I am back on the screen porch today, just enjoying sitting here and watching our birds, thinks about the meal plan that we are about to make for the week. More and more farmers are beginning to bring products into the markets now and we have a new little pop up market about a mile from the cottage. I checked my inventory this morning before I began this meal plan and I have some great fresh products on hand from the garden and the pantry to have a great meal plan for the week. I am ready to get started on this food, I'm hungry!

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday,486 and our Top Ten Features! We had a great holiday weekend, it was very quiet but my husband and I had some really great food, that I shared on our Whats For Dinner Next Week.

Vegetable Rice Chicken Bake is a great one pot meal that will feed and satisfy the whole family. There is really something very comforting about this flavorful recipe. I just love the flavor combination of this recipe, it one of those recipes that we just can't get enough of. This is a great one pot meal that can be on the table in no time or take it to your favorite covered dish dinner. I just took this pot of goodness to a friend who was in a quarantine at her house, I just left the pot on the porch for her. No it was not a cure, but she said it sure made her feel better.

Memorial Day Weekend meal planning will sure be different this year. Memorial Day is the opening day of "summer fun" here at the lake and ordinarily we have a packed cottage with family and friends kicking off the season, but that is not the case this year. Although our state is in stage 2 of opening back up we are not at the point of celebrations for large groups of folks. Our community put out a newsletter that the pool will not open this season, our community 4th of July Parade will not happen this year, we are in a different time. Although we won't have large crowds of folks we will still be enjoying some of our all time favorites along with some new recipes.

Thursday's are very special here at the cottage, we always look forward to all of you stopping by and sharing your amazing post with us. Sometimes it is so hard to pick features from all the talented bloggers that come every week. We do have some awesome features that I hope you will check out! What are your plans for Memorial Day Weekend, will you be making some special foods for the annual picnic or will you be able to have the picnic this year? Let us know what you will be doing this year!  Congratulations to all the graduating seniors, you are a very special group of young folks that will have a strength in leadership because of the courage that you have had in your final journey this year. Our very best wishes to each of you and God Bless You!

Garden Veggie Cornbread Casserole is one of those recipes that could actually be dessert, it is that good. This casserole will be great to serve as a side dish for any occasion. I have taken this dish to covered dish dinners, family get to-gethers and picnics,it is always a hit with folks who love food. The recipe is packed with fresh garden vegetables and a great blend of seasons making it a very sought after recipe.

There is something special about getting out in the back yard, having some time with the family and just grilling some really good food. Our Ultimate Tex-Mex Burger is just that, some really good food. This is a combination that my husband and I have put together through the years and from time to time we add or take away, but it really is the ultimate burger that we have. This burger has great Tex-Mex flavors and seasons that will leave you saying when can we do this again?

We are staying very busy here at the cottage, and we are starting to have some visitors from time to time. I love getting to have folks here at the cottage for a visit and it is so much fun making meal plans for our special guest. We will be having more and more guest as time moves along here. It is really nice for some things to begin to return to a little normality.    Grilled Herb Pork Chops Fresh Asparagus Casserole Mini Heirloom Tomato & Rice Salad Lemon Ice Box Pudding Cake Slow Cooker Cream of Squash Soup Jalapeno Bread Left Over Lemon Ice Box Pudding Cake From Full Plate Thursday,484 Culinary Flavors Sharing Smothered Chicken Tex Mex Lazy Budget Chef Sharing Best Pico de Gallo We Dish It Up Sharing The Best Key Lime Pie Island Chicken With Rice Asian Broccoli Slaw Blackberry Cobbler Garden Pasta Skillet Tomato Herb Focaccia Left Over Blackberry Cobbler Na

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, a great place to gather with friends on Thursday! I sure hope that all of you Mom's had a great Mother's Day! We had a wonderful day here at the cottage, it was very quiet and peaceful, I got to talk to a lot of family and friends plus my husband was very sweet to me all day! We of course have some great features from last weeks party that I hope you will stop by and say hi to these awesome bloggers! Thanks so much for coming to party with us today, I can't wait to see what you will be sharing with us today!

We have worked for about 3 years now to get our asparagus patch to produce enough asparagus for us to have a really nice casserole from our garden fresh asparagus. This is an old southern recipe that our family has changed through the years to better suit our taste. It is a very rich casserole with a creamy bechamel and a crunchy top that will have you coming back for seconds. This is one of our favorite garden to table recipes.

Island Skillet Chicken recipe is full of tropical flavors and is ready for the table in very little time. We really enjoy this recipe served over rice and garnished with a few rice noodles. There is really no reason to plan for the left overs of this dish because we never have any, it really is that good. This is one of those recipes that gets requested often.

Meal plans are different right now, we would usually be planning a big gathering here at the cottage for a Mother's Day weekend at the lake, but this year it will be just the two of us and Max of course. We are all experiencing a new kind of temporary normal in our country, but we are hopeful that will begin to change as we move out of the health crisis that we are experiencing. It is beautiful weather and we are enjoying being out in the gardens and just taking it easy, sitting on the screen porch sipping sweet tea. 

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday and the first week of May! Spring is really here and I am loving being out on the screen porch and working in the garden. We have some really great features from last weeks party that I hope you will take the time to check out. Some places here are beginning to open up a bit and I know  that folks are sure happy to be getting back to work. We are beginning to see some rations on meat and poultry in the super markets here, are you seeing any rations on any food items where you are? We may begin to see some different recipes as time goes along depending on the availability of products. Thanks so much for coming today and I can't wait to see what you will be sharing with us!

This is a great Mexican Corn Cake with fresh corn, red and green peppers with some special seasons, topped with a delicious avocado cream. These cakes can be served as an appetizer, a side dish for any Mexican dinner or as a light lunch. Today, I arranged the corn cakes on a bed of fresh lettuce from my lettuce tub and garnished with some mexican oregano from my herb garden. You will want to serve these delicious cakes over and over, we did not have any left overs to freeze or have the next day, they are that good!

This Pecan Sandie cookie recipe goes all the way back to my youth, so it is truly a vintage recipe. These cookies will melt in your mouth and I have never been able to eat just one. This recipe was given to me by my girlfriend whose family owned the bakery in my hometown, where these cookies were very popular. I am pairing the cookies with one of my Grandmothers Cookie Jars that I am so blessed to have today. Delicious vintage pecan sandies for a very special vintage cookie jar!

The sun is shinning and it is a good day to make a meal plan. We are happy to have good weather to work our in the gardens and just be out of the house for a bit. We are taking a drive this afternoon hoping to stop in at a couple of my favorite farmer markets to pick up some fresh vegetables for the week. We will be celebrating Cinco de Mayo this week but it will be really low key with just the two of us, not the usual large group we have each year, but we are going to make it special. I love making meal's as attractive and festive as possible it just lifts the spirits to sit down to a lovely table setting and a great meal, so I always keep those things in mind when making my meal plans.