Hello everyone and welcome to Full Plate Thursday, 520 we are very happy that you could make it today! We have very cold rain today so hurry in the cottage and find a cup of hot chocolate or a cup of wonderful soup, find a chair by the fire and enjoy your visit here with us. We have some great features from last week and I sure hope you will stop by and give these talented bloggers a shout out! Thanks so much for coming to the party today and sure hope you will come back to see us real soon! Let's Party!!

Our Italian Sausage Skillet Pizza is a perfect deep dish pizza with great flavors. This pizza is so easy to make and the crust has lots of flavor waiting in edge. Italian Sausage with some seasons and special vegetables make this pizza a winner here at the cottage. I recently made a couple of these skillets for the ballgame crowd and everyone loved them, and it is such a fun way to present the pizza!

  I have so much fun creating new recipes and this is one of my new brunch and breakfast recipe's that we just love. This is a great combination of sausage, eggs, and seasons all rolled into a nice dip of goodness sitting on top of a toasted muffin and covered with a layer of melted cheese. This recipe has quickly become of of our breakfast favorites.

It is a very special time here at the cottage and making meal plans right now may be a little different as some things here at the cottage are changing.17 years ago my husband retired, we traveled, moved to the country, remodeled our little cottage, developed a fantastic organic garden and had a lot of fun. Then 11 years ago he went back to work, this week he retired again (for the last time I hope). We have some great plans to sit on the screen porch, enjoy the bird sanctuary, work in our garden, continue to preserve the garden harvest and when it is safe to do so again, we look forward to traveling. The meal plans that I have made here for our dinner meals won't change, but we won't be getting up at 4:00 a.m., packing lunches along with 2 snacks on work days. It really is time for us to begin this part of our life and we are very excited about the journey. I shall keep all of you posted as we move along.

Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, I am so excited to see you today. It is very cold here and we still a couple of patches of snow left in our yard. We don't get snow that often and when we do it is a really big deal. Of course when we have snow our thoughts will turn to warm comfort food and what better place to find those recipes than right here at our weekly party. We have some awesome features from last weeks party, be sure and stop by those bloggers sites to say hello. Thanks so much for coming to the party today, we would miss you if you were not here!

  I have made this Mexican Chicken Soup recipe for years, it is one of those favorite go to recipes that we all have in our recipe box. I keep cooked Chicken in the freezer for just this kind of recipe. I cook a whole chicken, debone and chop, then I bag it up in 3 to 4 cups a bag. Most recipes call for 3 to 4 cups of chicken for soups and casseroles. This is a very simple but very flavorful bowl of soup and  one that will have you coming back for seconds.

  We have had extended COVID restrictions here in Germany and the whole family has been getting a little stir crazy. Today the sun finally made an appearance, which is a rare occurrence this time of year, and I was lucky enough to have already planned a nice hike with a friend! It was lovely to get some fresh air, sunshine, and little venting in. I am always hungry after a hike and this refreshing and easy bruschetta hits the spot! 

Meal Planning is going to be real easy this week, we are expecting snow, truly a rare thing here, but great for cozy comfort food. I am thinking of parking my Slow Cooker on the counter for the week, the recipes abound. We are busy at the planning board here at the cottage, planning our spring gardens, ordering seeds and even starting to plant some starter seeds. Someone contacted me the other day and ask about upcoming food trends in 2021, my answer is always the same, I am a seasonal cook and recipes are developed from whatever product is in season. How many of you are seasonal cooks and what will be your food trend for 2021?

  Welcome to Full Plate Thursday, as we get rolling here in 2021! The holidays are behind us and we had some fantastic food this year, maybe it is because we were staying closer to home than usual. We have some great features from last weeks party that you will want to stop by and visit, pick up a couple of new recipes to try. We have put away all our holiday decor and things are beginning to get back to whatever we consider to be normal. My husband has been on vacation for 10 days and he went back to work today, we sure had a good time together and made some great holiday memories. I am very excited to see what you will be sharing with us today, so come on in and find a spot at the table, so glad you are here!

This Caramel Pecan Bundt Cake is a very rich, flavorful cake for any occasion. The thick caramel drizzle with pecans will turn this Bundt cake into something very special. This is a perfect cake to have on hand to serve  friends who will drop by on the weekends for a cup of coffee. Its fun to surprise them with a nice slice of a delicious dessert, not one single person has turned it down yet, and I have been known to send a couple of slices home with friends.

  We are soup and stew lovers here at the cottage and really enjoy a hot bowl of soup for lunch or dinner. This is a great slow cooker recipe with lots of veggies that I just love. The butternut squash and white beans are a great combination and I have added some greens along with special herbs to create this amazing bowl of soup. This is a rich and comforting vegetarian soup that simmers away in the slow cooker and is ready for you to enjoy at the end of the day.

Welcome to 2021 and starting a whole new year of meal plans. We have spent the last few days looking at some of the goals we have set for the cottage this year. We have been working on our garden plan plot, and some projects that we want to complete here at the cottage. We are hoping to increase the size of the garden for 2021 which will give us even more fresh vegetables to put on our table. I am excited to make our first meal plan for the year and use some of my favorite recipes for the season!

  Welcome to the last Full Plate Thursday for 2020, I am so happy that you are able to be here to finish this year out together! What a year we had and our food patterns certainly indicate that most of us were enjoying our comfort food this past year. Many of us had very difficult challenges to overcome, loss of family and friends, loss of income, and isolation. But along the path we found a deep inter strength and determination that somehow with Gods help and the help of friends and family, just one day at a time we would overcome and we did! We became each others cheerleaders and found new bonds that will endure. I have had all of you that make up the wonderful community of Full Plate Thursday in our thoughts and prayers in the past few months, we love and appreciate you! If I could, I would be giving each of you a big victory hug today, we made it, we are all winners!

These are the top ten most popular post that you liked in 2020, and what a year it was!  2020 has been one of those years that will surely go down in history as a real struggle for our planet in so many different ways. Some have suffered great loss of family and material goods including businesses and jobs. Those of us who could, have continued trying to make life as normal as could be, but most likely will never have that kind of normal again as we have all changed in this year of 2020. I can see that most of the year we were seeking comfort with most of our food. Some of our most popular recipes this year have been comfort food and making sure that our pantries were stocked when so many super market shelves were empty. Thanks so much for being here during this year to support our Country Cottage Community, you are very important to us. As we close this year out, know that you are loved and that you are covered in prayer everyday!