My favorite months of the year are May and September! May brings such newness and life to all the flowers and the gardens are starting to sprout. It makes me want to get to the pools and bring on the summer warm days! We love the fresh lemonade and meadow tea! September brings a crispness in the air that makes me want to still work outside, try to get into more exercising and finish up harvesting the garden foods! Canning is still in process with applesauce and pears next week! September brings the prettiest sunrises and sunsets! The flowers are past their true beauty and mums and pumpkins take over the décor! I love the fall flavors and smells too! I lit my first autumn "hot cider" candle yesterday! I've been enjoying my own made "apple cider latte's"!!! They are the best! (1/2 cup apple cider, 1 TB of: caramel syrup, cinnamon and heavy cream. Mix and steam with a latte machine!) Campfires are needed for warmth not just for smores. Pulling out the long sleeves, sweaters and scarves spell FALL. The seasons are changing and since I am such a "seasonal fan", my fire mantle got a make over. It is now portraying more autumn colors. The thought came to mind about getting some mums and pumpkins for the back porch, but the tempts are still pretty warm this week, so I will hold off to little longer! Drinking hot cider, baking pumpkin pies and smelling warm apple dumplings is to look forward to!!!
My garden is still producing tomatoes, green beans and herbs. Awhile back, when we went to a restaurant in Philadelphia, they had the best "basil dressing" I've ever had!!! Actually, it was the first and only time I ever had basil dressing. I could hardly contain myself! Why have I not had this before??? I used it for a dipping with chicken. I used it on my salad. I even took my finger over the edge of my plate to lick the remainings! I wished for the recipe and so when we got back home, I searched online. I found a few different recipes but none of them stuck out to me. Then, the other week, a blog that I like to follow, had it posted as one of her favorite dressings too! I HAD to try it!!! I could not wait to use our own basil from the garden!!! I was just as thrilled with the taste and even more thrilled from all the raves that Mike gave to me!!! He kept saying how awesome it tasted and he loved it!!! I know that I will be planting lots of fresh basil next spring to go with our fresh lettuce and salads!!! Thanks to "Annie's Eats" for sharing this recipe!!!
I did change the original recipe just a bit because I did not have greek yogurt on hand.
Basil Dressing:
1/2 cup sour cream (or low-fat greek yogurt)
1/3 cup packed fresh basil leaves
2 Tb. fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 Tb. olive oil
2 Tb. buttermilk
1 clove garlic, pressed
salt & pepper
Combine all ingredients in a blender and process for a few minutes. Refrigerate in a jar with a lid until you are ready to use it. Yield: 1 cup
Friday night, Mike and I snuck out for a date night once again. We just love these nights out with just him and I! Even though the restaurant told me that my favorite saucy shrimp is not on the menu anymore ... boohoo, and even though we put furniture shopping on our list of things to do, just being together was a blast! Bonefish Grill is still a great place to eat but I just couldn't believe they took those yummy, oh so yummy, saucy shrimp off the menu!!! And we are taking the first baby steps with our remodeling the house project and with needing some new furniture in the future, we figured we would take a look at some prices and options. Leather??? I would love to go this route but it's double the $$$ and there was not a certain living room set that was calling out our name! We did get some prices and I already can tell that buying new house furnishings is going to take some time. Thanks Hun for the fun night out!!!
Saturday afternoon we had a major rain storm go through. It dumped inches of water! We watched the lightening flash. Huge, long bolts of lightening struck down from the sky. The weather did calm down awhile later and we got to sit around the campfire eating wonderful baby back ribs! We then roasted smores and drank coffee. Fun times around the campfire will always be memories!!!
Sunday we went to Sunday School and Matthew's class got all loud with our bible baseball game! The girls did win but the boys made them work hard for it! I love getting my mind refreshed with the bible questions. We got invited to Uncle Alvins for host lunch and it was so tasty! Alvin and Ruth always have a huge spread of good food! Thanks guys! We didn't stay real long because Mike had his biking goal to reach! With his 120 plus mile bike ride coming up this week, he was sure to get in a bike ride today! He went all the tough hills in our area and after 50 some miles, he was back home. We invited some friends to come for a campfire at 6:30. Again, the fire was blazing as we sat around in a circle chatting about life. The kids played outside and roasted more marshmellows. Nothing beats summer sunsets and starry nights!!!
Now today the kids are back to school. It's the start of a fresh week. Ladies Bible study at church started today too. I am excited about learning from 1 & 11 Thessalonians! After being late for a baby shower, then off for groceries, then home to mix up a fresh batch of peach salsa for PTF tonight, I am so thankful that Ashlyn is taking a long nap and giving me some time to blog and get to my house projects! She is growing up so fast and she loves when we play: doctor, mom, dentist or anyone else she thinks of. Usually, I am the adult person and she is the patient. So cute and she just loves to bring me her favorite play babies, Kate and Anna, and asks me to be their doctor. I start by looking them over and then giving them a small dose of medicine. That consists of getting a little medicine dropper and putting some water in their mouths. I love her stage of many words and growing up. The other day she kept saying the word "enormous". I'm not even sure she gets the whole meaning of the word but it's way to cute hearing her say "enormous". She also loves, loves concord grapes. Twice we were given some and she literally could not contain herself. I finally had to say "no more grapes"!
My twin nieces were here the other day and they played dentist. I thought it was so cute how they propped the chair back!!! :) And they are using Ashlyn's play hairdryer for their air tooth dryer. :) With a princess dress on!!!
We've got a busy week ahead of us. September is such a fun month with many fun events coming up! I hope I can keep up with blogging! Memories are much more fun writing about when they are fresh on my mind. Fall officially begins in two weeks, so make the most out of these few more summer days!!!
