Green Chile Hummus

How exactly do you begin sorting through hundreds of vacation photos?  I think procrastination has it's place sometimes...so instead of looking those photos full on in the face, I got back into my humble little kitchen after a week away.  Green chiles are still my great love affair of the moment.  Paired with hummus, it's a perfect blend of smooth lemony hummus and a bit of green chile kick. 

Does hummus really need a recipe?  You just throw one 15 ounce can of drained garbanzos into a food processor along with juice of one lemon, 1/4 cup olive oil, one heaping spoonful of tahini(some say this is optional but I think tahini is essential)  and 2 garlic gloves and puree like CRAZY.   To make it green chile hummus I threw in 2 freshly roasted chiles peeled and chopped and 1/2 tsp cumin before pureeing. 

Easy peasy.

I love buying those fancy schmancy sandwiches for lunch that have hummus in them.  Throw them on a sandwich or wrap at home and you'll think you have a pretty schmance sandwich too. 

Hummus is much easier than sorting through vacation photos. 

Green Chile Hummus

1 15oz can garbanzos rinsed and drained
2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
juice of one lemon
1/4-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 freshly roasted and peeled green chiles, roughly chopped
1 heaping tbsp tahini
1/2 tsp cumin

Add all ingredients to food processor and blend thoroughly

Bears in the Alaskan Wild

This may be my heaviest photo post yet but when you go on a once-in-a-lifetime Alaska Bear Adventure and take hundreds of photos, how do you choose your favorites?

We've had some pretty rainy cold weather my entire stay here which has put a bit of a damper on planned activities like hiking and glacier cruises and sea life viewing.  Since the Bear Adventure was already locked in and paid for, we made the 4 hour drive to Homer in the rain.  We awoke early the next day for our 7:30 start time only to see the rain was still coming steadily down.  Sad. When we arrived though we were a bit encouraged to hear that it was supposed to be much nicer in Katmai where we were headed.

    

First we had to gear up.  Hip waders are more fun than you'd imagine.  You can walk right through mud and across streams without worry.  

We had a 1.5 hour flight out to Katmai National Park in a Cessna.  Once we were above the clouds and  past the rainy peninsula, the views were outstanding. 

Homer Spit

Initial views of the mountains and glaciers of Katmai National Park.

First bear viewing from the plane

Landing at Katmai 

Our guide Michael walked us right up to within 20 yards of this mama bear and cubs.  I kept expecting him to stop but he didn't until we were seated right across the stream from them.  While there were moments of initial hesitation on my part, none of the bears really even seemed to take notice of us.  This mama bear even came within 20 feet of us when she was chasing a salmon and still pretty much ignored us.  

Michael was thorough in explaining bear behavior and instructing us on when to remain single file, when to kneel and when to tighten up as a group and why it was important.

Mama's baby cubs--I named them Lucy and Linus.  They were absolutely darling of course and watching them interact with each other and mama bear in their natural environment was truly one of those experiences you don't forget.  Linus was assertive and grabbed the salmon while poor Lucy chased after him whining and begging for some.  I'm pretty sure she even told on him at one point. 

Mama bear found a salmon.  We watched all of these bears dawdle and mosey along slower than molasses so it truly is a surprising thing when one suddenly charges across the stream at lightening speed...seemingly at you.  After a quick skip of a heartbeat, we saw she was actually fishing.  

She was so fast she caught two...one in her mouth and one under her front paws. 

We were close enough to hear the surprisingly loud cracking and crunching of salmon bones (who knew they had such loud ones) and see what appears to be guts flying out of the fish.  It was kind of cool to see the full size photo and realize they are actually salmon eggs.

Salmon sushi

We saw these two huge guys playing together later on in the morning.  Mama bear kept far away from them.  

This was such an unbelievable experience--we ended up seeing 7 bears altogether.  We absolutely felt safe surrounded by these giants and the pictures don't truly do justice to the experience of watching bears living and interacting in the wild.  I'd plan another entire trip here just to do it again.  

Blueberry Pie

Labor Day.  The holiday where we celebrate our roles as workers in the American labor force by well, not laboring.  I love this holiday.  The excitement begins to build as autumn becomes more real.  And of course, just like Memorial Day, Labor Day is another three day weekend where getting away is almost a requirement to me.  

Tomorrow I'm heading to Alaska to visit my friend Mel.  To me, that seems almost adventurous enough.  But really, it's not.  Mel and I are booked for an Alaskan Bear Adventure this holiday weekend.  Yep, yep, we are getting up close and personal with those cuddly bears.  The tour guides fly us on a bush plane right into Katmai into prime bear country and we walk right up to those furry creatures and do a little bro fist knuckle bump.  Some of the photos I've seen from the tour's Facebook page, web page and others who have taken it, show that you get pretty darned close to them....like in the same camera frame close.  Reading about the bear attack in Denali this past weekend where 50 yards was entirely too close and hearing the recommended distance is quarter mile should be enough to deter us, or so you'd think.  But alas, it's not and we are off on a little adventure.  Wish us luck.

Blueberry pie is much sweeter and gentler than bears and a great All-American dessert to celebrate a great All-American end to the summer.  Hope your Labor Days are safe, exciting, fun, and fantastic!

