Ursula  of ZugBlog sent me a photo of the eggs she made with my Easter Pals pattern– they’re so cute that I had to share them.

Her blog is in Hungarian– isn’t it amazing how she was able to find and use my pattern anyway? She said that she speaks some English, but not enough to blog with it, so that’s about all that I can tell you about her. I’d love to see more photos if you made something from the pattern as well.

I was looking forward to walking to work today but then Paul told me it was snowing this morning. And when I got out of bed it became apparent that he was not kidding. Lots of snow, dang! I made what I thought would be the last soup of the season last night, so I guess it was perfect timing. It turned out super delicious (as far as simple soups go) so I’m going to preserve it here for when I make it again. I didn’t take pictures but I promise it was good. It’s easiest to make the rice beforehand for some other meal so it’s just ready to go for the soup. I also made garlic croutons this weekend (using about 1/2 the suggested amount of stale bread but roughly the same amount of the other ingredients), and they really topped off the soup.

Linda’s Super Delicious Chicken and Rice Soup (serves 4-6ish)

2-3 stalks celery, chopped
1-2 carrots, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-5 tbsp butter (this makes it good)
48 oz. chicken broth
4 chicken tenderloins
1/2 c. whole cream
1- 1.5 c. white rice (already cooked)
salt and pepper

Melt 3 tbsps. buter in a large stock pot. Add garlic, onions, celery and carrots to pot and cook, stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes (do not let them brown). Add about 1/2 of the broth at this point and let it boil (a rolling boil, if you will) for 15 minutes. In the  meantime, prepare the chicken. Salt and pepper the tenderloins and let them sit for 10 minutes (I don’t know if it’s necessary, but that’s what I did and it turned out great). Slice chicken into chunks,  melt remaining butter in a frying pan and cook the chicken. At this point, add the rest of the broth to the soup as well as the cream. When chicken is just cooked, it to the soup pot and cook for another 5 or so minutes, then add the rice and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Add a hearty dash (or seven) of salt and pepper.  Top with fresh-made garlic croutons for a yummy wintery meal.