Robert H. Treman State Park

This past Saturday, Jared and I decided to explore Robert H. Treman State Park in Ithaca, NY. Neither of us had been there before and I have to say it's my new favorite park. Check out Jared's post on it here for more details of what we did and saw, including waterfalls, hiking, and swimming.

To fuel our journey into the wilderness I prepared a picnic lunch of a roasted beet salad and chicken salad with rice crisps. Jared supplied a delicious berry smoothie for dessert.

The Roasted Beet Salad was inspired by this post on 125.msn.ca (my ultimate blog/girl crush, Liz let's be BFFs, mkay?). Below is my take on it:

For this salad you will need to roast some beets (not as hard as you may think). As your beets are roasting, saute some rinsed chickpeas with sliced vadalia onions on medium heat. When the onions are softened and translucent, add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (be careful because it may spit) and cook with the chickpeas and onions for a minute more. Set aside and let cool. Once the beets are cooked and peeled, cut into bite-sized chunks and let cool. In a jar or bowl (we used mason jars for portability) layer spinach, crunchy bean sprouts, the cooked chickpea and onion mixture, and top with the beets. Drizzle on a little EVOO and a dash more of balsamic vinegar if your heart desires. When you're ready to eat, simply shake the jar up and eat directly out of the container or on paper plates (remember NY state parks are "carry in, carry out").

Mandy's Summer Chicken Salad

 

Shred 1 lb of pre-cooked chicken breast (or buy a roasted chicken from the supermarket, that works really well too) and set in a bowl. Add in 3/4 cup of sour cream (or Greek yogurt for less fat and more protein) and 1/2 cup mayonnaise, mix well with the shredded chicken until thoroughly combined. Then add in  1 & 1/2 tsp of dried thyme, 1/2 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp dried oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Mix together and serve on crackers or sliced cucumber rounds! Super duper easy. I like simple flavors in my chicken salad, but feel free to tweak this recipe with different kinds and quantities of herbs.

Some photos from our hike that same afternoon. 

 Jared nom nom noming on all of the yummy food.

 So we've hiked trails all over the Finger Lakes and we have never seen any snakes on any of those hikes before, but yesterday we saw 3! Eeeekkk!

What is your favorite thing to make for a picnic? And what is one of your favorite hiking trails?

Where In The World Is Mandy Eats?

Hello Dear Readers!

So that week off from blogging turned into a month off. Whoops. Life, it'll get ya sometimes. But despite not posting, I have kept this blog in the back of my mind and I have been chronicalling my adventures over the past month.

Watkins Glen Harbor (and hotel)

Upon my return from North Carolina, Jared surprised me with a mid week romantic night's stay at the Harbor Hotel in Watkin's Glen. (And the best boyfriend award goes to...) The weather was sort of crap, but made for some beautiful/interesting pictures of the water. Also the hotel was amazing! A little pricey (in my opinion) for more than a one or two night stay, but was well worth the money withs it's amazing rooms and amenities.

MicroClimate [a wine bar]

I've written about MicroClimate before (here) but had not been back actually since then! For shame! I went on a date with a friend there to catch up, and we both decided to get the wine flights; Gewürztraminer for me and the sparkling flight for her. You know how I love my Gewürztraminer -my favorites were the Chilean and Finger Lakes wines. We also shared the charcuterie platter -olives, bread, cheese and cured meats?! Yes please! (Side note: micro climate you are amazing, but could you please, please install some air conditioning. It be real hot and humid out there and I don't appreciate sweating through my shorts as I'm drinking my wine (true story)).

Epic Cloud Action
These pictures were taken on a drive on Route 79 between Watkin's Glen and Ithaca one sunny morning, and I just have a thing for photographing epic clouds. My iPhone doesn't capture it that well, but you can see sooooo far at this point. Love it.

Destiny USA (AKA Carousel Mall)
I haven't been to this mega mall in Syracuse, NY since it officially became Destiny USA. There is so much to do there! Besides the obvious shopping, they have a variety of family friendly activities ranging from "meh" (the glow in the dark mini golf) to "this is freaking amazing!" (the high-speed go karts and 3-story ropes course). They also have a nice selection of higher-end chain restaurants (ie, The Melting Pot, P.F. Chang's, Koto Japanese Steakhouse, etc) and we ended up eating at Cantina Laredo because the waiting time for a table for 10 (I went with my family) was 2 hours, psh. However the Cantina Laredo was able to accommodate use right away and their food was amazing with a fresh, modern atmosphere. If you ever go, I highly recommend the guacamole (made table side and was incredibly fresh). I ordered the Tacos de Pollo (ie. Chicken Tacos).

A lot of these photos are on my Instagram @MandyLouWho88. Subscribe to it to see more of my adventures!