Happy New Year 2023!

Happy New Year! 

Welcome 2023, and Good-bye 2022!

We had another quiet evening, seeing out the old year, and bringing in the new. 

We looked back on a year with more travel - California, Oslo, and Scotland.

We're kicking off the new year with long trip to Spain!

Bonne Année !

Still Moving In?

We moved to Sète almost 6 years ago, and into our current apartment over 3 years ago. But we're still (slowly, right?!?) moving in! 

Just these last few weeks, we:

• Put together and stained this wall unit
• Picked up the Japanese thread painting from the framer and hung it
• Got new lamps
• Found a frame for Sarah's parrot
• Exchanged our beautiful-but-too-big table for a pretty-and-practical table 

What next? And When?

Chicken Meatballs II

The first time I made chicken meatballs, it was an act of desperation - I had tough chicken, and didn't know what else to do (here's how it started). I never thought I'd make it again, but it turned out to be a hit! It was messy to make, but once frozen, it made lunches and dinners a snap! I kept modifying it, and finally decided I had changed it so much, it had to be captured 🙂

It's now about half chicken and half veggies. Here's what the veggies look like...

Chicken Meatballs

In a food processor, "chop" very fine:

2 small onions

1 small zucchini

5-6 medium carrots

Double-handful of celery leaves

Move to a large bowl

Mince (chop in food processor) 5 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) - best to do this in 2 batches.

Mix in:

1 large egg

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix everything together - it will be a *huge* bowl

Form into small, slightly flattened meatballs, and freeze in a pan on layers of plastic wrap. Once frozen, transfer to a container to store.

For immediate consumption, pan-fry on high. When browned, flip and brown the other side. 

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The Norwegian option: add ginger and nutmeg to some of the mixture. Serve with gravy and lingonberry jam (cranberry sauce will do in a pinch).

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This made 80 small meatballs, plus a few bigger ones 😉.

The really big ones can replace hamburger patties. Others are good in curry, stew, stir fry, spaghetti, wraps... It seems to work better to add the spices when cooking rather than when mixing.

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December 2022 supermarket max-pack price for chicken - 2.5kg for 30€ ($5.60/lb). Things are getting expensive!

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For a smaller batch, use:

1 small onion

1/2 to 1 small zucchini

1-2 medium carrots

small handful of celery leaves

2 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)

1 egg

dash of salt