Cooking in the West

The chokecherries did pretty well this year despite the heat, drought, and smoke, so around our place that means the bears are coming down out of the Deer Creeks for a berry eating frenzy. I am always torn about mentioning bear visitors to our cabin guests, because I am afraid they will pack up and head out. I grew up on Sun Canyon Lodge, a guest ranch out of Augusta, Montana, where bears in the yard were almost daily events.

Then a book and a movie entitled "Night of the Grizzlies" came out and effectively struck fear in the hearts of nearly all of our guests one summer. It was about grizzly maulings in Glacier Park, and it was gruesome for the 70's. Years later when bears are mentioned in the welcome to the ranch orientation speech, our ranch cabin guests often want our fearless border collie to sleep in their cabin at night to guard them from bears. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to them, border collies are not a very good guard dog as we discovered one summer when we were being plagued by a bear. Mitzi's tale of uncommon valor would more appropriately be entitled "Nights of Yogi."

One June night a few years back, after spending several nights sleeping in a tent in the Scapegoat Wilderness and cooking for K Lazy Three Outfitters, I came home looking forward to a peaceful night in my own bed without any thoughts of bear visits dancing in my head. However, while I was gone, a young black bear had begun frequenting our porch. Reportedly, he was a blonde yearling who was cute and acrobatic. He used the porch rails for a jungle gym, and it was entertaining to watch him try to open the barbecue while sitting on top of it. He would come scavenge for leftover cat food and then go play in the ditch out back.

The night I returned home, Yogi stepped it up a notch. About dark, he showed up as usual. First, he sniffed and licked the cute little bear holding a "Welcome" sign on the porch, so I made a note to myself that bear porch ornaments--especially with an open invitation-- are a bad idea in bear country. When he had scoured the porch for cat food pellets, he hopped up into my favorite gravity defying reclining lawn chair and began abusing it badly. Apparently he could read "Welcome", but he couldn't comprehend the instructions for locking the chair into position for safety.

Then, Yogi crossed the line. He hopped off the chair, tipped over everything on the porch, and began to stand up and peek into every window and the sliding glass door along the porch. He left muddy footprints in a bear high streak all around the porch. This was a travesty, because it would mean that my annual window washing schedule would be completely thrown off. We decided he had to be scared off the porch. Remi said to our border collie, who had been growling fiercely throughout Yogi's rampage, "Get him, Mitzi!" Promptly, she ran and hid behind the couch. Finally, we encouraged him to leave the porch so we could go to bed.

At 1:36 a.m., I awoke to screams. My daughter's boxer was barking loudly as he bolted out the open slider door in pursuit of Yogi, who had slid the slider door open and scored a whole bag of cat food that was sitting inside the house. Yogi left the door wide open when he retreated with his bounty. Now that Yogi was a house guest, we knew we were in trouble, so we called Justin Paugh, our FWP biologist, to come to our rescue. He brought us rubber bullets and a pepper spray barrel. He assured us that even grizzly bears vacate the premises after a spray from the barrel.

That night, we confidently barricaded ourselves and the dogs and cats in the house and went to bed. Stuffed on cat food, Yogi slept in that night, because it was 2:26 a.m. when we heard him woof his displeasure at his first experience with pepper spray. He ran down to the ditch, took a quick bath, cautiously bypassed the pepper spray barrel, and returned to the porch to try to break in the sliding door. He finally gave up on the slider, but at 5:04 a.m., he awoke Brooke as he was hanging from her windowsill trying to climb through her bedroom window. We slammed his paws in the window, and then Bret gave him a nice rubber bullet send-off after that. Since we were so inhospitable, Yogi finally decided to move on. . . which was good since Mitzi, the guard dog, couldn't stay behind the couch forever!

This week I have a couple requested Jambalaya recipes sent to me from Marlis Arneson of Big Timber, Montana and Marilyn Vandersloot. In addition, I have a fun breakfast idea from Audrey Burk of Ismay, Montana. Thanks Marilyn, Marlis, and Audrey!

Marilyn's Creole Jambalaya:

2 T. butter

3/4 C. chopped onion

1/2 C. chopped celery

1/4 C. chopped green pepper

1 garlic clove, minced

1 T. chopped parsley

2 C. cubed ham or sausage

28 oz. can diced tomatoes, undrained

14 oz. can beef broth

3/4 C. water

1 C. uncooked white rice

1 t. sugar

1/2 t. thyme

1/2 t. chili powder

1/2 t. pepper

1 1/2 lbs. raw shrimp, peeled

Melt butter in Dutch oven. Add onion, celery, green pepper, parsley, and garlic. Cook until the onion is translucent. Add ham, tomatoes, broth, water, rice, sugar, thyme, chili powder, and pepper. Cover and simmer until rice is tender, about 25 minutes. Add shrimp, and simmer until they are thoroughly cooked for about 5 minutes. Season with hot sauce if desired. (Smoked or spicy sausage can be substituted for the ham.)

Audrey's Boiled Omelettes:

Crack 2 large or jumbo eggs into a quart Ziploc bag. Shake well. (Have each person write their name on their Ziploc bag with a permanent marker.) Each person can add omelette ingredients to their bag as desired--such as onion, green pepper, mushrooms, ham, bacon, sausage, cheeses, tomatoes, etc. Push air out of the bags and seal. Place bags in a large boiling pot of water for 13 to 15 minutes. Carefully turn the omelette out on a plate and season to taste. Garnish with sour cream and your favorite salsa or Hollandaise sauce if desired!

Marlis Arneson's Jambalaya:

6 3/4 oz. pkg. Spanish rice pilaf mix or 6.8 oz. Spanish-flavored rice and vermicelli mix

Non-stick spray coating

8 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 med. green pepper, chopped

1/2 C. chopped red onion

3/4 t. dried thyme, crushed

14.5 oz. can whole tomatoes, cut up

1/4 C. dry white wine or chicken broth

1 clove garlic, minced

8 oz. large shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 C. frozen peas, thawed

4.5 oz. diced green chili peppers

salt and pepper

Prepare rice mix according to package directions, omitting any fat or cooking oil suggested. Set aside and keep warm after it is cooked. Spray skillet with non-stick spray. Cook chicken, pepper, red onion, and thyme until the chicken is no longer pink and the vegetables are tender. Stir in undrained tomatoes, wine, and garlic. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes. Add shrimp, peas, and chili peppers. Cook and stir for 3 to 5 minutes or until shrimp are opaque. Season with salt and pepper and serve over prepared rice.