As I begin to make the last meal plan for this year I have to reflect back over the many wonderful meals that we have shared together. All your notes of support, thanks and encouragement mean so much to me. My hope in sharing these meal plans with you and your family is somehow to encourage and inspire you in your own meal plans while here and there we share a new recipe along the way. With Gods help I am planning on continuing Whats For Dinner Next Week for one more year. I have actually published these meal plans since August of 2010 and you can check them out in the Index Of Meal Plans . Wishing You and Your Family Bountiful Blessings and Prosperity In 2018!

Welcome to our very last party of 2017, it has been so much fun sharing the table with you each Thursday for our Full Plate Thursday. You and your amazing post of recipes, food related, tablescapes and table decor are what make this party so very special. You all are truly the greatest cooks on this planet! This is our last party of the month so today we are featuring our Top Ten from last weeks party, we sure and stop by to give these awesome bloggers some special holiday love! Wishing You and Your Family Abundant Blessings and Every Happiness In 2018!

As we move past Christmas we begin to look at which one of our favorite Good Luck Recipes we will serve over New Years. There are many traditions that surround New Years Food and the color of the food bringing Good Luck in the new year. We have very southern traditions that have been passed down to us through the years and we in turn have passed them on to our children and grandchildren. My Mother and Grandmother would actually call and remind me and some of my cousins to be sure and eat our peas on New Years Day to ensure prosperity for the next year.

What a wonderful time of the year, the cottage has Christmas everywhere awaiting the big celebration. We have certain food traditions that we have handed down through the years. We will sometimes vary from these, but this year we are sticking to tradition. May The Peace Of This Season Live In Your Heart and Home All Through The Year Merry Christmas

We are so excited to see you here today during this very busy season. We are ready for Christmas here at the cottage and some of our friends will be here for a party this week. I love this party every week and always look forward to your post throughout the year. Be sure and stop by the awesome bloggers that are featured this week, there are some great ideas. I can't wait to see the amazing recipes, tablescapes, and food related articles that you will be sharing with us today!

Tex Mex Cranberry Dip and the holidays go hand in hand here at the cottage. We start making this dip around thanksgiving time and serve it through Christmas and New Years, it seems to be one of our favorites. This dip is a blend of fresh cranberries and fresh jalapenos blended with special spices and cheese. It is great served with chips or crackers. We have used it as a spread for little sandwiches, it is just a very versatile recipe to have during the holidays.

We often times have guest in our home for the weekend and it is so nice to serve a lovely Brunch Bake with a simple side of fruit for breakfast or brunch. When it is just the two of us we will enjoy the bake and then freeze the rest in individual serving bags for a grab n go breakfast on a busy day. I developed this recipe recently and have served it several times, it has received great reviews. The combination of herbs is a perfect balance with the cranberries and topped out with a Gruyere to give it a very distinctive flavor. Hope you will enjoy our new Brunch Bake.

We had so much fun this week finishing all the preparations for Christmas and now we can sit back and enjoy the rest of the holidays. I often times make meal plans for several weeks ahead especially around busy times like the holidays. I am busy this week baking holiday breads for some of my husbands co workers and some other folks in our community that we have interaction with during the year, of course the best part of that is getting to deliver them. Making my meal plans helps me  have the time to enjoy the season!

I am so happy to see you today, we have so many wonderful features to share with you from last weeks awesome party. The food is amazing this time of the year and I sure love looking at everything that you bring to our table each week. We also have been having some beautiful table decor all about the holidays. Our cottage is all a buzz with Christmas everywhere so lets get our party started!

All through the year I keep a list of items from the kitchen that some of my friends and family might really enjoy receiving at Christmas time. When I am giving a gift from my kitchen it is really part of me, loving time spent creating a special gift just for you.When I receive a homemade gift, it is so meaningful to me and I really treasure the love and time that goes into the gift.  Since most of you are very far away from me, I am happy to share these gifts with you today!

I am so excited to be participating with a wonderful group of blogger's today for a Christmas Home Tour. I would love for you to step into my cottage and have a nice slice of coffee cake and a lovely cup of coffee or tea. We are very casual here at the cottage but we hope you can feel the warmth and love as we welcome you here today. My very special thanks to our hostess for the tour  Barbara Garrett at  The Everyday Home !

We actually had a little bit of snow this week, it didn't last long but it sure put us in the mood for a cozy fire and hot chocolate. It is sure starting to look a lot like Christmas around the cottage as we are putting the finishing touches on our decorating. I am thinking about warm cozy food for the meal plan this week because of the cold weather we are stating to have. I will have to bundle up and make a trip to the barn to see what we have in the cold bin and then stop off at the garden to see what fresh greens I can use. Lets get going so we can have our hot chocolate!

Come on in we are all in the kitchen today, already tasting some of the amazing foods that you bring for the table. We have some great features from last weeks party that you will sure want to check out. Here at the cottage we have been very busy putting the final touches on all the things that make Christmas so special. I am looking forward to you sharing what makes Christmas and Hanukkah  so special at your house.

This Southern Sweet Potato Pie has been served at our family gatherings since before I was born, and oh my that's a very long time. We grow sweet potatoes in our garden every year so we really enjoy the home grown potatoes for this recipe. Roasting the sweet potatoes enhance this rich and very flavorful  pie making it one of our favorites, from our garden to the table!

Whats In Season and How Can I Use It Our December Food and Recipe Basket is filled with wonderful fruits, nuts and green vegetables from garden to table. We have lots of pecan groves in our area and lucky for us our neighbor has several pecan trees that they are so sweet to share the nuts with us. A fruit that we enjoy this time of the year is our cranberries, all of which are shipped to our area for the market places.  We have several green leafy vegetables that we enjoy during this season which we grow in our garden here at the cottage. Our holiday this month is Christmas and Hanukkah.

December is here and the cottage is very busy. Our meal plans will be important this month to help keep us organized during a busy month. We are putting the final touches on our Christmas decorating for one of my favorite times of the year. The little communities are beginning to have special parades, dinners, festivals, and church services. All the clubs have a special covered dish luncheons and dinners with lovely programs. It is a wonderful and busy time of the year.