What makes you happy?

Only one thing has to change for us to know happiness in our lives: where we focus our attention~Greg Anderson

We talk a lot about the elements of overall happiness here but sometimes you just want to do something that makes you happy. As easy as that sounds often we default back to laying around, a movie or eating food that we like but isn’t all that good for us. Most of this things provide a momentary bit of happiness but leave us feeling a little less happy in the end. So we should do something that makes us happy that truly increases our overall happiness. So as easy that should be, how do you determine what makes you happy?

Here’s a good piece from a wiki on determining What makes you happy? I think the questions are really good especially the ideas about paying attention to what raises your level of energy and what activities help you lose track of time. Currently I’ve been engaged in one of the activities that does this for me, gardening, harvesting and canning what I produce from my garden. This weekend I’ll be canning salsa, freezing and making pasta sauce and finally making a little pumpkin – bacon soup. Really excited to make this in the morning and thought I’d share the recipe with all of you so that you can make a little pumpkin soup for yourself and truly have a delicious and happy day. ~ Rev Kane

Pumpkin Soup with Bacon
makes about 8 cups

1/2 pound of bacon
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 # of squash or pumpkin flesh, seeded, peeled and cubed
5 C of water
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 T fresh thyme leaves
2 thick slices good bread, torn into small, rough pieces.

Fry up the bacon in a soup pot. When it’s done, remove the bacon and drain. Pour off one tablespoon of the fat into a medium-sized frying pan, leaving the rest in the pot (unless it seems like too much, in which case you can spoon off some more and save it for another use.) You should have enough to coat the bottom of the pan.

Fry up the onions in the bacon fat until they are translucent. Add the garlic and cook gently for about 2 minutes or until it is fragrant. Add a few pinches of salt and a few turns of the pepper mill. Add the squash and water, bring to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Cook until the squash is very soft, about 20-30 minutes. Puree the soup until very smooth. I recommend using a stick blender. Otherwise do it in batches in the blender, being careful not to splatter the hot soup.

While the soup is simmering, sauté the bread in the bacon fat, crumbling in the reserved bacon until the bread begins to color and crisp. If the mixture seems too dry, add a splash of olive oil. Season with salt, if needed, and pepper.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle on about 2 tablespoons of the bread/bacon mixture in each bowl. Garnish with the thyme leaves.