Birthday Week

We celebrated my birthday this week. It snuck up on me this year, because I've been busy planning a certain little boy's first birthday party for next month - which is something to really look forward to! My birthday week was great, and here are some of my favorite moments:




{Patio lunch during the first week of nice weather}




{Mornings playing in the floor with this boy}




{Being silly and getting a birthday pedicure}




{Celebrating with Mexican food & neighborhood wagon ride}




{Go-to-work-with-daddy day}




{Having fun with the first week of great weather}





{Silly boy!}




{Another neighborhood wagon stroll}

 



{This one is my favorite}



I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.

This is the LORD's doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.

This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee.

O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Psalm 118

Garlic Roasted Potatoes

My friend Bailey posted this recipe on her blog about a year ago, and after I tried it these have become a staple at our house! They are awesome - and so easy. In my book, that makes a pretty good recipe. Bailey recently posted about my Mexican Lasagna so I thought I would return the favor - I've been wanting to post this for a while anyway:)

Ingredients:
About 7 new potatoes (I sometimes throw in a couple more)
4 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. rosemary - crushed

Instructions:
Mix all ingredients except potatoes in a bowl. Quarter new potatoes and add them to the bowl with the spices. Mix them up to coat the potatoes, then pour it all in a nonstick baking dish. Bake at 425 degrees for 30 minutes.

Annual Block Party & Soul Stampede Sunday

{For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matt. 18:20}

This past weekend our church held its annual Community Block Party and Soul Stampede Sunday (which I realize is redundant if you read the title of this post). This is something I've had the pleasure of being a part of for the last several years. We are so thankful that every year God is present and every year many people come to Jesus. There are so many behind-the-scenes things that go into planning this event that it is easy to get stressed out, overwhelmed, and exhausted (I'll admit that I definitely did), but the reward of witnessing souls saved outweighs all of that tenfold. 



{My cowboys on Sunday}



Nail Spotlight - Welcome Fall!

One of my favorite things about this summer-to-fall transition is not only the cooler morning/evening temperatures, the excitement of football season, or the promise of my favorite holidays right around the corner, but also the ability to wear fall colors on my nails. I know...it doesn't take a whole lot to excite me.

My absolute favorite fall color is "Ruby" by Orly. It is the perfect dark red; not too dark, and not too close to Christmas or cherry red. I make myself wait until September to use it for the first time, because it is really the first month you can consider a "Fall" month.

I mentioned in this post that I inherited several things from my Granny Iva. My love of keeping my nails painted/manicured was one of them. Unfortunately, I also inherited my love of Dr. Pepper and candy from her too.

{Granny Iva with a Dr. Pepper & manicured nails & a 10-years-younger Leslie}

Granny Iva's Hot Spice Tea

{Platter I made for my kitchen}

Get ready, because in honor of the cooler temperatures we are celebrating, I am about to share my most favorite recipe in the world with you. To be honest, it's semi-complicated and I can't even promise you'll like it, but I will still share it with you because it is very important to me.

{Mamaw Shelby, Granny Penny, Granny Iva, Mamaw Keith, me & Allie}

As a young girl, I was privileged to have and know all 4 of my great grandmothers. Granny Iva was my maternal grandfather's mother, and for several years when I was young, she lived with my grandparents and I visited her often. I gained a lot of things from her, but I will save that for a post all its own, and for this post, I will share my favorite recipe that I got from her. Granny Iva loved to make spice tea, and she kept it and drank it all year long. My mom made the same tea during the cold months, so I learned to love it at a young age. Now it is one of my favorite things to make and drink during the fall and winter, and I love to share it with family and friends. 

This recipe is somewhat difficult to make, and also difficult to explain, so I will do my best. 

Ingredients:

2 qt water

1/2 C loose tea

1 3/4 C Sugar (approx.)

1 tsp. cinnamon (ground)

1 tsp. cloves (ground)

1 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 can frozen orange juice concentrate (12 oz can)

1/2 can frozen lemonade concentrate (12 oz can)

Items to have on hand:

1 gallon pitcher or container (I use this one)

4 qt. sauce pan (like this)

very fine strainer (or even two to double-strain)

2 qt. glass container (like this one or similar)

10" square thin cloth (an old thin tshirt, cut up, works great for this)

Rubber band or twist-tie

Instructions:

In your 2 qt. container, add 1 qt. of water and 1/2 C loose tea. Set aside. Lay out cloth. In center of cloth, add cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Gather up edges of cloth and tie it up (see photos). In saucepan, add 1 qt. water, sugar, and spice bundle. Bring sugar mixture to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes, stirring frequently as sugar dissolves (every once in a while, squeeze on the spice ball as you're stirring to squeeze some of the spices out - I do realize how odd this all sounds). As your sugar mixture is heating up to boiling, put water/loose tea in the microwave for 10 minutes to cook simultaneously as the sugar mixture is simmering.

While both mixtures are cooking for 10 minutes, add both juice concentrates to gallon pitcher. When the tea is done in the microwave, run in through strainer into the pitcher. Stir to melt the frozen juices. Run back through the strainer again if you don't like pulp from the juice. Take sugar/spice mixture and remove spice ball. Pour through strainer into pitcher. Strain entire pitcher again if you want to.

This will not fill the entire gallon pitcher - once all the parts are added, fill the rest of the pitcher with hot water (my mom boils water in her kettle while simultaeously doing everything else, but I am not that talented and I just add hot tap water).

Store in the refrigerator and it will last about 2 weeks.

Tonight, in honor of the nighttime lows being in the 50s and my birthday in a week, my mom volunteered (she may or may not have had some heavy persuading) to make a batch for me. Here are some pictures for your entertainment, and also to help you out if you ever try to brave this recipe.

{Loose tea + 1 qt. water}

{Spices & spice cloth}

{Mom slaving away}

{Sugar & spices simmering for 10 minutes}

{Ready to serve!}

{My sister has an overabundance of Starbucks coffee cups}

{Levi trying to get in on the action}

Mr. Harrison's Fruit Stand

I have mentioned my local fruit stand in a few posts (like this one), and I thought I would share this sweet, charming little place that I frequent during the summer.

{Mr. Harrison}

Mr. Harrison is a dear, sweet farmer who we go to church with and he has had this little fruit stand out in front of his gardens for years. It is open during the summer months, and usually 24 hours a day. There is a cash box bolted to the wall, and if no one is there to take your money, you are suppose to add up what you get and put your money in the box. It's not very often that a place runs on the honor system anymore. If you ask Mr. Harrison what he does if someone doesn't pay for what they take, he'll just tell you that he's sure they needed it more than he did and it's alright.

  

I visited the stand today to get a couple pounds of okra, and I snapped some pictures while I was there. Today is a special day - it is the last day of over 100-degree-heat for a while (we've had almost 50 days of above-100-degree temps and tomorrow the high is 82 degrees!) and it is the season opener for Oklahoma Football { B O O M E R!!! }, so we celebrated this Labor Day weekend by cooking some mouth-watering-delicious steaks on the grill, along with hot links and fresh squash on the grill, some sautéd okra, wild rice and ice tea. It was delicious! I have never been more ready for Fall, but there's no reason why we can't still enjoy the fruits of summer while we're waiting, right? Happy L A B O R Day weekend!

{boomer sooner!!!}

Bye!!!