Growing up in Texas and Colorado, I picked pumpkins, climbed mountains, and stood in fields of blue bonnets…but I didn’t spend any time walking amongst apple trees.
Luckily, I married my husband who has roots in rural Pennsylvania. On one of our first trips out East together, we visited an apple orchard…and I quickly fell in love with that quintessential fall excursion. With bucket in hand I sampled apple after apple, marveling at their crispness, their sweetness. Heirloom varieties were marked by wooden signs, and the apples from those trees were far better than anything I’d had from a grocery store. Back at the wooden shack, we bought apple butter and cider donuts from women with long skirts. I talked about that farm for days…I’m still talking about it now!
If only we had apple orchards in Colorado Springs.
Lucky for me, I did find a few local farms (about an hour away from home) and signed up for a picking day sometime in September or October. I’m eagerly awaiting an email telling me exactly when and where. I’ll be ready, with Lucy in her Moby wrap, and we’ll spend a cool Colorado morning walking through those neat and fruitful rows.
Speaking of my little love…Lucy is 6 weeks old! She’s started smiling whenever Ryan and I come into the room, and I don’t know if anything has melted my heart like her eyes lighting up when she catches my gaze. We went to our first La Leche League meeting on Wednesday, and I couldn’t have felt more at home with those beautiful women and their babies. I felt empowered and connected, which was a very good for this new and inexperienced mom. Lucy also went to two fancy restaurants this week. Yes two! She slept through both meals. The bustling of a full dining room must have done the trick. My one-year-old nephew also went to dinner with us…and I realized we better take advantage of Lucy sleeping through meals!
Harvest Apple Salad
*From McCormick
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and thinly sliced
Juice of 1 lemon
1/3 cup cider vinegar
1/3 cup honey
1 teaspoon McCormick® Gourmet Collection Roasted Saigon Cinnamon
1/4 cup olive oil
8 cups salad greens, such as arugula, red leaf lettuce or Romaine lettuce
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese (about 4 ounces)
1/2 cup pistachio nuts
Cover apple slices with cold water. Add lemon juice. Let stand until ready to serve.
Mix vinegar, honey and roasted cinnamon in small bowl with wire whisk. Gradually add oil, whisking until well blended.
To serve, divide greens among 8 plates. Top each with drained apple slices, apricots, blue cheese and pistachio nuts. Serve with dressing.
I love apple picking! I am so excited for Fall … something about the orchards, the cool weather … sigh. Can you tell I’m ready for it? This salad sounds delicious : )
What a delicious looking salad. The first time I went apple picking was in Michigan. I’ll always have great memories of visiting the cider mill every year we lived there. Luckily we will be able to do that here in North Carolina too! Fall is my favorite season. I bet Lucy will enjoy it too!
What a beautiful salad – and a gorgeous little lady! 🙂 We don’t have any real orchards close by, but it sounds like such a fun activity.
Apple picking is one of my favorite things to do! (And I’d say eating apple cider donuts comes in a close second, followed by making applesauce to eat up all fall and winter.) 🙂
Lucy is just beautiful! Have a wonderful weekend, Monet.
This is the exact salad I crave, like ALL the time! I love gorgonzola and apples in salads – so crisp, refreshing, with the right amount of tang! YUM! Happy 6-weeks to Lucy, the little doll!
This salad looks perfect! I would love to go to an orchard picking day I’m going to have to see if we have one locally. I bet Lucy will love all the new sights and sounds when you go.
I grew up in apple country and, even here, we have prolific apple orchards. The salad looks delicious!! It’s always a treat to view sweet baby Lucy. She’s beautiful.
Best,
Bonnie
Lovely salad! You are so impressive and watching you balance writing and parenting is inspirational!
PS- have you checked out the orchards on the Western Slope? You should go over there some weekend!
I love apple picking and I’m so excited for fall! My hubs and I actually got married in an apple orchard 🙂
Lucy is so adorable!! And your salad sounds amazing…I happen to love apples and cheese in salad. Love that you added dried apricots. Yum!!
Oh yes, good seasonal apples are THE BEST. We used to pick apples and then get hot apple cider & a long twisted doughnut at the cider mill in Michigan…perfect. This salad sounds like such a good way to eat the new seasonal apples! Such a great contrast with crispy greens and pungent cheese.
Yep, I grew up in Louisiana and there was definitely no apple picking for me! Then, when I moved to Indiana for grad school, we went apple picking for the first time and I LOVED it! We were able to do it in Pennsylvania as well when we lived there, but now that we’re down in Alabama, sadly, I think our apple picking days are over. 🙁
Salad looks delicious– so fresh and great flavors!!
You are making it very hard for me to pay attention to your recipes… I remember very well my first time on your site, you made croissants and placed a link to my blog – I never stopped visiting, because I am very fond of your style of cooking and your writing, and your cooking photos.
Well, how on Earth is it possible that it all changed? I don’t even care what you blog about, I want to see Lucy at each new post, new week, new phase! See what you did?
