Quesadillas

 I've been making these for a long time...at least 15 years. They are a family favorite. We rarely eat out, but when we do, I would often order them if they were on the menu. If you share dishes they were easy to share. I no longer order them because we think these are better. 

We went to one very  popular local Mexican restaurant last year and I ordered them. They were awful. Truly. They had just tossed some unseasoned canned chicken between two soggy tortillas. I could not believe they would even serve something like that. 

Here's a better version. 😉

Quesadillas

Chicken

Pepper-Seasoning Salt-Granulated Garlic

1 large diced onion

1 large green pepper, diced

1 diced jalapeño 

Freshly grated sharp cheddar cheese (I find it melts better and adds more flavor than the pre-grated cheese)

* Season chicken with pepper, seasoning salt, and granulated garlic in cast iron skillet. Brown in a little oil and butter. Remove from skillet and cut into small pieces. I buy the large bags of chicken tenderloins at Sam's and use those.

In same skillet, add a touch more oil and over low-medium heat, saute onion, green pepper, and jalapeño until vegetables have softened and charred a bit on the edges - about 15 minutes. Stir in diced chicken.

Heat another cast iron pan (I have a cast iron griddle) over low heat and place a tortilla on it. I don't put anything on the griddle. Top with grated cheese. Layer chicken mixture, then a 2nd layer of cheese. Top with another tortilla. Flip when bottom tortilla has crisped up and browned a bit to cook other side. Remove and cut into wedges. Repeat. 

Serve with salsa, sour cream or Mexican crema, and guacamole. If you come and stay for a few days, chances are pretty good that these will be on the menu.

Animal Crackers Quilt

Last night I finished binding a UFO from last year

I don't watch a lot of You-Tube videos, but somewhere along the line a Moonkin Stitchery clip popped up somewhere and I liked what I saw. Her tutorials are no nonsense, easy, clear and concise. Her older videos include a PDF download, but these recent ones do not. However, her tutorials are easy enough that a printed pattern isn't really necessary. She's gracious enough to share her designs at no cost. The videos I've seen all use layer cakes and with the exception of fat quarters, I'm not a big precut fan, but on occasion, I will pick them up on a good sale or just cut 10" squares from my stash. If I like a pattern, I'll often add fabric from my stash to a pre-cut in order to make a quilt bigger or just to add more variety.

A while back she shared a tutorial for a Deep Dive Quilt and I knew I was going to make it. I have a Sweetwater Layer Cake of an old line called Animal Crackers (2020) that I thought would be perfect. I loved that line so much that when I found a fat quarter pack on sale I bought that as well. I love Sweetwater's collections and I am really smitten with this one

Last June I thought, "I'll just cut up the layer cake, put it in a bin, and have it ready to sew when I get back to sewing and then I just could not help myself. DH had saddled his horse at 3 a.m. and trailered out to a ranch in Yeso (2 hours away) to help them brand and I found myself with time, and a strong desire to stitch.

So stitch I did and before he got back, I had a quilt top. I often listen to an audio book when I sew, but this time "animal crackers in my soup..." ,ala Shirley Temple, kept playing in my head as I sewed so I had to turn the audio book off. LOL.

Jackie and Sandy quilted this fun, whimsical swirl called Misty Jade across it 

I backed it with this print from the Animal Cracker line

And pulled a red grunge for the binding

This made a 48"x56" quilt, a great size for little monkeys.

I may keep this one here for grandbaby adventures.

Outdoor Projects Continue

 Now that Fort Knox (that's what I'm calling my chicken coop/yard DH built since NOTHING will be able to get in there, when the chickens and guineas are shut in, due to his engineering and design. They will free range during the day though.) is complete, we're tackling other projects. 

DH did put up some expanded metal on the 2 windows so now we just keep those open unless it gets super cold

Showed this photo to a friend of ours and he said it was so nice that he'd live in it

So I then sent him this shot and told him we were installing a sun shade in his new yard and that room service would be available, but sporadic. 

We had another dumpster delivered and filled it quickly with the dismantled old chicken coop, old pipe, and old wire and fence.

DH trimmed and thinned out trees in the back yard and we grubbed out all of the cactus - that took a couple of days.

Eventually, we'll replace the chain link fence as we're not fans, but that'll be a future project. The previous owners had it for their dogs. We'll also do some terracing and maybe build a retaining wall to discourage erosion since it's pretty steep. I don't see us spending any time in the back as it doesn't get any better than the view from the deck, but we still want it to be nice. It took 5 loads to clean things up

We took somewhat of a break over one weekend for the Southern New Mexico Safari Club Banquet. It is a 2 night event and DH is on the board so we actually work it. We were so busy that I only snapped one picture, but it was a full house with all 500 seats occupied. I tell folks it's the 1 weekend a year that we socialize. Such a great group, but it just wears us out.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch 😉, DH shod horses one morning while I mucked out the stall that the old chicken coop had been in. I shoveled and hauled no less than 15 heavy wheel barrow loads out. It was mostly packed dirt and it took me 3 hours and I was smoked. It takes me longer as I have to mind my knee and go slower, but I got it done. 

No plans for surgery as of now. It just aches and swells up when I tackle physically demanding tasks and then I just take some Advil and ice it once in a while. I have a pair of really good, supportive hiking boots (they are from a company called Shnee and I bought them 10 years ago when we went to Zimbabwe. I almost cried spending that much money on a pair of shoes, but they have been absolutely worth every penny). They help SO much so I've learned to reach for those even though I automatically want to just slip my feet into a pair of Sloggers I have, to run outside for a minute.

Then I spent another afternoon taking down old wire fencing and rope that the previous owner had put up in the horse runs. DH had taken it down in one of the other runs.

It was such a pretty day that it made a not so fun job enjoyable

Then we cleaned up all the odds and ends that were in the area that had previously been designated for the chicken yard.

With Skeet's assistance, we replaced 1 1/2 miles of pipe

 (not so easy in mountain terrain) 

and have restored spring water to the property

Next up: the orchard and garden spot. DH is researching trees on the computer as I'm working on a quilt binding, providing input when requested 😉