ROASTED RED PEPPER HUMMUS, MY WILDEST DREAMS AND SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE!......

Do you ever have one of those dreams where you wake up LAUGHING, hard, at how utterly absurd the whole stupid dream was? Well, I had one of those last night, and I'm still shaking my head about it, because it had a message, and the message was....THIS BLOGGING BUSINESS IS GOING TO TAKE OVER MY WORLD!! I mean, I really don't think it HAS taken over my life (yet)...it's all just really fun and creative, but my dream was trying to warn me......Here's how the dream went down:

So B. A. and I went to this dinner party, and when we walked in the door, Brian Williams escorted us to HIS table to dine with him. I'm not surprised at Brian being in my dream (don't know who Brian is? He's the super hotteeee anchor from the NBC Nightly News....my daughter thinks he's cute, too....I suspect we love him so because he's always impeccably dressed!), because I watch him just about every night.......

Guess who else was dining with us? Could it be....hmmmmm.....THE ROLLING STONES?..........................

And really, even THEY weren't a surprise to me, in my dream. What did totally freak my out? The fact that we were eating dinner with these amazingly interesting people, and I FORGOT MY CAMERA.....so how on earth could I tell my blog followers about the whole event? Would they even believe me?

This dream was meant to teach me one of two things. One : never, ever leave my camera at home. Or Two : Don't be so hard on myself when it comes to this blogging stuff, because it really is supposed to be SUPER FUN, and NO-STRESS, right? Sigh.

(By the way--B.A. and I saw the Stones in concert about 20 years ago, and they are still one of my all time favorite bands. BUT, I really hadn't been listening to their music lately or even thinking about them at all, so I don't know why they graced my dream. Aren't dreams just SO fascinating?)

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Big reason to celebrate this week.......my sweet little blog had its Twenty Thousandth hit! Sheesh--I feel like I should throw a party or something over here. At 100,000 hits, my brain is going to simply explode, and then I shall die of happiness.....

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Our "peak" Fall foliage season here in the Adirondack mountains has, sadly, peaked and gone, but I still find incredible beauty in the more subdued gold and brown hues I encountered on my rainy morning walk.............

These ferns are so blindingly lime green in the spring.....just look at 'em now!............

Pretty soon, all of our trees (well, except for the evergreens--thank GOODNESS for evergreens!) shall look like this, waiting for that first coating of snow.....

But this morning, well, I did find a few remaining patches of early October vibrancy.......check out these colors.....

I love the way these leaves decorate the evergreen boughs....reminds me of Christmas ornaments.....

Still some color hanging around here on Spruce Drive.....

The Barberry bush in our yard....another plant that is LIME green in the spring....check out the pretty little garnet berries....

One more thing....we planted this sweet little Red Leaf Maple tree about 5 years ago, after we had a dying Hemlock tree removed from the same spot. It is just now starting to turn its gorgeous red shade........

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One of our favorite things to eat around La Casita De Willard is Hummus. Any kind of hummus....usually I just buy it at the grocery store, but every once in a while I have a little mental freak out session over how much $$$$ I spend on the store bought stuff, and get motivated to make my own. It truly is super, super simple to make, and you can tailor it to your tastebuds. Sometimes I like it with just garlic, sometimes with sundried tomatoes, sometimes just plain! Regardless of how you eat hummus, it is extremely good for you....filled with protein from the beans, with really very little fat except a smidge of olive oil.

To begin, you'll need a can of garbanzo beans, or chickpeas (I've heard them called both).........

Drain and rinse them well. In a small dish, combine your spices.....you might want to be a little bit careful with the cayenne....I overdid mine recently and couldn't even eat it!.............

Put chickpeas in the bowl of your food processor, then sprinkle spices over......

Add Tahini, which is made from sesame seeds (my girlfriend Patty J. had to show me where to find Tahini the first time I made this...it's usually located next to the peanut butter in the organic section of grocery stores, but sometimes it's also in the middle eastern section. One jar goes a long way)................

Garlic (again, SO good for you!)...............

some lemon juice and roasted red peppers....I just used the jarred variety, but you can always roast your own..............

Blend in food processor..........

Once blended, add olive oil until hummus is the consistency you desire, and nice and smooth in texture. We like to serve ours with raw vegetables, crackers or pita chips....fantastic as an appetizer!.............

Enjoy! Here's the recipe......

ROASTED RED PEPPER HUMMUS

1 16oz. can chickpeas

2 tblsp. tahini

Juice of 1 / 2 lemon

2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 / 2 cup roasted red bell pepper, roughly chopped

1 and 1 /2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. coriander

1 / 4 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 / 2 tsp. salt

freshly ground pepper

good olive oil

Drain and rinse chickpeas. In a small bowl, combine cumin, coriander, cayenne and salt--mix thoroughly. Put chickpeas in the bowl of a food processor and sprinkle spice mix over evenly. Add tahini, lemon juice, garlic and roasted red peppers, and blend. Add freshly ground pepper. Once hummus gets smooth, add olive oil until it reaches desired consistency. Store in refrigerator.

TODAY I'M SO THANKFUL FOR.....

***The free time I have in my life right now to volunteer locally.

***My funny little dog who is sleeping and snoring and farting at my feet as I type this!

***One week from today.....off to Kollyfornia for me!