Monterey Chicken Spaghetti

 I had this pinned on a Pinterest board and made it yesterday

Monterey Chicken Spaghetti

I printed out the recipe because I strongly dislike cooking from recipes on my phone and warning...I almost didn't try this because the pop up ads were ridiculous. It gave me a headache just trying to read the recipe.

This was a big hit though. Even little E loved it and 4-yr olds can be very leary of new foods.

It's hard to go wrong with peppers, onion, mushrooms and bacon

I used freshly grated Sharp Cheddar, and switched out Monterey for Pepper-Jack because that was what I had on hand. I also used a garlic clove instead of garlic powder. DH suggested using fettucini next time so I made a note to try that. I'm also not a fan of cream of chicken soup in a can, but I used it this time. I need to make a batch of the dried Cream of Anything mix again. And...if you know us, I would love to add fresh roasted green chile to this. 😉

I forgot to add the fresh parsley once it was plated, but shook on a good amount of red pepper flakes. 😉

This was definitely a keeper.

Monterey Chicken Spaghetti

2 C roasted or browned chicken (I probably used 4 C)

3 Tbsp butter

1 diced green pepper

1/2 of 1 large onion, diced

1/2 C sliced mushrooms

1 garlic clove, minced

5 cooked bacon slices, chopped

8 oz spaghetti, cooked and drained

1 can cream of chicken soup (or homemade equivilant)

1 C sour cream

1/2 C milk

1 C sharp cheddar cheese, grated

1 1/2 C Pepper Jack cheese, grated

Pepper - salt - red pepper flakes

Fresh parsley

* I cooked my bacon, removed it from the pan and then seasoned and cooked my chicken tenders in the bacon drippings with a little added butter. Remove when browned and cooked through and cut into bite-sized pieces. Add onion, green pepper, and mushrooms. Saute for 6 or 7 minutes. Stir in minced garlic clove and bacon. Add soup, sour cream, milk, seasonings, and 3/4 of the cheese. Combine everything and add the chicken and drained pasta. Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan and top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Plate and top with red pepper flakes and fresh parsley.

Bon Apetite!

Dusty Trails Quilt

 Back in November, I unearthed this panel from the bottom of the bin that houses my collection of western fabric while I was searching for something else. It's been hiding there for quite some time, but this time I felt inspired to finally use it

I pulled a variety of fabrics from my stash, cut the panels to 6 1/2",

and built economy blocks. 

Ì ended up ripping that top left block apart because I thought the yellow was too harsh. I replaced it with a softer yellow.

I had 30 blocks so a 5x6 layout worked well for a 60"x72" cuddle quilt.

This rustic print has been in my stash for many years and it made the perfect backing with plenty left for another quilt or two.

Sandy quilted it with a meander that had a little star along the path that suits it perfectly.

The brown binding also came from my stash.

I'm not a fan of panels, but I am tickled with the way this one turned out.

Sunday Baking

 We haven't been home much and my 7 day dirt road vacation did not materialize. We were home on Sunday and I was planning to sew some, but I spent most of my time in the kitchen.

We're pretty remote and it takes 45 minutes to get to the closest little village and an hour the other direction to get to an actual town so we don't just run in for 1 or 2 things and when we DO go, it takes a while and we've been going more than I like.

We went to another bull sale on Saturday and the sale barn owner is a rancher and a friend of ours. He has bought our calves in the past. He walked up to me and the first thing he said wasn't "Hi.". He hugged me and said, "Did you bring me some of those cookies?" 😂

'Those' cookies must have made an impression because he bought those calves 5 or 6 years ago.

I swear that will be carved onto my headstone:

She baked cookies. 😂

That sale barn room was crowded and heads swiveled and several perked up, "Cookies?" Whoo, boy. Please don't advertise. 

So Sunday, I made a double batch. For the record, 'those' cookies are my Cowboy Cookies that I've been making for almost 40 years.

 It'll have to do. Monday was another bull sale. 'Tis the season. We also stopped in at the local nusery to drop off a plate of cookies for the manager. He's been incredibly kind and helpful. We are out of room, but DH couldn't help but browse. I about had to rope him and drag him out of there.

I also made another batch of this granola...that DH got into before it had cooled off and before I added the cranberries

When I walked through the kitchen the other day, DH shook the empty jar at me with a hopeful grin...hint taken. 

And I made Dirt Road Granola Bars.

I also wrapped up and delivered my most recent quilt finish, because J (the owner of the sale barn) and his wife just became grandparents last week and that new baby needs a quilt.

 I guess cookies and quilts are my love language 😉

Maybe I can sew tomorrow 🙃

Orchard Progress

 OK raise your hand if you're tired of orchard posts. LOL. I'm sorry, but this has been a big project for a couple old folks. There's a lot more to it than just putting trees in the ground. Seventeen trees are now settled into their new homes. The fig and pomegranate were leafed out when we picked them up so we'll wait until the last frost before we put them in the ground. They are temporarily living in our bathroom and they may end up in the backyard as we're running out of room in the orchard. 

Three more heirloom trees will be added in September. Jaimee's just waiting to insure the grafts will take.

Our son, DIL, and granddaughter were out 2 weeks ago. It was all hands on deck.

Our DIL works remotely and she's been putting in a ton of overtime and was ready for some downtime. Alas, downtime around here looks like this. She's a good sport and not afraid to get her hands dirty.

Around here everyone has a job 

We try to make work fun

Just add water.

The next day, DH welded caps on the open pipe to keep wasps from making nests

DH dug ditches for more pipeline while I was at his folks' Thursday and then we both got behind shovels to fill them in on Friday

 I'm working on a schematic to map the varieties in each location as half of these are heirloom trees from old orchards on homesteads across these mountains.

Then yesterday we spread grass seed and strung out more pipe to set up a flood irrigation system

And I promise not to write an entire post when the first leaf appears, but we'll be cheering behind the scenes. LOL