23 for 23

Happy New Year!  I've been listening to this podcast I really like called Happier and I have found it to have some great suggestions for how to increase happiness in my life.  One thing we are doing is setting up 23 goals for 2023, along with a personal theme and a group goal, which is to get outside for 23 minutes every day in 2023.    So here are mine:

Theme:  BALANCE

1. Get outside for 23 minutes every day

2. Write in this blog more - ideally once a month

3. Get to goal weight

4. Do my strength and balance exercises daily

5. Go to New Mexico

6. Sew at least 5 things for myself

7. Work with students more

8. Plant a garden on the lake side of the house

9. Audition for a choir solo

10. Ski on more trails at Mt. Ripley

11. Mountain bike more often

12. Try out linocut

13. Improve record keeping for Etsy shop

14. Try out cryptid theme for Etsy shop

15. Read 23 books

16. Try making more things out of clay for Etsy shop

17. Walk on the beach all the way to McLain

18. Kayak more

19. Go camping more

20. Visit Isle Royale

21. Play guitar again

22. Winter sow zinnias

23. Try out a craft show

Curried Parsnip Soup with Curried Croutons

 

The guys have gone to deer camp, so my sister came up to visit me at the lakehouse.   The rain we've been getting has turned to snow finally; it's been a very warm long autumn here.   So it is a perfect day for soup!

My friend Kirstin shared with me a curried parsnip soup recipe she makes, so I decided to give it a try.   I made a few tweaks to the recipe, but it came out delicious!  This recipe is a keeper.

Curried Parsnip Soup with Curried Croutons

For the soup:

2 T butter
2 med. onions, chopped 
1 T. grated fresh ginger
1 T. curry powder
2 t. cumin
2 lb. parsnips, peeled and diced small
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced small
6 c. chicken stock
1 sm. container plain Greek yogurt
curried croutons (see below) lemon peel and lemon wedges, for serving

In a dutch oven, saute onion in butter until soft.   Add seasonings and cook for a minute or two, until fragrant.  Add parsnips, potato and chicken stock, and simmer until parsnip is soft, about 30 minutes.  Using a stick blender, puree in pot until smooth.  Blend in yogurt. Garnish with lemon peel and croutons; pass lemon wedges to squeeze on top.

Curried Croutons

2 slices bread
1 T, curry powder
juice from half a lemon

2 T. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 F.   Mix curry powder, butter and lemon juice together in a small bowl, and brush bread with mixture.   Cut bread into small cubes.   Bake on a cookie sheet untilcrisp and golden, about 20 minutes.  

Thimbleberry Jam 2022

 

It was a banner year for berries.   I started picking them the last week of July and continued all the way through mid August, freezing them as I picked.   this year I got 6 lb 6 oz of berries, and it resulted in 20 half pints of jam.

Thimbleberry jam is the easiest jam ever to put up.   Here is how I do it!

I have an outdoor canning rig, which makes it super easy and fast cleanup.  I stay nice and cool and I just hose down the driveway when I'm done.   Happy canning!