cooking??? what is that….Penne Rosa (like at Noodles & Co)

I actually cooked tonight!  We can’t remember the last time I did, I mean from a Recipe…not just Chicken breasts or something like that…I love to cook, but lately there has not been enough hours in the day…but the goal is to make more time for me, Nick and my family…I actually miss not cooking…so I decided you might be in the same boat or maybe you need a new recipe to try…I love pasta and this one doesn’t seem so bad for us! Limit the red pepper flakes if you don’t like a little kick, it’s just a little…not overwhelming at all…

  1. Pene Rosa

1 box Penne pasta

1lb of boneless chicken breasts, cut up in small chunks

1 box of frozen chopped spinach-unthawed and drained of all excess water-i lay it between paper towels and press all the water out.

1 can diced Italian style tomatoes

1 14oz jar of Alfredo sauce-can use light-the recipe called for 2 I only used 1

1 8oz can of tomato sauce

8oz of sliced mushrooms

red pepper flakes

parmesan cheese

Boil noodles with a nice dash of pepper flakes

Cook chicken with a little oil browning it a little.  Set aside.

Sautee mushrooms with a little butter.

In a large sauce pan combine, alfredo sauce, tomatoes, tomato sauce, mushrooms, spinach and more red pepper flakes.  Simmer on low until everything is heated through…do not scorch, watch carefully.

In a large serving bowl, mix noodles, chicken and sauce, stirring well.

Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve with garlic bread…

Hope you love it like Nick and I did…Nick had two servings and we have some nice leftovers, so I would say it made about 6 servings.

Nick stated that it had great flavor but I needed to work a little more on my presentation…guess i shouldn’t have used the plastic plates and he needs to quit watching “Chopped”.

PENNE ROSA  PRINT RECIPE HERE

blog winners!!!

Just want to let you know how the winners were picked Jeter and Presley were very busy, they have a guest over (Bruty) and would not cooperate with me…I am working with Lisa C. on our new designs for market…she is the graphic designer…so I asked her to pick the kit winners…Nick picked the big prize winners….I want you to all know I am very fair and do not just pick the ones who brown- nose a little…lol…love you all thanks for participating!!

On Sep 15, 2012, at 9:58 AM, Lisa Bongean wrote:

can you do me a favor?…pick 12 numbers between 1 and 753…

you will be picking the winners for the blog hop…

From: Lisa Christensen <lmchrist@comcast.net>

Subject: Oh the responsibility….592

Date: September 15, 2012 8:59:54 AM CDT

To: Lisa Bongean <lisa.bongean@yahoo.com>

On Sep 15, 2012, at 10:02 AM, Lisa Bongean wrote:

can you pic 12 or are you sending them to me one at a time? lol…

: Lisa Christensen <lmchrist@comcast.net>

Subject: Oops (I need to learn to read directions)….592, 111, 34, 682, 2, 296, 14, 200, 138, 327, 475, 753

The above numbers are the winners of the kits…

I asked Nick for his three numbers…these will be the winners for the Fat 1/8 pack and the 2 honey buns….

His picks were 16, his baseball number, 23, my birthday and 557 don’t know what that is from…

Now  I will go and see who won, by looking at the numbers: if you click on the link it will bring you to the post and if this is you, you WIN!!!

#2  Nancy Augustine    September 10, 2012 at 8:32 am : kit
#34 Connie F  September 10, 2012 at 8:49 am: kit
#557 Rebecca H September 10, 2012 at 7:25 pm honey bun
Winners…you need to contact me by email:   info@primitivegatherings.us
with your mailing info…you have 1 week to claim your prize!!!

Blog Hop and Quilt Show, in Oaks PA

I hope everyone is enjoying the HOP….I have a lot of people commenting…so cool…Just a little tease…i found more than 10 charms, so I will have lots to give away!

I am staying home designing quilts for Fall market from my new line “Snowman Gatherings” i will give you some peeks later….

Nick is in PA at the Quiltfest!  He wanted me to send out a post letting you all know he is going to be there and you are to come visit!!! Booth 522..Click Here for info:  http://quiltfest.com/activities.asp?id=4   10-6 Thursday- Sunday!

Look for “our” red/green quilt in this issue of Fons & Porter out in early October…I have to admit I am a little bummed “our” quilt did not make the cover….I have never had cover…would have been nice….I don’t quite get why they put a non-holiday table runner on the cover of the Christmas issue???? but oh well, thats the way it goes…Linda (the quilting goddess) is very upset, I am worried I might have to drive to MI and have an intervention…every text i get she brings it up!!…Her quilting deserved to be on the cover….that’s all I’m saying…all for now…I know you are all busy blog hopping…Good Luck to all!

My home town…Moda Designer Blog Post..

