GREAT Side Dishes

Last night we had a couple over for dinner and I made both of these side dishes. They were delicious and very easy to make! 

Roasted New Potatoes with Herbs

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

8 large  cloves garlic, flattened  (I used minced garlic)

20 new potatoes, halved (or quartered)

1 Tbs chopped fresh rosemary (1 1/2 tsp dried)

1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh thyme (3/4 tsp dried)

salt and coarsely ground pepper to taste

Combine olive oil and garlic and allow flavors to blend at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place potatoes in baking dish and sprinkle with rosemary, thyme, salt, and pepper. Pour oil and garlic over potatoes and toss well. Roast until potatoes are tender and crusty, stirring occasionally, for 45 minutes. Serve hot, garnished with fresh rosemary sprigs.

Tomatoes Lillian

4 large firm ripe tomatoes, halved

1/2 cup  unsalted butter

1/2 cup red pepper jelly

1 Tbs  curry powder

3 Tbs  bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange tomatoes in baking pan. In saucepan, heat together butter, pepper jelly, curry powder, and bread crumbs until butter and jelly are melted. Pour jelly mixture over tomatoes. Bake until glaze has browned slightly.

Both of these recipes come from Come on In! Recipes from the Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi. I highly recommended purchasing this cookbook! It is one of my favorites!

Good Times with Great Friends

Last weekend I hosted a Girls Weekend in Oxford. My mom, my best friend Katie, and her mom, Mrs. Holly all came to Oxford for the weekend. We had an absolute blast and it was such an enjoyable time. Katie and I have been friends since we were 5 years old but I do not see her as often as I would like because she lives in Tampa, Florida where her husband is doing his residency. Katie is one of those friends that is very precious to me because we have known each other for so long (and she still likes me)! :) We may not talk for months but when we do, we pick right up where we left off! I just know that no matter where life leads the two of us we will always be friends! Thanks Katie for being such a dear friend of mine! Well, I will get back to our fabulous weekend together...what did we do? On Friday we  had lunch at Boure, toured the campus with Kyle (we went inside almost every building and sports facility), shopped on the Square, had dinner at City Grocery, and stayed up late visiting. Saturday we had breakfast at Bottle Tree, did a little more shopping on the Square, and went to The Mustard Seed. As you can see, we did some shopping! We just had a great time and laughed so much! I think that is what I love most about spending time with all these women is just how much I laugh! It truly was such a fun weekend though and made me realize how I really need to do this more often! Next time we will visit Tampa! Thanks for the fun weekend ladies! Love all of you!

The Ladies at Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium

Katie and I downtown

Katie and I giving Faulkner a smooch

Mrs. Holly and Mom 

6 Simple Sauces

As most of you know I am a BIG fan of Cooking Light. This month's issue had six different sauces to jazz up your basic chicken breast. I often get bored cooking my chicken the same way so I think these sauces will help create some variety!

Click on this link to view the sauces:

6 Simple Sauces for Chicken - Photos - CookingLight.com

The Life of a Rebel

This past weekend was very sad for Kyle and I because the Ole Miss baseball team lost to Virginia who advanced to the college world series. This was very disappointing because it was the fourth time that Ole Miss has been to the super regionals and not advanced. But, when you are a Rebel you kind of get used to these kind of things happening so on Saturday night we had already prepared ourselves for the loss. However, on Tuesday Kyle and I received some very exciting news. We had taken a day trip to Memphis and he stopped by Barnes and Noble to pick up the latest editions of the preseason college football preview magazines (of course they were not for sale yet in Oxford). When he got back in the car he revealed to me some of the most exciting news that quickly made me proud to be a Rebel again. Ole Miss has been ranked by Sporting News at #5 and Phil Steele, who has the most accurate preseason magazine over the last 10 years, has ranked us at #6 and predicted us to go to the Sugar Bowl! Yes you read that correctly! That is two polls that have pre-ranked us as a Top 10 team! Even though these are just predictions it is still great news to us. Hotty Toddy! Go Rebs!

After many years of waiting...

Let me start by saying I absolutely LOVE Oxford! Kyle and I often travel and we always say that nothing beats Oxford. However, Oxford is a small town. Even though it is home to the Ole Miss Rebels, it is still a relatively small town. I believe that is the beauty of Oxford though because it is full of charm. It has definitely captured my heart! :) A minor drawback though is that we do not have a lot of things that the big city life offers. For example: we do not have a Target (I know that makes some of you gasp). But, it just gives me an excuse to go to Memphis for the day. I do believe Oxford is finally arriving though in a small way. This is big news that I have been awaiting since I was a freshman in college nine years ago. Yes, Oxford is getting a...CHICK-FIL-A!!! As you can tell, I am very excited! In fact, I almost cried when I saw the sign go up! Rumor on the street is that it will be finished in July. Kyle and I plan on camping out for the grand opening so we can get the free meal certificates!

Smiling Down Upon Me

About a year ago Kyle, my mom, and I landscaped our entire backyard in two days before we left for our six week trip to Italy. Yes, we are crazy, but a year later we are fully benefitting from our hard work. My grandmother passed away in December of 2007 and last summer they put her house up for sell. My grandmother had an incredible green thumb. In fact, we laugh about it because she would just set a bucket of something in her yard without ever planting it and it would grow! So, before the house sold I really wanted to get some of her plants. We spent a day digging things up and then transported all of it from Hattiesburg to Oxford. Not only did all the plants survive the travel, they also lived and now are in full bloom! One morning I was having a cup of coffee and my heart was filled with such joy because I knew my grandmother would be so happy. It was almost like she was smiling down upon me and enjoying my cup of coffee with me. Now, when I step onto my back porch its like stepping into a little slice of heaven.

Azalea bush

Iris

Lilies: These were my favorite!

Greek Summit: Legit

I have been somewhat "MIA" over the past few weeks so I am very excited to get back to the blogging world. We have been at Greek Summit the past three weeks and my schedule did not quite allow for time to blog. As the students on project would say, "Greek Summit was LEGIT."  The Lord worked in unbelievable ways on this summer project! Thank you for your prayers!

The Group

Greek Summit Staff Team

These are Campus Crusade staff from Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, 

Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, and Ohio. 

It was such a pleasure to work alongside them for three weeks!

What did a typical day look like at Greek Summit?

In the mornings we would have class from 9:30 to 12:00. In the first half a Crusade staff member would give a talk that was mostly character and heart-focused. These talks included "The Power of a Clear Conscience", "Living a Gospel-centered Life", "Authentic Evangelism", and "Having a Vision for Your Life." Then, we would have a 30 to 45 minute break where students would spend time in the word on their own or reflect upon the message they had just heard.  In the second half another Crusade staff member would give a talk that was focused on ministry training. These talk included "How to Share Your Testimony", "How to Share Your Faith", and How to Lead a Bible Study." In the afternoons we would meet with the students we were discipling and have some play time on the beach. At night we had a small group bible study once a week, socials, and men's and women's time.

My Small Group

Samantha is one of the girls I discipled. 

She is the pledge trainer of ADPi at South Carolina. 

It was such a joy to watch her desire for her sorority 

sisters to know Christ grow and see her develop a 

vision to reach them.

Tiffany was in my small group and we just became really close.

She is the chaplain of ADPi at South Carolina.

Carmen Rae and Kelsey are both Tri Delta's at Ole Miss.

I was so excited they came to Greek Summit and look forward

to working with them in the fall!