Very busy weekend. Saturday we went to lunch at Applebee’s (I had a shrimp spinach salad which was outstanding) and then we went to see our first movie all summer, “This is Where I Leave You”. I really liked it. It had a distinct “Big Chill” vibe. After lunch and the movie we went apple picking at Maple Lane Farm. This is something I took the girls to every year and for the first time I didn’t have a kid to come with me. Lee came though and he really had a good time. As this was something I always did with the girls as a Mom and Daughter thing, Lee had never been and it was fun to go with him. Let me say that like a Georgia peach or an Hawaiian pineapple, NOTHING beats a New England apple fresh from a tree. Yes I know they make great apples in other places, but there is something about the soil and the weather here that produces the quintessential apple. So here’s some pics.
Maple Lane Farm Stand
Maple Lane Farm lots of mums for sale
Lee with his wagon and bucket…so cute
Rows and rows of apples trees. Cortland’s and Macintosh were available to pick
Lee had to have a taste test
Eating with one hand and picking with another…yummy
Picking apples
They sell fresh maple syrup also and pre-picked apples.
The apples only cost $1 a pound if you pick them so we got a HUGE bag for $23. Plus fresh picked off the tree they last at least two weeks. I’ve always wanted to try canning so I thought this would be a good weekend to try it. After apple picking we also got some pickling cucumbers at the local farmers market and then headed to the grocery store. We did better this week at the store btw, only $150 and that included numerous spices I needed for the canning. But by the time we were done it was close to 7pm and too late to start the canning.
Sunday morning I got up and was ready to go. Lee wisely decided he would run some errands, I think partly to avoid the chaos and well really mostly to avoid the chaos. But it also allowed me the opportunity to experiment without anyone looking on. My mother canned quite a bit when I was a kid. She was part of a shared garden once and made the most wonderful jams. I have never tried to can though, mainly because it intimated the heck out of me, but recently Lee, Kay, and I went to a 2 hour class on how to can and I feel much more confident. So I spent the day canning. I made pickles (both Kosher and Dill), some White grape apple butter, and some cinnamon applesauce. It was fun but whew it got pretty hot in the camper by the end and it was a lot of work for a relatively small output. Like the frozen corn, I’ll let you know when we try it over the winter. I did sneak a bite of the applesauce though and it tasted pretty good.
I canned some pickles
For dinner I tried something Fancy (yes fancy Cori) and made Boursin Chicken. It was AWESOME!! and relatively easy. See below for the recipe.
Boursin Baked Chicken
- 4 chicken thighs; boneless
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 cups dried bread crumbs
- 5 oz package Boursin Cheese with herbs
- 1/4 cup butter; melted
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Dip chicken in milk then roll in crumbs; place on baking tray
- Drizzle melted butter over chicken
- Bake for 30 minutes
- Remove chicken from oven and crumble cheese onto chicken
- Cook in oven until cheese is melted (about 3 minutes)
- Gently spread cheese on chicken
- Serve
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I was just wondering if I wanted to try to can some applesauce this year in the rig. I have a few jars still from last year – I’ll have to see. Yours looks yummy! We used to take the kids every year, starting when they were very small and up until teenagers. We would get pumpkins also – now Michelle goes on her own with friends – my son actually told me he wants to take his fiancee’ since she has never been! It’s nice when a tradition continues!
So we just tried the applesauce and it has the consistency of baby food…yikes !!!
What did you use to smush the apples? Sounds like the holes were too small and/or you cooked them too long – I’m sure it tastes good though!
It was a colander with very small holes
Wow….only plain ol’ chicken in our world!! You’re livin’ the life!!!
I know Cori…that boursin cheese is definitely fancy!!
Wow, good for you Tracy! You’re braver than me to attempt such a project in an rv. Canning definitely seems like a lot of work for the return, but it is a good way to store food for a long time. I like to cook and make lots of things from scratch and I keep thinking about this when trying to decide on our rv choice as it definitely needs to have decent kitchen counter space, but this is hard to find in a lot of rv’s. I guess I’ll have to do some improvising here and there if I plan on doing any serious baking. Ditto on the NH apples, especially macs! I can’t find any good varieties here in NC.
Wow, amazing! It all looks yummy though! Yes, the fresh apples in Upstate NY are yummy too. Also, we will be heading from Upstate to VT and then a few days in NH where we’d love to meet up with you guys if you are still there? I left a more detailed msg on RV-Dreams. Let me know if it’ll workout. If it doesn’t, I’ll need some campground tips.
Hi Deb,
I left a long message back plus my cell phone number. Would love to see you guys and left some suggestions including the Ashuelot River Campground I mentioned in this blog. Hope we chat soon!!