Hey Everyone…today is my day to post!….I would really love to thrill you with all the wonders of my “Hometown”-but If I am really honest…I have never felt like this is my hometown…I have lived here in Menasha, WI for about 20 years…my real hometown is 10 miles away…Little Chute WI…but this post is supposed to be about where I live now…Menasha is just under 20,000 people. Everyone knows Menasha by our sister twin city Neenah…they always say… yes…Neenah/Menasha….Neenah is the city on the right side of the tracks and we are the other…Menasha is home to mostly hard working blue-collar folks who love their High School Football, Green Bay Packers and the Milwaukee Brewers.  We are sitting right on top of the biggest inland lake in the state…Winnebago, which means stinky water, by the way…and this year is was really “stinky”…but we will not go into that…It’s a sore spot…we have a nice boat that hasn’t moved since July 4th, which is supposed to be my escape…  I will talk about this in another post…
Lately I feel like my home is at the next “Quilt Show”….I love the thrill of wondering who I will meet, quilters are the best people, how will my class go?,  Will the quilts be awesome or just so so?   Will our sales be higher than last year’s?  When you work as hard as my crew does, you want to always to better than the previous year…and I have to admit…only twice it has not happened.  Part of my home is on the road traveling by plane or a truck, pulling a 24 foot trailer loaded to the max with all that wool and quilting stuff!  This week coming up is the 2nd time this summer I am not going to a show…I am trying to not have to do every show.  I need some time to work on this Fall’s Market Quilts featuring my next line called -Snowman Gatherings.   Nick will be gone and I will have a week before I have to leave for MN to teach at Gruber’s Quilt shop…This is kind of how my life works…home and on the road.
Now in the post I am supposed to talk about some of the best places in my hometown…hmmm…I’ve been thinking about these questions and I have even asked Luke and Jake these questions while were were driving home from the Madison quilt show last night and they kind of laughed…and then the answer from them was Primitive Gatherings!!! I have to admit I think the best thing about Menasha is Primitive Gatherings!!! When I was in front of the town board earlier this year, one of the board members kind of admitted it himself…he stated the only reason women come to this town is for your shop!!! So I think we are the best thing in Menasha…and the best place to eat is where??? my friends from my quilting retreat house know…Terri’s cooking!!!  Enough said…
So lets get to the real reason for this post…what is my project!!! It is pictured below…you know I had to add some wool to those little charms…and most of you know I love 9 patches…so this is what I came up with for you!!!
Primitive Gatherings-Moda Candy Project   click here for the directions
Below are three little gifts Moda has sent for this blog hop…By the way…Moda is the best fabric company! Right????
They sent a fat 1/8 pack and 2 honey buns…
I am also going to give away the kits for this project!!! Now here is the problem…I know I have about 10 of them….but if I only can come up with eight or nine you have to forgive me…
To try and win one of these awesome prizes….
comment on this post…tell me who you are, where you are from and if you love your “hometown” or if your heart is really in another place….
Jeter and Presley will be picking the winners…how I don’t know yet, but we will figure it out…lol
all for now…good luck! I will post winners on the 15th of September!!!
The next blog post for September 11

Madison 2012

 
 

Another Madison Quilt Expo is in the books…I hope everyone had a great time… I know I sure did! Our booth was so packed it was CRAZY!

My helpers Luke and Jake, had a blast and proved to their Mom that they can run a booth and sell our stuff! I left them to the wolves and taught an hour lecture each day, which really was about 2 hours each day by the time i left the booth and came back…I hope all of you had a great experience.  The Madison show is a really nice show… I love being able to meet the quilters and talk about wool. Next year I will do things a little different, so look for a change in my lectures…

Above is a sample of some of my favorite quilts from the show…(to be honest, I had about 15min to breeze through it, so I appologize for not getting everyone’s name w/quilt…my comments are what I liked about them)….click on them and they will enlarge.

We couldn’t leave our booth and spent any freetime before the show opened restocking!  We were beat…it was an intense 3 days.  I don’t feel so bad now…if the 20 year olds are tired too, then I am not doing so bad…

Moda Designer Blog Hop…Coming Soon…September 5-15th


During this blog hop you will learn about each Moda designers home town!
We all will have giveaways!!! So visit our sites and try to win our great prizes!
Learn about the new pre-cut Moda Candy, and collect all of our patterns.
Here is the line up for who is posting and on what day…
Sept. 8
BUNNY HILLKATE SPAIN and DEB STRAINSept. 9
PIECES FROM MY HEARTLAUREN & JESSE Jung and FIG TREE & CO

Sept. 10
PRIMITIVE GATHERINGSLILY ASHBURY and FRENCH GENERAL

Sept. 11
LUCIE SUMMERS and COTTON WAY 

Sept. 12
KANSAS TROUBLESMALKA DUBRAWSKY and LAUNDRY BASKET QUILTS

Sept. 13
KATHY SCHMITZSWEETWATER and V AND CO.

Sept. 14
MINICK & SIMPSONJenn Ski and ZEN CHIC

Sept. 15
Prizes will be announced on each blog.
Stop by Moda’s blog the Cutting Table throughout the hop.