Follow my blog with Bloglovin A Pig Pickin' Cake is a southern tradition at a bar-b-que, especially a pig pickin' bar-b-que. Just about every southern family has their own version of the cake and we are no different. This is our version of the classic cake, that my husband refers to as the mandarin orange cake, because he loves mandarin oranges! This is a very easy cake to put together and we have never had any left overs, so I couldn't tell you what to do with those. No matter if it is a bar-b-que or fried chicken on a Sunday, this is a delicious cake anytime!

Our Ham & Cheese Garden Strata is a great recipe for a brunch. We have a weekend brunch just about every weekend that we are in town and often we have guest that join us. This is one of the delicious recipes that I like to prepare for our brunch here at the cottage. The recipe has little bits of ham, cheese and some fresh garden vegetable's with a base of crusty bread, eggs and milk. The flavor of this strata is awesome, it can be made the night before and baked the next morning, a great dish for entertaining.

  Hello everyone, this is one of those weeks when I sure am glad that I am a meal planner. We have family visiting that have come to help us with a couple of big projects here at the cottage. It is very important to be organized and know exactly what I will be cooking for the next meal. I am making some of their favorites and cooking some recipes that will be easy to make for a crowd. I always get so excited about having family visit and getting to make some of their favorites! 

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 551 I am so excited to see you today! Come on back we are on the screen porch today, I have a very special  Watermelon Lemonade Float  for you to enjoy today. This is our last post of the month so that means you have choose the Top Ten Post Views from last weeks party, and you did a great joy. Great features for you to enjoy and stop by and say hello  to those talented bloggers. Thanks so much for coming today, I always look forward to your visit's.

  Our Mexican Rice Salad is a very popular salad here at the cottage. This is a very easy salad to put together and serves as a side salad or a dip. This salad is a combination of rice, vegetables and a very delicious salsa, a perfect balance of flavor. This is a great side for a family dinner, a covered dish luncheon or get together with friends and family.

I have wanted to develop this recipe for awhile, and finally had an opportunity to try it for a second time with guest and they loved the recipe. This chicken has a rub, great stuffed jalapeno cheese then wrapped with bacon. When this chicken comes off the grill it is ready to savor every flavorful bite. I am so happy to be able to share this new recipe with you today!

It is great to be back on the screen porch this morning in a little cooler temperature. Our schools have started here so we are defiantly in the transition season to fall. I look forward to spending more time outdoors now with cook-outs and picnics. I have some vegetables from the farmers market that I want to include in my plan this week as well as a couple of special request from my husband. I love the opportunity to plan special recipes for my family and friends that they really enjoy!

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, I am so excited that you could come to the party today. The cottage has been very busy, completing our summer garden harvest and beginning to remove old plants and vines to prepare for our fall planting. Our schools have started here and the community is all a buzz with the kids getting back in the school  routine. When I had kids in school, my year ran from September to September. Now all these years later it still seems like my year runs from September to September.  We had a great party last week and some awesome features that I hope you will visit. Thanks so much for coming today & I can't wait to see what you will be sharing with us today, so lets get the party started!

Our Zucchini Garden Casserole With Sausage recipe is a delicious garden to table dish that will please your family and friends every time you serve it. This is a meal in one dish, just  add a salad and dessert and everyone will be happy. I love having a casserole that can go to a family dinner table or a covered dish and this is one of those casseroles. Filled with fresh garden vegetables then we add some sausage and top it with some awesome herb seasoned bread crumbs mix. We love this casserole and sure hope you will to.

  Italian Stuffed Tomato With Basil Pesto Spaghetti became a new recipe here at the cottage this summer. We have had a bumper crop of beautiful tomatoes and of course we grow our own herbs, so this was a perfect recipe to develop. The stuffing for the tomato has some garden squash and sausage with great Italian herbs, while the dish is completed with a Basil Pesto Spaghetti. We loved this new recipe and sure hope you enjoy it!

Hello everyone, wow I sure am glad that we have a time together to make meal plans. I talked to a group of young homemakers this past week, and encouraged them to develop meal plans for their family. Each one of them to a person mentioned how much the cost of food had gone up and how they needed to really get a food budget. Meal planning will help with the food budget and time management. I am planning some fun food for this week, I just need to get it out of my head and on to the meal plan. 

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, I am so happy to see you here today! We have a nice cool breeze out of the south today, so we are headed to the screen porch to enjoy some cold drinks. I have prepared a refreshing  Peach Fizz  for you to enjoy today. We have some great features today from last weeks party and I sure hope you will enjoy them and the talented bloggers who shared them! I always look forward to the party and what you will be sharing with us, thanks so much for coming.

I love to serve a Honey Bun Cake for a brunch or coffee with friends, it just melts in your mouth. This recipe goes together quick and easy, making it a great go to recipe. The cake is marbled with a combination of sugar and spice, then topped with a delicious glaze. Garnished with some seasonal fruit, it is a delightful cake for any occasion. 

    We were finally able to do our first big trip outside of Germany! We discussed as a family and decided on Venice. We booked our trip for 3 days thinking that would be plenty of time to see the small floating city, but we were mistaken. We did not even do half of what we had planned, but that seems like a great excuse to go again very soon! It truly is a magical city with postcard views at every turn. 

  Hi everyone, it is time to start our meal plan for next week. Most of the harvest for our summer garden is over and we have started to clear out the non producing plants. We still have some plants producing however, we will be looking to our local farmers markets to find some of the fresh vegetables to fill our recipes for the meal plan this week. Along about this time of August our little community begins to pick up a different kind of energy, as folks are trying to get in last minute travel plans and some of starting to get ready for the new school year which seems to come earlier every year. How about all of you have your schools started yet? Are you planning some last of the summer get away? Let me know what is going on at your cottage!

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday and August summer heat, oh my it is hot! Come on in get under the air conditioner, grab a ice cold  Pineapple Banana Freeze , relax and enjoy! Be sure and check out some of the awesome features that we have today from last weeks party. I am looking forward to seeing what you will be sharing with us today. Thanks so much for coming to the party today, I am always so excited to see you here!

I remember having sweet corn pudding when I would visit my Grandmothers house in the summer. My Grandmother, Mother and several Aunts would gather on the back porch at my Grandmothers farm house and shuck corn from the garden and sometimes from the field. There were many corn recipes that I remember my Grandmother using for the corn, but one of my favorites was the sweet corn pudding.  It is a nice sweet custard with corn kernels nestled inside the cloudy custard. It has a very special flavor that only the corn can give it and a very special dessert! The recipe that I am using today has been adapted from my Grandmothers original recipe.

It has truly been an outstanding summer garden harvest this year. We had early and late rain's along with cooler temperatures that we had never had in recorded weather history for our area so we really didn't know what to expect in the final outcome of the harvest. We have had what the farmers would call a bumper crop. In order to keep up with the harvest we have kept the canner's going full steam ahead. I am excited to share with you the summer garden harvest time.