Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 655, Labor Day Weekend and our Top Ten feature party! I am so happy to see you today here at the party! I am so excited to tell you that we have had cooler temperatures and RAIN, we are so grateful for the cool weather and rain. We are featuring the Top Ten Views from last weeks party that you looked at the most. I am sure excited to present them to you and hope you enjoy the links.  Come on in the cottage and find your place at the table, of course we saved you a seat. Thanks so much for coming to the party today, you are an important part of our community. Hope you have a great Labor Day Weekend, stay safe and come back to see us real soon!

It is always nice when you can walk out to your garden and bring in some fresh squash to cook for the evening meal. We don't really eat that many fried foods, but fried squash is one of our favorites. I had a young homemaker contact me the other day and asked for a squash recipe that would be close to what her Grandmother used to make for their family. After she made the recipe she told me that it brought back so many memories for her and her family. It sure brought some for me as well and we sure enjoyed this platter of fried squash!

This Mini Blueberry Jam Muffins recipe is so easy to put together and these great mini muffins are ready to go in no time. I love having these mini muffins for a grab and go breakfast or a great snack anytime of the day. The flavor of these muffins is so delicious with the jam plus some fresh blueberries, it doesn't get much better than this for a muffin!

Hello everyone, it sure is good to see you today. I sure hope that all of you are staying cool in this August temperature, our hope is that September is coming!  Well folks there is no garden left here, it all just fried in the hot sun, no matter how much water we poured on it. We will be looking to our canned, frozen and our pantry staples to make this meal plan. Even some of my favorite Farmers Markets have closed for the season already. It will be interesting to see what we come up with today. I know from the numbers that there are a good number of you out there and you have been faithful to come here through the years, Thanks to all of you for supporting us through the years. I would really love to hear from you so leave me a comment.

  Welcome to Full Plate  Thursday, 655, we are so excited to see you here today!  I would love to tell you that it is cool outside today, but guess what the heat goes on. We are all looking for new ways to stay cool and comfortable in this on-going challenge. We have many great features from our party last week that I sure hope you will enjoy! Find a cool spot in the cottage, we have saved a place for you at the table. Thanks so much for coming today, we appreciate you so much!

Creamy Pesto Chicken Skillet with Pasta recipe was developed around my homemade preserved garden Pesto. I make the Pesto every summer and use it in recipes just like this the year round. This recipe is delicious and deserves your attention when you plate it. Each bite is filled with creamy goodness that has layers of flavor, with tender chicken, pasta and even spinach. You can serve it right out of the skillet or a pretty serving dish, either way the flavor is amazing!

  Hello everyone, I sure am glad to be making meal plans with you today. The garden is done for this summer, so we are dependant on other sources for our fresh vegetables. We have canned a lot of vegetables this season and have potatoes and onions in the barn cold bin. Food is so expensive today that I am very careful to be budget minded with my food dollars, and from the mail that I receive every week I know that you are looking to economize as well. Our schools have started here, so lots of folks are back into a regular routine now that the summer vacation time has come to an end. Meal planning is an important part of life and the ability to plan will affect every area of our life. 

  Hello everyone, I am so happy to see all of you today. Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 654 and a cool day, which we are so grateful for. Come on to the patio to enjoy some of the great outdoors while we are having just a break in the hot weather pattern that we have been stuck in all summer. We had a great party last week and some great features from that party for you to enjoy! We have saved you a spot at the table and sure hope you enjoy the party, thanks so much for coming!

Blueberry Jello Pie has been the hit of the summer. It is cold, refreshing and full of flavor. Just take it out of the refrigerator and it is ready to serve. This is a very easy recipe to make ahead of time and keep for a few days to serve for dessert or afternoon treats. We have had a bumper crop of blueberries so this is a perfect recipe to use the harvest of the berries.

  Our Rancher Pot Pie is a recipe that could be coming out of any Ranch House oven. It is a very easy pot pie and is so simple to put together. I took a very old Ranch House recipe and brought it up to date using some short cuts that save time, but certainly did not loose any flavor. This is a delicious pot pie to serve the family for a great weeknight supper. 

  Hello everyone from another 105 degree day. The heat this year is relentless and is really beginning to wear us down. We are doing everything that we can to keep as much water on our plants to keep them alive. We are grateful that we still have  water here and are not rationed. Many area's are out of water and at least we still have water. I am looking through my recipes to see what we can make next week to help keep us cool. I am headed to the barn to see what my inventory looks like and then back to the cool cottage to make this meal plan for the week.

  Hello everyone and welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 653! Come on into the cool cottage and find a spot at the table we have some sweet tea and lemonade to help cool you as we begin to enjoy our party. We have some great features from last weeks party that are featured today and we sure hope you enjoy them. Thanks so much for coming to the party today, we always look forward  to seeing you here and we can't wait to see what you will be sharing with us today. Lets get this party started!

The Jalapeno Honey Butter Corn is a recipe that we have really enjoyed. It is so full of the honey sweetness with the spice and heat of the jalapeno. The corn is slowly bathed in butter, honey and jalapeno, making this a very delicious recipe for fresh or frozen corn on the cob. This is a great garden to table recipe that we have added to our favorites! 

  What's In Season and How Do I Use It? August in Texas is hot and sometimes dry. Often times our gardens really suffer from the heat, but there are some vegetables that continue to produce during this time. This year we have experienced very high temperatures in the 3 digits for over a month. The gardens are not doing very well, but the farmers markets are packed out with wonderful selections of fruits and vegetables. We are still getting some of the all time summer producers, like tomatoes, cucumbers, and melons. We do have some great vegetables that are in season for the month of August.

Welcome to August folks, oh my goodness, it is hot outside. We are going to be looking at 105 to 107 degrees all next week. I am looking at the recipes to see what kind of meals we can put together that will be cool and appetizing in this kind of heat. I feel for all of my educator friends and students who will be going back to school next week. Some of the teachers were putting their classrooms together in buildings that were not fully air conditioned yet. We are praying for a break in the temperature and some rain. I am off to go through recipes, lets see what I come up with for these special circumstances.

  Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 652, and August! Yes it is August and we are having unseasonable temperatures, starting with right now it is 107 degrees! Although we have fought the heat all summer we have managed to have a great garden harvest. I invite you to   The Summer Garden Tour 2023 . We had a great party last week and these great bloggers featured today brought amazing post from last week. I sure hope you are staying cool and hydrated in this heat. We have a cool spot just for you at the table today and we can't wait to see what you are sharing for the party! Thanks so much for coming, you are very important to us!

Our recipe for Old Fashioned Cucumber Salad is a summertime favorite for me. The recipe is so classic to our family that it may appear the year round for any family event. We have an abundance of cucumbers and it is a great time to enjoy this old family favorite. This recipe is so simple, just slice some cucumbers and red onion. Make a delicious sauce out of sour cream, mayonnaise,and a few herbs. Then it goes in the refrigerator to get really cold before serving. Be sure and make enough, the bowl will be empty.