Winter Isn't Coming, It's Arrived

I think Mother Nature has it in for us in Montana. She's trying to start winter while according to the calendar, it's still fall. I recently remarked that Montana just doesn't understand the calendar. Fall is supposed to ease us into winter, letting us gradually get used to cooler weather. It isn't supposed to jump straight to cold, dumping snow and icy road conditions on us. A former Montana friend, who now resides in Florida, remarked on my Facebook photos of the snow, "It's pretty." Which it is, especially if you're not the one shoveling the pretty or driving on the icy roads.

Luckily, I had finished clearing off the garden before the snow arrived. I have the final bunch of beets in the fridge. A sheet meal featuring the brussel sprouts, with chicken, sweet potato chunks, onions, and apple chunks was enjoyed a few days ago. Celery and carrots are in the fridge to munch on. The celery works as a meal when slathered with nut butter (for me, not Dennis though). Parsley and basil are hanging upside down in bunches to dehydrate in the kitchen. Onions and shallots are hanging in old potato sacks in one of the back bedrooms, where the heat is on low and the door is kept shut.

Since I took down the electric fence at the top of the garden, the deer had been treating what was left in the garden as a free buffet. They even munched the top third of a red cabbage before I rescued the other two from destruction. I'd never had deer bother cabbages before. The new, golden raspberry plants were denuded of all their leaves, leaving just the bare canes to mark their location. Apparently that variety is much tastier than the red raspberries, which show no damage.

A couple of weeks ago we were visited by at least two blue jays (we didn't notice any drab females). They're so colorful. I've seen them migrating through around this time of year in the past. They'd always feasted on the still standing sunflowers, but arrived too late for that this year. I did rush out to fill a couple of bird feeders with the larger bird seed, which features lots of sunflower seeds. That food disappeared rapidly, and then the blue jays were gone. Crows loudly cleaned up the bits of seed that hit the ground. I do need to get out and refill the nijer seed feeders for the small birds that spend their winters here.

This morning I baked WLC-compliant biscuits to go with my sausage/rice/tomato dish. (I made up the sausage dish, so there's no formal recipe for that, and I'll never be able to replicate it exactly.) The biscuits aren't as fluffy as biscuits made with regular flour, but they'll do. I did use ghee instead of butter, and I used a large cookie scoop. I made 12 not large biscuits.

Low-carb Paleo Almond Flour Biscuits

2 C almond flour, blanched

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp sea salt

2 large eggs, beaten

1/3 C melted butter OR ghee OR coconut oil

Heat oven to 350°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Stir in the wet ingredients to make a batter. Scoop by tablespoonsful onto the parchment paper. Form into rounds and flatten slightly. Bake 15 minutes until golden on top. Cool on the sheet. Store airtight, with a paper towel on top, on the counter or in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave when needed. Will keep up to five days.