More Trip Planning

Not much happening today, so we actually managed to spend some time on our trip planning. We called Lake Park in Lewisville and changed our reservation, so now we're going to be in site #6 for the first two weeks. It's our favorite site, and when we first called, we were told that it wasn't available for the time period we needed. A few minutes later we got a call back. Jay said he had managed to work things out and we could have site #6. We don't know what he did to "work things out," but we're grateful. It's a nice big grassy site with a clear view of the lake.

We're also trying to pencil in the later part of the summer. There are so many possibilities, and it's easy to get bogged down in details.

We've been watching progress as workers attempt to remove a large tree near us. Evidently it is a type that is likely to fall down in storms. They started out ordinarily enough, by removing large branches using chainsaws. But then they started to dig a trench around the remaining tree. They cut the roots, and today they shoved it over with a backhoe. We've certainly never seen a tree removed this way, so we're watching curiously to see what happens next.

I made another really yummy new recipe for supper tonight. It's from the Weeknight Kitchen, a feature of the Splendid Table NPR show. It's called Toasted Chicken Sandwiches with Caramelized Apples and Smoked Gouda, but of course I made some changes. I didn't have Gouda, so I used extra sharp cheddar, and I didn't have honey mustard, so I just mixed together some dijon mustard and some honey... As usual, I didn't use nearly as much olive oil and butter as the recipe calls for. If you don't care for chicken, you can make it with hard boiled eggs, which sounds rather unusual to me. The sandwich really didn't want to hold together, so I ended up grilling the sandwich tops separately. We had to work a bit to hold them together as we ate, but it was definitely worth it. (Recipe follows in the Read More section.)

I made these with some great organic whole grain bakery bread I've been getting from HEB and some Jazz apples. Double yum. We had some leftover butternut squash soup and some green bean and heritage tomato salad.

Toasted Chicken Sandwiches with Caramelized Apples and Smoked Gouda

* 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
* 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
* 2 large onions, halved and thinly sliced
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
* 2 unpeeled apples, such as Honeycrisp or Gala, sliced
* 2 teaspoons sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
* 1/4 cup honey mustard
* 8 sliced country French bread, cut 1/2-inch thick from an oval loaf
* 1 cup shredded smoked Gouda cheese (4 ounces)
* 2 cooked chicken breasts, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)

1. Heat the oil and 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, for 8 to 10 minutes or until they are wilted and golden brown. Transfer to a plate.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon of the remaining butter in the same skillet over medium heat and add the apples. Combine the sugar and allspice and sprinkle over the apples, stirring to coat them. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook the apples for 5 to 8 minutes, or until brown but still slightly crisp, increasing the heat to high if necessary.
3. Spread the mustard over one side of each slice of bread and lightly spread the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter over the other sides. Arrange the cheese over the mustard side of half of the bread slices. Layer with the caramelized onions, chicken, and apples. Top with the remaining bread, mustard-side down.
4. Grill the sandwiches in a skillet or on a griddle, lightly coated with butter or olive oil, over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes or until the bread is toasted golden brown and the cheese is melted, turning as needed.

Serve immediately.

Note: The onions and apples can be cooked (separately) up to 8 hours ahead of time and refrigerated. Bring to room temperature before using.

LYNNE'S TIPS

When we were testing this recipe we made one with some thin wedges of Brie cheese in place of the smoked Gouda. So good.

For non-meat eaters, skip the chicken and use 4 halved hard-cooked eggs. Sear the halved eggs, cut side down, in some butter until they are flecked with brown, sprinkling them with salt and pepper. Then make the sandwich as directed.

It's been warm here, and today the temps went up to the low 80s, but it was windy and overcast, so we didn't hit the pool or hot tub. Tomorrow will be colder and probably rainy, just the weather we need to go stand in line to see a musical, Man of La Mancha, at the university. General admission seating is first-come, first-served, so we plan to be at the box office when it opens at 1:00 p.m. to get tickets for the 2:00 p.m. performance.