Pilaf, Pork Chops and Snow

When I got up this morning....I was in for a bit of a surprise! There was snow.......falling.......and the clusters of snow flakes (snowballs if you will) that were falling were 1/2 inch across. At that rate we'd have 6 inches of snow by noon. It is unusual here to have snow here on the ground on Halloween. Some years we do.....but most years we don't. Our snow doesn't tend to come to stay until much later though and I am hopeful that this crop will melt off before we are fully committed to winter.

The snowy walk into school with Ike this morning was gorgeous....I should have brought my camera and you could see that all the kids were super excited to be playing in the snow. Halfway there I called back to Ike...."Do you think the snow is damp enough to be good for snowballs???" My answer grazed off my shoulder and rolled to the ground in front of me. Perfect snow for snowballs!

It has been a busy time here getting Ike's costume ready, finishing swaps, and keeping up with the usual home and school commitments. Last night had to be a quick supper and I decided to make the America's test kitchen pork chop recipe I posted about here. Again they turned out fabulously and are now a family favourite. To go along with them I made auntie Lucille's Rice Pilaf and although I thought that I had previously posted the recipe......I could not find it here....so here it is in case you'd like to try it.

Aunt Lucille's Rice Pilaf

1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
1 envelope (about 2 tsp) of chicken soup base
2 1/2 cups water
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp thyme
1 cup rice (uncle Ben's Converted)

Melt butter over medium heat and cook onions, celery until translucent. You may also add in chopped peppers and mushrooms as I did this time if you like. Add all remaining ingredients except the rice. Bring to a boil. Add rice, stir and turn down to a simmer and cook with the lid on for 20 minutes. Remove lid, stir and cook about 3 minutes further with the lid off.