:-o)))))
Yay for apple picking! I’m so glad you found a place not too far away to take Lucy on her first excursion. I grew up in New York where fall apple-picking trips were an essential part of childhood, and I can still taste those incredible cider doughnuts now, mmm 🙂
Happy 6 weeks to little Lucy (and that picture – so precious!)! Enjoy your weekend, Monet!
Very healthy salad!
Apple picking! Are you planning on coming to Penrose or Canon City for apples? I grew up in Penrose and there are a lot of pick your own farms there. We actually just got married at one in June, I highly recommend. 🙂
Apple picking is great! We have many orchards here and fall is a fun time of year visiting them with all their activities. Your salad sounds great, and I am bookmarking the recipe for fall. Lucy is precious, so pretty! I had to laugh when you said, “I realized we better take advantage of Lucy sleeping through meals!”
Apple picking is about an hour away from us too. In fact, the year I had my son, my husband refused to go apple picking because he was positive I would end up going into labor on the way there or back and it’s such a rural area he’d have to deliver the baby!
The apple orchards here are nothing like the ones I grew up with on the east coast – I hope the ones by you are more similar to your East Coast experience! They already sound like it. Apple picking here is usually over by mid September!
Has it really been six weeks? Your precious little bundle is growing! That salad is perfect for the hot weather we’ve been having. 🙂
My goodness – your little girl is growing fast! What a cutie. And this salad is just what I need right now after coming home from vacation. I need to eat lots of greens this week!
Hi Monet,
So wonderful to be picking apples, I have always wanted to do that!
Your apple salad looks really good!
The photo of little Lucy taking a nap is just so precious!
Thanks for sharing!
Apple picking is so fun!! And I can’t believe Lucy is already 6 weeks old. Sending her loads of love and hugs! xoxo
Thanks for sharing this beautiful salad recipe, I sure would love to try it sometime.
The salad is stunning… Apples are beautiful addition to a fall salad. I hope that you get the chance to pick bushels and bushels of apples soon.
Lucy is beautiful. Indeed enjoy her before she wants to be awake in restaurants.
Velva
I once took a 6 year old apple picking here in California. We had to wind up a mountain road for what seemed like hours. Once we got there we were told no more apples. A freak windstorm had stripped the trees free of fruit the week before. I was devastated and worried how my little companion would take the news. He didn’t care he had already zoomed off, running around the orchard and climbing trees having the time of his life. Kids! There are lessons to be learned from those little people. GREG
Monet, apple picking is just wonderful – I love the way the apple orchards smell during harvest season and apples have always been my favorite early fall fruit – you made a very lovely and healthy salad and your little girl looks like a true princess! Just amazing!
Hugs and kisses and tons of good wishes from all of us!
Thanks for visiting my blog! I hope your sister finds mine helpful!
This looks delicious! The weather is getting cooler already and I’m super excited for apples again. I love, love nuts in salad too. I thought the dried apricots were golden beets.. either sounds amazing but they look really pretty too.
Apples are my FAVORITE. I have at the very least one a day. Great idea to use them in salad!
What a cutie!!! Yes for sure enjoy going out to dinners with her happily snoozing. We’ll go out to dinner with our now 2.5 yr old but it’ll be bright and early at 6pm and something to the tune of family style italian restaurant. If we want romantic dinner- it’s off to grandma for little Mo.
Oh and I LOVE PA for apple picking, I used to live in NYC so driving out to PA in the fall was always a lovely treat!
Monet, your daughter looks precious. What a beautiful little girl!
This harvest salad has me longing for fall. Apples are one of my favorite fall fruits. My husband and I went apple picking last year. The orchard was beautiful, and so peaceful. And I still remember how much I loved the apple cider donuts. Yum!
I know I was supposed to be looking at the food – lovely salad, btw, but all I want to see are photos of Lucy. She’s the cutest thing ever!
6 weeks!! That’s when Logan really started to change and become more social and more fun. This salad sounds so refreshing and light!
Yeah, that sleeping through meals doesn’t last forever. 😉 You’ll have a great time picking apples. I’ve done that before, but it’s been forever – I need to do it again. Great salad – love the combo of flavor. Fun post – thanks.
What a beautiful salad! Sounds like you have a wonderful day of apple picking coming up.
Every stage has blessings that come with it, so enjoy the ones you currently can!
I love this salad and it would be so perfect with Thanksgiving dinner (Thanksgiving’s in early October here). This and your story about apple picking have me craving Fall already!
We live in apple country around here – upstate NY has a LOT of apples! Definitely saving this to try once they begin to ripen – apples are perfect for salads – just the right amount of sweetness! [the baby has just the right amount of sweetness too!]
Dearest Monet – Lucy is BEAUTIFUL. I hope you’re well and getting stronger by the day. Enjoy motherhood and with delicious salads like this, you’re off to a superb start 🙂
The salad looks great, but it’s too soon for me to think about apples and fall. I never want summer to end.
Beautiful salad!!! Love all the ingredients and flavors you put in it!!
This sounds so good, especially with cinnamon. I absolutely love apple picking. Lucy is adorable!
Beautiful little daughter and a wonderful looking salad.