What's In Season and How Do I Use It? J uly is here with its parades, fireworks and great fresh foods. Many of the foods that we have had in our basket for the past two months are still producing and can be found at many of the farmers markets.  Some of the recipes that I will share with you this month have been passed down in our family for generations, I hope you enjoy them.

Hello everyone, we are ready to make our special meal plan for the week ahead. We will be celebrating one of our favorite holidays this week, the 4th of July! We have a very busy week coming up and this  meal plan will help us stay organized. We will be enjoying some family favorites and traditional recipes as well as some new ones. It will be a delicious week!

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 750! Our last party of the month features our Top Ten Views from the last party. Our readers make the choice for the Top Ten! I am so happy to see you here today and can hardly wait to see what you will be sharing with all of us. We have saved you a place at the table and hope you enjoy the party today!

  Our Baked Chili Dogs recipe is a life saver when the cook-out is rained out. This is a delicious recipe that is topped off with a very special  Slow Cooker Hot Dog Chili Sauce . We have enjoyed this recipe at community pot luck events and family picnics. The flavor is fantastic!

This is a great chili sauce for those special Coney Island style Chili Dogs. This recipe is slow cooked allowing the flavors to blend and the sauce to be smooth. The chili dog sauce can be frozen for about 3 months. This is a big plus giving an opportunity to always have on hand.

Hello everyone, I am so excited to be back on the screen porch with all of you today. The rain has finally stopped for a while and we have some sun shine to help dry things out. I have a list for my local Farm Stand to bring some fresh goodness to our table next week. I have gone through the recipes and I am getting hungry already. Hope you are having fun planning your meal plan for the week!

  Hello everyone and welcome to Full Plate Thursday 749! We are finally starting to dry out just a bit here after 3 months of rain. I am so happy to be out on the main patio with you today. Grab a iced tea and enjoy the party! We had a great party last week for Fathers Day and you will want to check out the awesome features from that party. I am looking forward to sharing what you bring to the party today so lets get this party started!

  The white flesh peach cobbler is a very special cobbler because of the white flesh peach. This peach compared to  the more popular yellow flesh peach is sweeter with less acidity. I am using a very old family recipe that gives this white flesh cobbler a very delicate flavor.

Hello everyone I am so happy to be with you to make our meal plan for this week. We are expecting some family out this weekend to celebrate my husband for Fathers Day. The sun is supposed to be out and no rain for the entire weekend. It has been a  while since we had a dry weekend. Our garden is sitting in mud so we will be visiting our local Farmers Market for all those wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables.

  Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 748! I am so happy to see you here today. Has it been raining at your cottage? We have had more than our share of rain this spring and it does not want to stop. We had a great party last week and are looking forward to a great party today. I can't wait to see what you will be sharing for todays party. 

This is a creamy spread that has a base of green olives with that brine of the olive. The olives are stuffed with pimentos that gives it a special flavor. We add a few spices and we have one of our favorites retro cheese spreads. 

Hello everyone, I am so happy to be back planning meal plans with you this week. I have been recovering from surgery for the past 3 weeks and sure have missed being with all of you on Saturday mornings. I want to thank all of you for your kind thoughts, prayers and support during this time. I appreciate each of you and it has meant everything to me.

  Welcome Back To Full Plate Thursday! I am so excited to welcome you to Full Plate Thursday this first week of June. We are planning a great party today and I am so happy to be back with all of you!

  It is my pleasure to present our June Food and Recipe Basket. Our gardens and Farmers Markets are just busting with fresh goodness to bring to our kitchens and tables to enjoy.

  Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 746 Our party will be a little different today.  

  Our Thai Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing is a very refreshing salad with just enough spice for your taste buds. This is a very easy salad to prepare and a great salad to serve for lunch, a light dinner or even take to a pot luck luncheon. Our friends and family have really enjoyed this recipe.

