Fried Dandelion Blossoms!

Did you know you can eat dandelions?! You can also make tea and other remedies with them for medicinal benefit, or just eat them as healthy greens in your diet. For this recipe I am only using the blossoms which I picked from my own backyard (make sure no chemicals have been used on them!)

I picked maybe 1 cup worth of blossoms, then rinsed them well and squeezed off the excess moisture and patted them dry before doing anything else.

All you need to do is make a simple flour breading and an egg wash. For seasoning I used my faves--salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Have about an inch of oil heating up while you coat each blossom in egg, then in the flour mixture. Gently place in hot oil (don't crowd them) and flip after 2-4 min on each side till golden brown.

Remove from oil and place on paper towel to cool, and continue until all are cooked.

They were delicious! They did not taste like a "flower" or grass or anything weird. It's hard to describe what they tasted like besides just the breading/seasonings. I guess like chicken nuggets without the chicken? Ha! They were especially tasty dipped in ranch--but isn't everything??

Let me know if you try this backyard treat!

Hiking NY: Big Slide 2.0

Last week I finally got out to the Adirondacks for the first hiking/camping trip of the season! I met my buddy Ken at the South Meadow primitive camp site where he was already set up with his tent. I set mine up and realized I forgot my camp chair! I made due with a blanket and cushion. We were only there 1 night so it wasn't a big deal.

He got out his trusty Coleman stove and cooked us up his fave hamburgers. They were delish! After that we hung for a bit but then it started to rain so we put away our things and called it a night around 9pm. The alarms were set for 4am!

This little guy really wanted a piece of our dinner. 

The alarms went off before sunrise, and we hit the trail by 5am. We took the Klondike trail and right off we ran into this area where the bridge is out. Thankfully we were pretty easily able to rock hop over and were on our way.

The trail was actually quite enjoyable by ADK standards!

We passed a very nice lean to site about 3.5 miles in. It was right by the water. I went ahead and topped up my supply as we took a short break.

Finally we got to the junction for Yard mountain! This one is right around 4000' (depending on which map you look at) but does not count toward the 46. However you have to go up and over it to get to Big Slide which was our destination.

The trail got more rocky with scrambles as we summited but there was still patches of nice mostly level trail as well. Our goal was to beat the rain that was due to move in around noon.

We summited Yard around 9am. There wasn't much of a view, but there was this little lookout to enjoy. After a short snack we were on our way to Big Slide.

We got to Big Slide after about an hour from Yard at 10am! There were a few others already there as well so we found a spot to rest and have lunch.

My second time here, his first!

By 1030 we hit the trail to make our way down, and it only took about 30 min to hit Yard again.

We did lose the trail at one point coming down Yard. We were watching our footing and not the trail markers so we missed where it curved. We followed a well defined herd path for about 15 min before we realized that it was not the trail! Obviously many others had done that as well. I used GPS and we back tracked until we found the right trail and continued on!

Our feet were getting sore by the end but we were blessed that the rain held out! We made it back to our cars right at 230pm and only took a moment to throw my tent into my car before the rain started. Perfect timing! I began the 6hr drive home and made it home around 830pm.

Distance: 14 miles out and back

Elevation gain: Approx 2900'

Turning 37!

First off thank you all who gave me birthday wishes and texts yesterday! It's always a bright spot to get some love.

I completed one more rotation around the sun and am now only 3 years away from FORTY. I'm not worried though--I'm coasting happily along with my boys and my hobbies so I can not complain about getting older.

I don't want much but I do love food, so my birthday request was for Nick to take me out to Mooney's in Buffalo which is famous for their mac and cheese! I absolutely love me a good mac and cheese, and theirs is the best I've ever had. They've actually been featured on Food Network before and for good reason. The quantity is insane and I have never been able to eat more than 1/4 of my plate. There are several locations around Buffalo to choose from, but we went to the "closest" one to us in Depew.

I started off with a hard cider while we waited for the food. I ordered my fave--the rodeo mac and cheese! SO GOOD. Made with bbq pulled pork and onion rings in it. Absolutely to die for. My close fave is the taco. But I could only pick one! *Pro tip* go with friends and each order a different one then sample each others!

Nick chose the turkey wrap (he got his bacon on the side bc he doesn't like it but knows I'll eat it!)

This is about how far I made it, haha! I happily took the rest to go and ate some more for dinner later on.

After lunch we went to Tim Hortons for coffee. I'm not a big cake or dessert person, but I do love apple fritters so he got me one to go with my caramel latte. Yum!

After we got back home and settled, I opened up some gifts that had come in the mail from my brother Eric. He got me some Outlander gifts that I love! Nick got me my favorite snacks--Bugles and Arizona green tea. I also got some cards in the mail from family.

The rest of the day we relaxed in the house then took an evening walk together before the much needed rain moved in. A wonderful day!

Memorial Weekend Fun at Olcott

We took our yearly opening weekend visit out to Olcott, NY for a lunch picnic and to visit the Carousel Park. Brad outgrew the kiddie rides a few years ago so he plays skee ball and arcade games while Jacob rides the rides. However this year will be Jacob's last bc he will be too big after this!

The old band organ playing carnival music by the merry-go-round.

After riding all the rides, we had our picnic in the shade with a view of Lake Ontario. It was a beautiful day and the weather was perfect! Warm sun and cool lake breeze. Even though the boys are both too big to ride the rides anymore, we will still come back for a nice picnic in the future.

They do have a small rocky swimming beach that was open this day. Jacob wanted to see how cold the water was! He said it was warm, but it was chilly.

A moment of brotherly sweetness on the ride back home!