Cheers,

Dances With Bears

Blueberry Pie

Ingredients:

1 Pillsbury Pie Crust 2 pack
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp teaspoon ground cinnamon, if desired
6 cups blueberries
1 tsp lemon zest

1 tsp lemon juice
1 egg with 1 tbsp water beaten together to make egg wash
Large granulated sugar crystals for topping

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 425°F. 
2. Unroll one pie crust and place in bottom of pie dish.  Press into crevices if needed. 
3. In large bowl combine blueberries, sugar, flour, cinnamon and lemon juice and zest.  Mix well. 
4. Spoon into pastry-lined pie plate.
5. Cut remaining crust into long strips and weave into lattice top. Fold over at the edges and crimp to seal.  Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.
6. Cover edge with 2- to 3-inch strip of foil to prevent excessive browning.
7. Bake 35 to 45 minutes or until crust is golden brown and juice begins to bubble through top crust, removing foil for last 15 minutes of baking.
8. Cool on cooling rack at least 2 hours.

Pumpkin Dutch Baby Pancakes with Cream Cheese Drizzle

I know that I should wait until Labor Day before I begin my shift to autumn but being one week early isn't too bad right?  Denver mornings have been deliciously chilly enough to need a fleece and I've seen autumn type flowers at the market.  I needed pumpkin too.

Since my mini cast iron skillets were sitting on the stove, it was a pretty obvious thing to me that I needed to make a pumpkin version of dutch babies.

I turned to my favorite dutch baby recipe and ran it through a couple of trials.  I feared just straight pumpkin would make the batter too heavy to rise, even with less flour, and I was right.  For the second trial I beat the egg whites into stiff peaks and folded it into the rest of the batter that had been blended together.   This allowed the pancakes to rise perfectly in the oven and deflate when pulled out. 

Pumpkin pancakes of course call for a cream cheese drizzle....cream cheese, vanilla, sugar and milk.  Not too shabby.

This is definitely a make again and again type recipe for the fall season.  Extra cream cheese drizzles make it all the better. 

Pumpkin Dutch Babies

4 tsps butter, cut into one tsp slices

2/3 cup flour

3 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/4 cup milk

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/2 tsp pumpin pie spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 large egg whites

4 oz cream cheese (1/2 block)

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

1. Place the flour, sugar, salt, 1 cup of the milk, vanilla, pumpkin, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice and 2 whole eggs into a blender and process for 30 seconds. Let rest for 1 hour at room temp or overnight in refrigerator. (If refrigerating, allow batter to come to room temp prior to baking)
2. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Place 4 individual sized cast iron pans in oven to preheat. (or one 10 inch cast iron skillet)
3. Beat 2 egg whites with a beater until they form stiff peaks.  Gently fold batter into egg whites until fully combined
4. Carefully remove hot pans from oven and place 1 tsp of  butter into each.  Swirl to melt.
5. Carefully pour the batter into the preheated skillet. Sprinkle with half of the fresh raspberries
6. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the edges are puffed and brown.
7. While dutch babies are baking make cream cheese drizzle by combining cream cheese, powdered sugar, remaining 1/4 cup milk and vanilla in a small saucepan over med-low heat.  Whisk over heat until smooth and serve drizzled over dutch babies. 

BLT Pasta

I've had this recipe hanging on my fridge for ages.  Yes, tons of cookbooks, Pinterest pins, and Cooking Light and Food Network Magazine subscriptions and I still rip out random recipes and stick them to the fridge.  Go figure. 

This BLT pasta has all of the yummy flavors of BLT minus the mayo which just happens to be my least favorite part anyway.  If you love mayo, I'd say this pasta is so flavorful, you might not even miss it.   If you really wanted to add mayo to the cold version of this salad, you'd probably have pasta salad.

The recipe itself is hardly complicated....boil pasta and chop veggies...but the end product is full of chewy pasta and bacon goodness.  Yep, there's tomatoes and spinach but really it's about the bacon right?

You start off with making some garlic breadcrumbs which is a perfect way to use up the last of that baguette you couldn't resist at the market.   Process until you have fine crumbs.

Heat oil and garlic in pan and then add breadcrumbs and toast. 

 Set aside and grab your other ingredients. Love the substitution of spinach for lettuce. 

I'd show you a photo of the bacon cooking but really, this is a more telling photo of what happens when bacon is cooking in this house.  Puppies need bacon.

Deglaze the pan with white wine before adding tomato paste, vinegar, stock and  a bit of red peppers.  I added quite a bit.

Turn off heat and toss in spinach and tomatoes and toss.  Pretend I mentioned earlier in the post that you should start your water and boil your pasta. 

Add the cooked pasta and crumbled bacon.  Toss and serve.  I threw some breadcrumbs in at this point but really they are best tossed on top of each individual dish of pasta. 

BLT Pasta

adapted from torn out newspaper recipe

Ingredients
1 clove garlic
1 cup french baguette cut into bread cubes
1 teaspoon olive oil
6 strips thick-sliced bacon
1 1/2 c diced tomatoes

2 c fresh spinach leaves
1/4 cup dry white wine

1 tsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1 tbsp tomato paste
spaghetti, linguine or any pasta really--cooked al dente

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook bucatini according to package instructions.
2. Mince garlic in a food processor. Add bread cubes, and process until you have crumbs. 
3. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium; add crumbs and toast until golden, 3 to 4 minutes, stirring often. Season with salt and set aside.
4. Saute bacon in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook until crisp, then transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon bacon grease.
5. Deglaze skillet with wine; simmer until liquid is nearly evaporated. Add the broth, vinegar, tomato paste and red pepper flakes. Simmer until liquid is reduced by a third, about 5 minutes.
6. Add spinach, tomatoes and toss.
7. Transfer cooked pasta from cooking water to the skillet using tongs. Add crumbled bacon and toss to coat with sauce. Season with salt. 
8. Sprinkle with bread crumbs prior to serving.