Hello everyone, it is good to see you this week for our weekly meal planning. We will kick this weeks meal plans off with Mothers Day. Spring is really here with  spring rains and then sun shinny days. I have looked at some great recipes that we will be using this week. Now I am off to check my inventories for the pantry, freezer and the garden.

  Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 745 Happy Mothers Day to all the amazing Mom's! I am so excited to see you here today. Every Thursday, we enjoy one of the most popular foodie parties that has been going on now for 15 years. Our featured post from last weeks party are from some very talented bloggers and you want to be sure and visit them. We have saved you a seat at the table and we can hardly wait to see what you are sharing today!

  Hello everyone and welcome to Full Plate Thursday,744. It is always good to see you here for the party on our special Thursday's. We have such an amazing blogging community here with all of you. We have some awesome features that we are sharing with all of you from our last week's party.  You will always have a special seat here at the table and can't wait to see what you will be sharing with us today.

  May is such busy month with spring in full swing, wild flowers blooming, garden vegetables being harvested and planted. We have a special basket full of fun celebrations where we will find some really great fresh food. The seasonal foods that we will be talking about this month are currently  harvested in our area. Most of the products can be found in Farmers Markets across the area. Our recipes have been handed down though the generations of my family and are linked on this blog.

When I first thought about the meal plans for this week, it was chilly and pouring rain. Now just 24 hours later the sun is shinning and spring flowers are popping their heads up everywhere. I have gone from soups and stews to grilling out in a quick turn around. That's the weather in Texas this time of the year, it can change in a moment. I have  been very busy this week taking care of my sweet husband. He had a procedure on his back. Helping him with his recovery has been a priority and will continue to be until he is back in the gardens with me.  

  Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 743! The last week of the month, our Top Ten Features. I sure hope you had a wonderful Easter and Pass Over week, it is always a wonderful time of the year. We have had some great rain for our spring gardens. Your views have given us our Top Ten features from last weeks party. It is always fun to see your Top Ten favorites for the week. I can't wait to see what you will be sharing with us today and I sure hope you enjoy the party!

  A combination of fresh corn cut off the cob with cooked chicken in a creamy enchilada sauce. This great mix is layered on top of baked crisp corn tortilla's and topped with cheese. The dish goes in the oven until it bakes to perfection. This recipe is a favorite here at the cottage and we are happy to share it with you!

Hello everyone, I am so happy you can join me this morning here on the screen porch. It is a beautiful day to make some great meal plans for our special Easter weekend. I have some traditional recipes that we  will be having this week and hope to add some new dishes to the mix. I really enjoy looking through the traditional recipes and walking down memory lane to remember all the good times that good food and fellowship brings to us. 

  Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 742! We are so excited to have you join us for a special Easter and Pass-Over Celebration. Our cottage is all a buzz getting ready for the big celebrations this weekend. We have some very special features that will help us prepare for the weekend. I sure hope that you will find some inspiration to help you with your celebration this weekend. Thanks so much for coming today, enjoy the party!

  Our Retro 7-Up Bundt Cake is moist, delicious and easy to make. I remember this southern cake being so popular in the 1950's. The cake often times was the most popular at pot-luck events. This cake recipe is still very popular in our family and I have taken it to many pot-luck events through the years. I am so happy to share it with you today!

  It is good to be here with you today to make our meal plan for next week. I know that some of you missed us last week and I appreciate your sweet notes. The weather here was horrible and we lost our internet, so I was unable to post. We are so grateful that we had no damage from the storms and today we are sitting under the sun and it feels so good. I love spring recipes so I am excited to start our meal plan for the week!

  Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 741! I am so excited to see you today on this sun shinny day that we are having in east Texas. We have had a very busy week here, catching up with some of our outdoor chores after the horrible storms we had in our area. We had a great party last week even though part of the country was in some kind of storm. We are sharing some awesome features today and hope you will visit these talented bloggers. Thanks so much for coming today. Enjoy the party!

