Quick, Short Trip

This last week we had a bit of a window without parental appointments and shopping needs, so we drove back up to Huckleberry and stayed Monday through Thursday. Linda went online and reserved the exact spot where we stayed two weeks ago. We arrived early afternoon on Monday and were set up with cocktails by 2 PM.

I have been trying to get better at cooking in a Dutch oven. For this excursion, I had collected the ingredients for a very tasty chicken cordon bleu meal we have tried before. I made some adjustments to the cooking process and it came out very nicely.

The recipe called for using crescent rolls that you buy uncooked and then bake them in the oven. The process calls for assembling the meal starting with the crescent roll dough on the bottom and then layering the ingredients up prior to baking. What worked really well for me was to place the crescents in the bottom of the pan and bake them before you layer the rest of the ingredients. Once the dough is baked, I took and flipped the baked crescent roll bread over and then built the layers of the recipe on top of the brown crust.

Here is the entire recipe for you to try:

Deep Dish Chicken Cordon blue
1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls (8 rolls)
2 tablespoons unsalted or salted butter
1 tablespoon Crisco® 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Pure Olive Oil
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 box (13.25 oz) frozen baked honey-battered chicken tenders, thawed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces, or 1 (NOTE: I used Costco rotisserie chicken instead of the tenders. Cheaper and better flavor!) deli rotisserie chicken (2 to 2 1/2 lb), shredded
16 slices (1 oz each) Muenster cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon horseradish sauce or cream-style prepared horseradish
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/8 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
1lb shaved cooked brown-sugar or maple-glazed ham (from the deli)

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 13×9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish with Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray. Unroll crescent rolls in baking dish; press perforations to seal. Bake 10 to 13 minutes or until light golden brown.
2. Meanwhile, in 10-inch skillet, heat butter, and oil over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook 2 to 3 minutes, stirring frequently, until softened. Remove from heat; stir in cut-up chicken tenders.
3. Place 8 slices of the Muenster cheese over baked crust. In a small bowl, stir Parmesan cheese, mayonnaise, mustard, lemon juice, honey, horseradish sauce, and thyme until well blended. Spoon half of the mayonnaise mixture evenly over cheese on crust.
4. Spoon chicken mixture evenly over mayonnaise mixture on crust. Spoon remaining mayonnaise mixture evenly over chicken. Cover chicken evenly with ham. Top with remaining 8 slices Muenster cheese.
5. Bake 15 to 20 minutes longer or until cheese is melted and filling is thoroughly heated.

With a Dutch oven, it takes a bit more time to get things right, but when it is finished... oh la la. I also used much less chess (8 slices total)

Of course, I finished off the meal by making some cinnamon rolls in the top Dutch and yes, we ate too much!

On Tuesday I went fishing and Linda read her book. She is reading a great book by William Finnegan called Barbarian Days - A Surfing Life. It is a great read and we both highly recommend it. While fishing I caught three fish, but only one was of an impressive size.

Wednesday I went out fishing once again, but this time I caught, what I would call, two real hogs! I was using a beat-up old grasshopper pattern, and those two big boys were hungry. It was sure fun, and both of those cutthroats slurped the fly in classic dolphin attack fashion. Great fights and I was able to release them untouched.

As I was letting the adrenalin rush of catching and releasing a huge fish pass, I stepped on an unstable rock and it sat me down into the water. I got wet, but it cooled me off and I didn’t hurt anything but my pride so all was good.

Back at camp Linda and I had a happy hour and enjoyed the evening.  New rigs were coming in and setting up. We met some very nice folks and chatted about camping and retirement. It was a fun evening.

On Thursday we loaded up and drove back into town. These short adventures give us a chance to get away and relax. We will definitely be doing more of them before the snow flies!

Yes, those are guides shorts. No laughing!

First Trip Up River

We spent the weekend up the St. Joe River at Huckleberry Campground with our good friends the Andersons. Rayelle, Mike and Julia are so fun to camp with; we always have a great time.

The campground was nearly full when we arrived on Thursday afternoon.  We spent the late afternoon hours setting up the camper and trying to get in contact with Linda's parents. Because of past experiences, we are not able to go to places where we can not keep in touch with her folks. Huckleberry has set up an area that provides WIFI this year. It became a necessity when the campground went to a reservation-only system. Now you can get online to check email or make a reservation for an open campsite. We use our phones and the Skype App to call her parents and check-in. 

The Andersons arrived at about 6:00 PM. They set up their trailer and got ready for the weekend. After everyone ate we gathered by the campfire and caught up on each others' lives.  It was so good to just laugh and talk.

At the Avery Museum fish pond.

On Friday we loaded in Mike's truck and drove upriver stopping at all the tourist sites. The Forest Service Station, Avery Train Museum, and the town of Avery proper were all huge on our sightseeing list. As we left the metropolis of Avery, Rayelle kept pointing out places that she thought they had used, a long time ago, to enter the river for an innertube float trip. By the time we got to our turn around point at Turner Flats, every road pull-out, side road, or wide spot was mentioned as a possible location of historic adventure from Rayelle's past.

We walked across the footbridge just above the Turner Flats Campground and hiked to the ridge top where we got a good view up the river. Once we were back in the truck all that was talked about was ice cream from the Idaho Fly Fishing Shop back in Avery. We stopped and purchased some delicious cones and then completed our tour of the St. Joe River back at camp.

The Avery Train Museum Dining Car.

Back at Huckleberry, Linda and I fixed dinner and then Julia beat everyone in a rousing game of Dark Quarkle. Dark Quarkle is just Quarkle played outside in the dark using Luci Lights for elimination. Julia, being young, had a definite sight advantage over the rest of us more mature players.

Early Saturday morning the clouds rolled in and we got rained upon. Everyone was tucked in bed, but when we woke up the clouds were still covering the sky so the day was a bit cooler. After a delicious camp breakfast prepared by Mike and Rayelle, Mike and I went for a drive and found a secluded spot where we could shoot his firearms. Mike was very patient with me and explained how they were used safely. I don't get many chances to shoot guns so this was a very fun and interesting thing to do.

Mike and Julia where they belong.

Linda, Rayelle, and Julia stayed back at camp where they tried to find the sunshine. Most of the day was spent reading and keeping warm.

We ate dinner over at the Anderson camp and then sat around the campfire. We moved inside to the light and played Quarkle again and this time I was able to squeak out a victory. I believe it was because we could see all the tiles clearly.

On Sunday we packed up and drove back to civilization. It was a great weekend break and we truly enjoyed being together with our good friends.

On the footbridge above Turner Flats.

Baldfaced Hornets!