Happy Birthday Melissa!

I’m a bit late posting this but I’ve been a little busy being a mom and going back to work. My friend Melissa just had a birthday the end of August. She and her boyfriend went on a cruise (jealous!) and also to New Orleans to celebrate. While they were away, my husband and I offered to check on their cats and plants for them. I decided to leave her a birthday surprise to find when she came back home. She and her boyfriend love to make and eat ice cream so I thought an ice cream themed gift would be perfect. Now, I know her well and I know she loves key lime pie so I decided that was the flavor I would make for her. I found this recipe on Joelen’s blog and it turned out so great and was so, so easy. Melissa loved her ice cream!

Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup bottled Key lime juice (I used fresh squeezed lime juice)
1/2 cup whipping cream
Dash of salt
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs
Key lime wedges (optional)

Combine first 5 ingredients, stirring with a whisk. Pour mixture into freezer can of an ice-cream freezer, and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. Stir 1/3 cup graham crackers into ice cream. Spoon ice cream into a freezer-safe container, and cover and freeze for 1 hour or until firm. Sprinkle each serving with 1 teaspoon graham crackers. Garnish with lime wedges, if desired.

And I got her these adorable, fun ice cream bowls and Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Recipe Book to complete her ice cream themed birthday gift.

Dinner with Friends

Last night we had some friends over for dinner. This is the first time we’ve really been able to have people over since Drew was born so I wanted dinner to be extra yummy.

On the menu:

marinated strip steaks
cheddar mashed potatoes
ceasar salad
garlic cheese bread

I had seen this recipe for garlic bread on Giada at Home and decided to change it up just a little. It was so delicious and so easy. I will definitely be making my own garlic bread from now on using this recipe. Here’s the recipe as I made it.

Cheddar Garlic Bread

8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded or coarsely grated

6 ounces butter, at room temperature

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 Tbsp chopped parsley

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 (1 pound) loaf italian bread

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a food processor, combine the cheese and butter. Process until the mixture is smooth. Add the garlic and parsley and pulse until combined. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Spread the cheese mixture on the cut sides of the bread. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden.

Using a serrated knife, cut the bread into 1-inch thick slices and serve.

I was also very excited to get out my Kitchen Aid ice cream maker yesterday and try a new recipe from a cookbook I bought the other day, The Perfect Scoop. I have only made ice cream twice before so I decided since I was going to be serving this to friends, I would start with a simple recipe. I chose the cheesecake ice cream but at the last minute decided to make it Oreo cheesecake ice cream. It turned out so well! I’m so glad I decided to add the Oreos. Here is the recipe.

Cheesecake Ice Cream
(I doubled the following amounts)

8 oz (230 g) cream cheese
1 lemon, preferably unsprayed
1 cup (240 g) sour cream
1/2 cup (125 ml) half-and-half
2/3 cup (130 g) sugar
Pinch of salt

Cut the cream cheese into small pieces. Zest the lemon directly into a blender or food processor, then add the cream cheese, half-and-half, sugar, and salt, and puree until smooth.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

The Perfect Scoop, p. 62-63

*After removing the ice cream from the ice cream maker, fold in 10 (if doubling the recipe) crushed Oreo cookies. Place the ice cream in the freezer for at least 2 hours before serving.

When the cooking gods are against you…

Do you ever have high hopes when making a new recipe only to find that the cooking gods are out to get you? That was the case with this recipe. I was very excited to try this recipe because strawberry ice cream is my absolute favorite. I had great success with my first ice cream recipe and wouldn’t you know it was a flavor that I don’t even eat! I prepped my strawberries just like the recipe said, had my milk, cream and sugar all mixed together and then I pulled my ice cream maker out of the freezer.That’s when all the trouble began.

I attached it to my Kitchen Aid mixer just like I had the day before and turned it on, prepared to pour in the cream mixture. As I slowly started pouring I noticed that my mixer was making a funny noise. And then the part that rotates the dasher in the ice cream maker sort of came off! Now anyone that has made ice cream knows that once you pour your ingredients in, time is not on your side. They start to freeze almost immediately. I struggled to get the attachments back together but by that time the inside of the ice cream maker was too frozen over with cream to get it going again. At this point I was beyond irritated. I poured the cream mixture back into my mixing bowl and stuck that and the strawberries in the fridge. I thought maybe I could try again today once my ice cream maker re-froze. My husband inspected my mixer and noticed that the pin was coming out which most likely lead to the ice cream maker malfunction. Luckily he was able to fix it.

Well I got up this morning, very optimistic that I was going to make some delicious strawberry ice cream and everything went great to begin with. It looked like strawberry ice cream, but when it came time to taste it, the strawberries tasted weird. I think it’s because I let them sit over night in the sugar and lemon juice. The ice cream part tasted good so it was unfortunate that the strawberries weren’t good. I will try this recipe again and hopefully I will get better results. I’m sure in this case it was the circumstances and not the recipe.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh ripe strawberries, stemmed and sliced

3 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 cup sugar, divided

1 cup whole milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:

Combine the strawberries with the lemon juice and 1/3 cup of sugar; stir gently and allow the strawberries to macerate in the juices for 2 hours.

In another bowl, use a hand mixer to combine the milk and granulated sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream, the vanilla and any accumulated juices from the strawberries.

Turn on your ice cream maker and pour the mixture into the frozen bowl. Let mix until thickened, about 25-30 minutes. Add the sliced strawberries during the last 5 minutes of freezing. Ice cream will be soft at this point. For a firmer ice cream, transfer to an airtight container and store in freezer until it has reached your desired consistency.

Source: Annie’s Eats (Adapted from Sweet and Savory Eats)

Chocolate Ice Cream is Not My Thing

Go ahead. Call me crazy, but I just don’t like chocolate ice cream. I have on occasion eaten some Rocky Road or Triple Brownie, but as far as plain old chocolate ice cream. You can have it. Give me strawberry or vanilla any day. But my husband–he loves it. It’s his favorite ice cream and he could probably eat it by the buckets. Since he got me the Kitchen Aid ice cream attachment for my birthday, I figured I’d break it in by making him some of his favorite ice cream. I have actually never made homemade ice cream so I was looking for a super simple, idiot proof recipe for my first time. I came across this recipe online and figured I couldn’t screw it up too much. My husband upon finding out that I was making chocolate ice cream instantly wanted to taste test it for me, but I told him he had to wait for it to freeze first. Well, first thing this morning he dug right in with a spoon. And the results? “It tastes like chocolate ice cream!” So according to my husband, the chocolate ice cream connoisseur, this is a good recipe. I’m just happy that is was so easy and that it turned out! Now to make myself some strawberry.

Chocolate Ice Cream

(I doubled the following amounts)

Ingredients:
5 tablespoons of cocoa
1 can (large) condensed milk
1/2 pint (250ml) milk

Mix together the milk and condensed milk. Dissolve the cocoa in a little hot water. When fully dissolved stir it into the milk/condensed milk mixture.

Transfer mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.

(20-30 min in the KA ice cream maker)

Source: icecreamrecipes.com