  I love it when strawberry season arrives and we love our Old Fashioned Strawberry Cobbler here at the cottage. This is one of my Aunt's recipes and I can remember her making it when I was a young girl. It is a very simple recipe to prepare with a delicious finish. We like to serve it warm with a nice dip of ice cream on top. This is a wonderful dessert and a very special treat.

  Hello everyone and welcome to Full Plate Thursday and APRIL! Spring is really here. Our Bradford Pear Trees were just beautiful and covered in white blooms. Our roses are all budding and will be blooming any day. We are busy planting our vegetable and herb gardens plus enjoying lots of great rain. We are going to my favorite place today, please join me on the screen porch for our party. I am very excited to see you today and can't wait to see what you are sharing with the party!

What is in season now and how can I use it? That is the question that started our Food and Recipe Basket. This month we are looking at some wonderful April fruits and vegetables that are in some of our gardens and also in the markets. I love looking forward to all the fresh fruits and vegetables that we will be having in the spring and summer months.

Hello everyone, here we are in the last few days of March. I am back in my favorite spot to write the meal plan for the week, the screen porch. The pace is definitely beginning to pick up here with the yard work and spring gardens to take care of. I have some of  my favorite spring  recipes today plus some new ones to add to our meal plans. We have  a new Farmers Market here that will have a few things that I will need, for sure! Can't wait to get started on this special week coming up.

  Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 739 and our Top Ten Feature week! I love the Top Ten Feature week, when all of you pick the Top Ten Post that were viewed the week before. Be sure and visit all of these talented bloggers. We are having some beautiful spring weather, come on in the back to the garden patio. It will be a wonderful day for an outdoor event. We have saved you a special place at the table. Enjoy the party, and come back to see us real soon!

  Deli Roast Beef and Cheese Sliders are just the slider to serve for a game day, a family fun night, or just a light lunch or dinner. Our deli slider is easy to prepare and takes no time before it is being served with a delicious flavor. This is a great recipe that has become one of my go to sliders.

Our Cheesy Beef Noodle Bake is a great comfort food for the family. This is a very easy recipe to prepare and delicious to eat. There is enough for seconds for the guys who have worked all day and are tired and hungry. Just add a salad and some garlic bread and you have a great meal. I have taken this casserole to many pot luck suppers and it is always a hit. I hope you and your family enjoy the recipe!

  Hello everyone, welcome to our meal planning session for this week. I thought we would enjoy being on the screen porch today, but the fake spring ended and we are back to winter. However tomorrow it could be spring again here in Texas. I have some of my spring recipes and will enjoy including them in our meal plans today. I took a new freezer inventory this week, and organized the shelves. Does that happen at your house, all of a sudden you just can't find what you know is there? Sure enough I found what I knew was there. I am ready to start this meal plan and am glad you are here to help me.

Hello everyone and welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 738. I hope all of you had a great St. Patrick's Day celebration. We had a great party here last week and some of those post are featured here today. I hope that you will enjoy the post from these very talented bloggers. Some of you have had some awesome Spring Break time away from school with a time of relaxation. We saved you a seat at the table today and hope you will enjoy the party! 

Our Oven Baked Blueberry Skillet Pancake is a very special pancake. This recipe is easy to put together and is baked in the oven. We love our pancakes here at the cottage and this is a great way to serve them. The pancake is filled with delicious fresh blueberries and topped off with confectioners sugar  dusting. This has become of the most requested pancake for friends and family, especially for our Saturday morning brunch special's!

We just love a great Ruben Sandwich and this pizza does not disappoint. I made my Ruben Pizza with a ready made pizza crust that is so easy. Then we just layered the cheese, dressing, corned beef and sauerkraut. Finally topped it off with more cheese. Baked in the oven and ready to serve. This is a delicious pizza that we will enjoy for a long time to come. I am so glad that I developed this recipe just for this special day. I sure hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

  Welcome to the week of the Irish meal plans and happy St. Patrick's Day! That's right Monday, March 17, 2025 is St. Patrick's Day and we always celebrate that day. Meal planning for this week is a lot of fun because I get to go back over family recipes and pick some of my favorites. We have a little bit of some windy weather coming in, so I am going to hurry along and get this posted before our country internet shuts down.

  Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 737 and the week of the Irish! St. Patrick's Day is next Monday, March 17, 2025 and that is a big celebration here at the cottage. We always look forward to that day to celebrate our Irish heritage. We hope you will enjoy the party today, come on in the cottage and find your place at the table. We have some great features that we hope you will check out from last weeks party. We can't wait to see what you will be sharing with us today. Enjoy the party!

  Lemon Pudding Pie, is the easiest pie to make and takes very few ingredients. The pie is so creamy and very flavorful with a fresh lemon flavor. Just a little while in the refrigerator and it is ready to serve. I love having the ingredients for this pie on hand. It is a real go to dessert. It is a great recipe to serve for any occasion.

  Our garden to table Green Bean and New Potato Salad is a great salad for all occasions. I have really enjoyed taking the salad to pot luck events, and family gatherings. The salad is perfect for spring and summer outdoor events, it has no dairy products in the recipe. The vinaigrette is just perfect for the combination of green beans and potatoes. This recipe is very flavorful and one that can be the favorite of the season.

Happy Saturday and I hope you are having a special day. We are so excited to see some real tiny blooms on our pear trees today. I am actually out on my screen porch today enjoying the beautiful weather while I make these awesome meal plans for next week. I have been going through some of my spring recipes. I will love getting back to our fresh vegetables out of our spring garden as soon as it is producing. For this week we are going to our new Farmers Market just about 10 miles away. We are so lucky to have fabulous markets so close by. This makes it possible for us to have the freshest of ingredients for our recipes.

  Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 736 and welcome to the month of March! I am so excited to turn the calendar and enjoy some early spring foods. We have an old southern saying about March, "In like a loin and out like a Lamb". It has certainly come in like a Lion with lots of wind and rain. I am so happy that you are here today, come right into the cottage, we have saved you a place at the table. Be sure and check out the very talented bloggers post that are featured today. Lets get the party started, I can hardly wait to see what you will be sharing today!

We always celebrate our Irish heritage on St. Patrick's Day with lots of good food and fond memories of my Irish Grandparents. Remembering the stories that have been passed down through the years that are now passed on to the younger ones. A very proud heritage that is woven into the very fabric of our life. When we sit down to celebrate this year we will be remembering all the wonderful family that walked before us and made our journey so much smoother, along with the amazing recipes that make us think they are all right here with us.

  Spring is here and we are so ready for a season change. It is great to see all the Spring vegetables coming on in our garden and at the Farmers Market. We have a brand new Farmers Market opening in one of our villages on March 1 and I can hardly wait to see what all they will bring to sale. I am a seasonal cook and I look forward to turning the calendar to spring fruits and vegetables.

  Happy Saturday and welcome March! I am so excited to turn the calendar to a new season. If you have been coming to my blog for a few years you know by now that I get very excited with every new season. I am a seasonal cook and really enjoy the seasonal fruits and vegetables that each new season has to offer. We have a really fun holiday this week. Fat Tuesday is on Tuesday this week, with all the celebrations before Lint begins. We will plan on having some great Cajun food to celebrate with all of our friends.

  Welcome to our last post of the month, and the Top Ten features from last weeks party! I am so excited to come to the end of February. Spring is truly just down the road. We are starting to have so many wonderful recipes that represent our spring fruits and vegetables. All of us who are seasonal cooks like me, are so happy to turn the calendar. I am so happy that you are here at the party today, it is really good to see you. We can hardly wait to see what you will be sharing with us, so lets get started! 

  Brussels Sprouts are a very versatile vegetable and one that we really enjoy. Skillet Roasted Brussels Sprouts don't take any time to prepare and it is a delicious side dish. The brussels sprouts are tender on the inside and crispy on the outside with a great flavor. This garden to table recipe is a side dish of vegetables that will complement any meal.