I have really packed on the holiday pounds. I think my body is trying to tell me that the Steak and Salad approach is not going to continue to work. I suppose I need to find some time in my day to exercise, but I am bored to death of the treadmill, and I was forced to sell my weight set.

 

you're in luck! i have all kinds of various workouts you can try lol

 

and a whole cabboodle of meal plans too!

 

we will need to discuss in more depth. I need to do something different than what I am doing.

 

i find myself in the very same spot all the time! i'd be happy to help if i can.
i talked to a wrestling coach last weekend. i started bugging him about training and diet, mostly how he gets his students leaner, what's his favorite conditioning exercise, yada yada. same ol story you hear everywhere LOL. small meals spread out throughout the day, emphasis on protein, limit carbs, use the "palm of the hand" approach to portion control, do include strength training, do enough cardio, do HIIT now and then... and be consistent of course.

 

So I picked up a Green Mountain smoker from a co-worker that had tried several things but eventually given up on ever getting it to run again. He said it was going in the trash unless someone came to get it. I disassembled much of it, looked it over, found wiring issues, as well as wire routing issues. I worked with it for a good part of Saturday and then decided it had a bad motor. I ordered it and installed it last night. 31 bucks and I now own a Green Mountain Grill, but during its shutdown procedure, it tripped the GFC. The thing filled our front yard with smoke, and started to heat up, but I didn't have time to try it out fully. I think I may still have to order another motor, but we will see. My co-worker claims it got hit with lightning, but I don't think that is what burned up the motor.

Anyhow I am hoping to try it out tomorrow on some chicken and maybe some steaks. I have never had food cooked from a wood pellet grill, so I hope I like it, and want to keep it, otherwise I may clean it up, and put it up for sale to make a little money.

I am imagining maybe smoking a bunch of turkey and chicken to see if I start to mix up my lunches a little so that I don't get tired of steak.

 

i smoked some chicken breasts about a week ago, it was a very nice change-up! same with turkey breast, i bought two more from Sam's before they ran out so I can toss them in the smoker when i get tired of just chicken, eggs, and fish lol

had a nice argument with my coworker he likes those exercise videos, and i guess there's nothing wrong with them... except that he is really annoying about them... wonder if i'm just as annoying lol!

 

I have a "Daniel Boone" GMG and have owned it for a couple of years now. It works excellent as a smoker when set around 225 degrees and also works great as a grill around 410 degrees. It didn't work so well after our golden-doodle puppy (at the time) decided to snack on the whole wiring harness underneath :|

I basically had to buy replacement wiring harness, igniter, combustion fan, power cord. I also had to do quite a bit of wire splicing to fix wiring that was not able to be replaced from the manufacturer. When it was all said and done it worked kinda well, I did run into issues where the fire wouldn't "start". In the first stage it is supposed to start the fire and then start building temperature from there but mine wouldn't get the fire lit and would continue to dump pellets onto the igniter and just billow out cold smoke. I cleaned out the ashes\pellets thoroughly out of the "firebox" and tried again to fix the issue. I also had an issue where some cheap pellets got caught up in the hopper side of the auger and had to be cleaned out with a butter knife before the pellets would move down the auger again.

Anyways, that's the long way around how I troubleshot the issues with my GMG. I do love it when it works, but when it acts up there are some choice works spoken with it

I use mine weekly to grill up a ton of meat and do run into issues where it won't light the fire or build heat

 

Thanks! sounds like good advice!

 

I am mostly just tired of our grill that we have had for about 15 years. Its been a great grill, just that there isn't smoke taste, due to it works more like an oven than a grill.

 

I got sick of burning stuff on our old propane grill and didn't like how our old electric smoker barely "smoked" anything. We figured that the GMG would be a two-bird\one stone approach to replace both appliances, and it has done a pretty good job!

 

i don't like the propane ones either, in my experience everything always comes out dry and/or burnt lol

one thing i haven't had in a while is grilled shrimp! my wife figured out a delicious recipe using raw frozen shrimp. mainly just some olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper ...maybe some cayenne or something... anyway, skewered and grilled over hardwood charcoal has been a hit 100% of the time so far, can't wait to do it more once it warms up outside!

 

This weekend I fired up the grill fairly early on Saturday, and threw a pork loin on, then about 11, I threw on some chicken quarters. We ate the chicken quarters then the loin finished cooking a few hours later. Both were delicious, and the meat was super tender.

Last night I cooked some burgers and steaks on it, and the burgers were, in my opinion too tender, but had a super nice smoky taste. I haven't had the steaks yet, but will here in a bit for lunch.

 

We are going to be purchasing an indoor garden after the first of the year so that we can grow our own veggies in the storage room. I am looking forward to trying different things off of it. We could have fresh veggies all year long if all goes well.

 

i want to do that so bad! some fresh green onions and plum tomatoes would be real nice! i'd do some parsley and dill as well. maybe a couple pepper plants too

i made a fish & avocado salad last night! two pan fried tilapia fillets and a half an avocado over some mixed greens and just a very minimal hint of dressing! delicioumous!