Welcome to Full Plate Thursday and our Top Ten Party! Every month on the last week, we feature our Top Ten views from the last party.  These are great features that I sure hope you will enjoy. This is a really big week here at the cottage as we prepare for the 4th of July weekend. We always have a really great parade in our little village and lots of friends and family come out to the country to play in the lake and enjoy the celebrations. Come on in to the party, we have some big fans and misters going on the upstairs patio under the shade with lots of ice cold drinks and you guessed it slices of ice cold watermelon.  I am excited to see what you will be sharing with us today and thanks so much for coming to the party! Wishing you and yours a safe and freedom filled 4th of July Celebration!

We love the 4th of July celebrations that we have had here at the cottage through the years. Celebration of freedom, food, and fellowship, coming together with family and friends to enjoy the annual 4th picnic. Through the years we have many favorites that just say the 4th of July at the cottage. Most of these recipes are classic American picnic favorites that have come to be part of our heritage.

  Roasted Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta with Feta is one of our favorite toppings for a great  Bruschetta. The heirloom cherry tomatoes are marinated in a mixture of oil, vinegar and fresh herbs, then roasted in the oven. We add the Feta Cheese and spoon it on the top of a toasted French Bread Slice. This is a very special appetizer and one that is always a big hit with our group here at the cottage. One of the favorites from the garden to the table recipes!

Summer is officially here and the heat has come right along with it. When I make the meal plan this week that is one of the big considerations, we will sure be looking for food preparation that will keep us cool. We have an abundant harvest of garden vegetables right now, and there is nothing like fresh vegetables from the garden in the summer time. We are expecting some very special friends to visit us this weekend, so we will be planning some special meals just for them. 

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday and it is officially summer! Here in Texas we start looking for the shade and a fan this time of the year. That's what we are doing today, Gathered up on the screen porch sipping some sweet tea so come on out and join us, we are saving you a seat. We have some really great features from last weeks party that I sure hope you enjoy. You are very important to us and can't wait to see what you will be sharing with us today.

  This Mustard Seed Pickle Recipe has been in our family for several generations now. Some people call this recipe Bread and Butter Pickles, but my family has always called them Mustard Seed Pickles. They are a little on the sweet side and delicious with sandwiches or as a compliment to most any kind of meat. On the day we made these pickles we were preparing for a Pickle Canning Class that we had been asked to present for one of the church groups in our community. My daughter and husband were great helpers on pickle making day!

What a fun week to make meal plans to honor the great Dad's in our life, it will be a fun weekend. Our cottage is like a canning factory, the garden harvest is abundant and we are canning just about every day. Be sure and watch the blog for new canning recipes that we have been working on. We have lots of wonderful fresh fruits and vegetables to use on our meal plan this week. I am trying to be budget conscious right now, as some products out just priced out of reach. The farmers meat markets are a great source for fresh chickens and other meat products.

  We are so happy to see you here at Full Plate Thursday today. Our party is underway and we can't wait to see what you will be sharing with us today. We have some really great features from last weeks party that I hope you enjoy. Fathers day is coming up on Sunday and we wish all the Fathers a great day to put your feet up and enjoy your day!

  Our Green Chili Burger Charcuterie Board was a great idea for our recent large gathering of friends and family. We were able to place all the burger topping's on the board, it was a great presentation and so easy to top your burger, with anything you liked. You will find the recipe for the Green Chili Burger, another side dish and dessert on this post. We sure enjoyed our time with guest, the Charcuterie Board made it so much easier.

It is so good to be relaxing on the screen porch so I can plan our meal plan for the next week. I love being able to spend this time with you each week and make a budget and family friendly meal plan with all of you. We worked hard here at the cottage last week, we completed some major projects that some family came to help us with, we were so grateful for the help. We are going to enjoy some grilling this week and I think we make be able to start canning some tomatoes. Here comes the garden harvest!

  Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 592! We are all on the garden patio today, enjoying a nice luncheon in the garden, what a fun way to celebrate our beautiful season. We have saved you a place at the table so come on out and enjoy the party with us. We have some awesome features from last weeks party that I sure hope you enjoy. Thanks so much for coming to the party today and I can't wait to see what you are bringing to share with us!

  It is our first picking of green beans for the season and our first potato dig for the season. We just picked almost a half of a bushel of green beans and dug some potatoes to go with them.  After we clean the potatoes these fresh vegetables are going right into the kitchen and they will be on the table tonight for dinner. Our daughter from Oregon is visiting us right now and she is so sweet to help us out with so many projects, including a little gardening. These green beans and potatoes will be delicious, there is something about just getting it off the vine and out of the ground that brings a whole new taste to the dish.

June is here and we have been having unseasonable high temperatures. Those high temps mean more water for our garden, which we got today and it is so welcome. We have family here visiting and we are so grateful that they have been helping us with some projects here at the cottage. When the temps are high I look to the grill and cool  salads to enjoy with fresh vegetables and fruit. Of course I am making some special meals for the family that placed their order weeks ago. So lets get busy here and put together some great meal plans for next week!

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday and June! Wow this last week has flown by, we have been so busy here at the cottage. Some of our family are visiting and are helping us with a couple of projects, which we sure appreciate the help. This is why you are getting a bonus week with the top ten post that you choose last week with your page views.  I sure hope that all of you had a great Memorial Day weekend and are ready to party with us today. I can't wait to see what you will be sharing with us, we always look forward to your awesome post. Come on in and find a place at the table, we have saved you a seat! Thanks so much for coming to the party today and you come back to see us real soon!

  We have so many berries on our vines and what better place to go with them than a delicious ice box pie. This is such an easy recipe and one that I make over and over all through the summer. The flavor of this pie is a delicious blend of strawberries and blueberries, a cool and refreshing treat. There is just one problem with this pie, it never last very long here at the cottage, so I have learned to just make two, enjoy a slice today and tomorrow!