I will share them with you. Come on back to the porch lets sit and have some Iced Tea and plan this menu.

  Where The Greatest Cooks On The Planet Gather Welcome to our last week in June and the beginning of Summer! Do you have summer bucket plans this year, I was going over my bucket list for summer 2015 and I better get started on it. One of the things we are doing this summer is re painting our house so I have been picking out colors for the exterior, it has been fun, maybe I will share the process with you later. I have a window full of tomatoes looking ripe and ready for a nice salad or a jar of salsa, oh how I love summer! I can't wait to see what you are sharing with us today, we have the best food at this party every week, you al are the greatest! From the outdoor kitchen, I am sharing my Grilled Chicken with Alabama White Sauce with you today and sure hope you enjoy it!

It is so nice to be outdoors in the outdoor kitchen and enjoy the wonderful food that can be prepared on the grill. When we grill chicken sometimes we fill up the grill and then we freeze what we don't use that day or maybe sometimes we are just grilling for a crowd. Today we are grilling for a crowd and making some awesome sauce to go with this delicious chicken. Our chicken has a fantastic rub and will stand alone without any sauce but the sauce will defiantly kick it over the top. We just love this combination and sure hope that you will enjoy it. Grilled Chicken with Alabama White Sauce

We are looking forward to planning meals for this week with the fresh produce that is available right now. We were able to harvest our first tomatoes from the garden this week and the blackberries are being harvested every day now. We have some company coming in for the weekend and next week so I am going to keep it simple but tasty, I am planning on doing a lot of porch sitting. Pour a glass of Iced Tea and come on out to porch and visit with us a while! To All The Great Fathers Have A Very Special Day! 

Where The Greatest Cooks On The Planet Gather Come on in and sit on the porch with us today, it is so beautiful out here today, we are enjoying every second of the outdoors before the rain's come in again. We are expecting a tropical storm to come over about the same time that all of you will be coming to party today bringing your fantastic food to share with us. Someone wrote the other day and said that they always look at Full Plate Thursday for all the really good recipes, and that is true we have the greatest cooks on the planet!

I love going out to the garden and gathering a basket of vegetables to bring into the kitchen and create a wonderful dish. The Italian Summer Salad is one of those awesome garden to table creations that features the fresh flavors of the vegetables tossed together with a great Italian Dressing. This is a recipe that you can change every time you make it, using different vegetables with different dressings. I am sharing with you today our favorite way to have this delicious dish.

We love entertaining and it is great to have a very simple but delicious dessert that can be made the day or night before. This is a lovely dessert that can be served as a family style dessert or in individual serving dishes. The dessert is creamy with the fresh flavor of raspberry. Our guest have really enjoyed this special dessert and sure hope you do to.

How is your chicken and egg supply holding in your part of the country? I have been putting chicken in the freezer so we will have some extra just in case. I have noticed that the prices are a bit higher and some stores are limiting the cartons of eggs. We are finally recovering from the heavy rains that we had this spring and accessing the damage to the garden vegetables, some of our plantings got flooded out and the seeds washed away. No doubt we will be visiting the farmers market to get some of our canning vegetables this year. Our meal plan this week is featuring some great Pork Chops and Gulf Shrimp, with some fresh Blackberry Cobbler, and a great Fathers Day Meal. Happy Fathers Day To All The Great Dad's

Where The Greatest Cooks On The Planet Gather It's Thursday and that means it is Full Plate Thursday! I always look forward to seeing all of you at this time of the week. We have gone an entire week without rain and things are beginning to dry out so we can be outdoors in our garden and enjoy some great fresh vegetables from the garden. I know that you will be sharing some great summer recipes and I can't wait to enjoy them, lets get the party started!

June The first week of June has been fantastic, we have been able to be in the garden and spend time in our outdoor kitchen.  We are going to enjoy this chicken as long as we can, I am putting them in the freezer, because of the flu that has wiped out the chicken production for a while.  Our neighbor has some but will not have enough for a while, we like getting our eggs from the neighbor's.  Our Farmers Market is in full swing with lots of Fruits and Vegetables. It's a fun time to make a meal plan.

Where The Greatest Cooks On The Planet Gather J une is here, the sun is shinning we are looking at blue sky's again, it is wonderful! We always have some of the most delicious food at this party year around but the summer is very special because we have our canning and preserving addition with weekly features, be sure to link your awesome canning and preserving recipes to this party with features all summer. Another place you can link your canning and preserving recipes is our canning and preserving recipe box, it is a great resource. I can't wait to see what you are sharing with us today so lets get this party started!

Gardening has been a real challenge this spring with the constant rain that we have had. We have had more rain this season than any time in our recorded rain history, which in our area is over 100 years. No matter how good the drainage has been in your garden or yard it has sometimes been standing in water. We are so grateful that we have not experienced the loss of life or property that some have. Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those families. In the past few days we have had a few hours out of the day when the sun has come out and things have began to dry out some.

We really enjoy entertaining our friends and spending time with them. I try to make a meal plan with recipes that will allow me to spend as much time with my guest as possible, this is one of those recipes. Balsamic Pork Chops with Roasted Vegetables is a one dish dinner with fantastic flavor, that all of your guest will just love.The recipe is ready to go in a short time and can come out of the oven ready to serve your guest. I love this recipe for any occasion especially spending time with friends and after all a meal is so much better when shared with a friend.