YvetteMT

@Dr. Teeth I said nearly the same as your son! Eggs, sausage and fruit salad for today. (With the prettiest PINK kiwi)

Elk, onion and peppers over black rice (white for partner). Kinder honey hot on top.

Your hanging basket is beautiful! I may have been overzealous on planting that basil, one is Not Happy. Not dead,but. Last weekend was gorgeous (when i planted) and this entire week has rained and cooled way off- snow just a few miles from us. We got in the 30s one night, above freezing but I should have covered the herbs at least. Was an unexpected drop in temps for the entire week. My strawberries get no special winter treatment, I don't even put straw on them, and they do well. Great news on moving my chives, thank you! And yes, it was originally for bug control. It's in a pot so I'll tease some out. I haven't done anything with the blossoms as i love watching the bees congregate on them, hopefully starting a second means I'll steal some blossoms for vinegar.

It finally quit raining so i spent time thinning the raspberries and since i was out there anyway- Rosemary bush from Costco of all places. (With marigolds that I don't think really deter deer, but I try). There are also 2 basil plants and one oregano planted nearby. Decided I was going to do herbs instead of vegetables this year. I have a lovely chive near my strawberries and can't find another to go in this trough with the other herbs) this is a lilac bush with the darkest purple flowers. A gift from my bestie Strawberry with marigolds in their bed- and flowers from one of the haskap bushes. Id have sworn one was dead but she made it. No clue if I'll get berries, each variety requires a different one for pollination and while I have 3 that will pollinate one another, that slow starter hasn't produced flowers yet.

Franz is from the PNW. You can purchase online, I've heard rumor that some gf products are now available nationwide at Walmart. For"regular" bread,I prefer the mountain white. (They have a seed version as well that I find too "grainy/seedy"). They have deli style as well(larger pieces, longer vs the traditional loaf shape) and the rye flavored is by far my favorite. (20 years since I've had real rye bread and it's one of few things i miss still) As with all gf bread, it benefits from even a light toasting. All of the buns as well-a quick microwave. It helps them not fall to pieces and gets rid of the dry mouthfeel. Trader Joe's has the best gf English muffins (and muffins) and Aldi has the best gf bagels. https://franzglutenfree.com/collections/all I've tried all their gf offerings except the raisin. (And yes, tots shallow fried in avocado oil)

Amylu chicken burger with onion, pickles, and mustard on Franz gf bun. And tater tots

Elk, mushrooms, and sweet potato

My local safeway app says 3.99, on sale for 3.50 this week. No idea what historic prices are locally.

Chicken thigh, zucchini, and potatoes

An easy fruit salad for breakfasts or more likely, snacking. Strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, mango, golden kiwi, and caracara oranges. No dressing this time, just a bit of juice from the oranges.

Burrito bowls made for a quick dinner- chicken thighs, lentils, black beans, and Mexican rice.

That's a hell of a price. Id love a similar deal on a 13qt.

Traveling this week for work and have only a mini fridge and micro so- premade work salad. Allegedly cobb with Bleu cheese dressing. Rounded out lunch with unpictured cottage cheese, apple and pickles.

Halibut cooked atop lentils with sautéed peppers and onions.

My most likely takers are not the cute raccoons or opossums, Im liable to have bears. And while I love Yogi, Im not feeding him. (And i don't think the ravens will be grateful either)

We're both of the "food is not thrown away" mentality so they've become the most awkward corn on the cob to consume. Nice flavor but still. I should know better, cob is fed to cattle. Once in awhile my 'oh shiny, let's try it!' gets ahead of itself.

Chicken drumsticks (one marinated in pineapple habanero, the other green chili), broccoli and sweet potato and this unfortunate looking plate-ham, baby potatoes, and the weird long things on the left are corn "ribs". Allegedly one is supposed to eat the bit of cob the kernels are attached to. I do not recommend that, the cob has the feel of damp cardboard that is still too hard to chew.

Curry is always on my menu when he's gone! (I love when he's at hunting camp for a month- all curry, all the time). Last night I was craving pasta so- shrimp, tomatoes, garlic and Rummo gf pasta.

Partner is out of town for the weekend so.....Curry!

Gumbo with- shrimp, andouille, smoked pheasant, elk, and mountain lion.

After 3.5 hours in hot smoke, out and cooking off. And since the smoker was going anyway, I added a pheasant (breasts and legs) that will be going into gumbo tomorrow. Pheasant is by no means cooked and spent an hour in the smoke, the legs will get braised, the breasts chopped up and added near the end. Should add a nice lil smoke to the gumbo.

And leave it at just cold? No. I'm the only one that likes it cold smoked. So, I start all my salmon with cold smoke. (Right now it's 40F, breezy, and the smoke tube creates minimal heat). Once the tube burns out, I'll get to hot smoking. With alaskan salmon I usually inhale a piece (or3) after the cold smoke. I'm the only one that eats it and it's my "cooks treat" on smoking day. These are hatchery fish, still wild fish as they aren't farmed, and live their entire lives in fresh water in Montana. My initial experience with these is that the flesh is soft, nearly mushy to me, and borderline unpleasant, so I won't be trying these as cold smoked.

I can honestly say that I've never put a loaf of bread on my cooling racks! Onto the Traeger this morning with a smoke tube. Traeger is still off at this point, we like a little extra smoke on our salmon so the smoke tube first for a couple hours and then hot smoke. I'm going to forgo basting these with maple syrup this time since i don't know how sweet they'll be with the 3 to 1 dry brine. Maybe I'll do the belly strips only.

Already looking promising- fish firmed up a great deal. Fingers crossed! Another 18ish hours for the pellicle and then, smoke.

Appreciate it @TicTac. I'll keep it in mind for next time. If these start doggy paddling, I'll try and get some of the liquid out.