Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream

l know that I'm late in posting this but here is my October recipe for pumpkin spice ice cream. As usual I started with the milk, cream and sugar base. (Though I'm considering trying a stove top, custard like method in the future to improve the creaminess). So, this time I just poured a can of pumpkin in with some wonderful spices and flavors. I was so excited when I found whole vanilla beans at Costco. I loved using it for this recipe.

1 quart whole milk
2 cups granulated sugar
1 quart (2 pints ) heavy whipping cream
29oz can of 100% pure pumpkin
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
2 tsp cloves
1 TBSP cinnamon
1 vanilla bean pod ( here is a link to a YouTube demo I found showing how to use vanilla bean.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bICPn7Ifrh8&feature=youtube_gdata_player   DO NOT USE THE WHOLE POD!)
3 TBSP Vanilla extract

I mixed the spices and vanilla bean together first to smell if I liked the ratios. Feel free to spice and flavor to taste. I realize that vanilla is very expensive. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt to substitute with more extract.

Churn as instructed on your household ice cream maker and freeze.

I hope you and your family will enjoy the ice cream as much as me and mine. Next is mincemeat in November. Don't nock it before you try it. ;) See you soon.

We all scream for ice cream!

This last summer while my sister was over at my house, she noticed an ice cream maker I have had for several years but have never used and said "I should get mine out and use it". I had always wanted to make my own ice cream. My parents sometimes did when I was a kid. So we decided to make some for Independence Day weekend. She made root beer and I made fresh strawberry. They were both delicious.

Since then, I have made pistachio with heath bar bits for my birthday (amazing if I do say so myself), raspberry with chocolate swirls (well, sort of. I have since then learned to let it fully freeze beforer mixing in the chocolate) and an attempt at a fried ice cream flavor involving cinnamon toast chrunch.(not as bad as it might sound). Needless to say,  ice cream making is kind of my thing right now.

I am determined and now committed through this blog to come out with a new flavor each month for the next full year. Of course I'm going to share the recipes! I haven't planed out the whole year yet but here is my plan for the next 4 months.

September-  Apple crisp

October- Pumpkin spice

November- Mincemeat (yep, thats right)

December- Ferrero roche

There are many different ways to make ice cream. Some involve eggs and the stove top. Others use sweetened condensed milk. I however have made peace with one simple milk, sugar and cream base using a typical house hold motorized ice cream maker and this is how it goes.

1 quart whole milk

2 cups granulated sugar

1 quart (2 pints ) heavy whipping cream (do NOT whip the cream. I did that with my pistachio and it had chuncks of cream at the bottom)

Typically you will want to add at least some amount of vanilla to any recipe, even fruit flavors.

I've just made this month's caramel apple crisp. Tee hee. It was fun.

First I opened my BHG cook book and put apples in a simple fruit crisp recipe and refrigerated it over night. Here is a link to that recipe. http://www.bhg.com/recipe/cobbler/choose-a-fruit-crisp/

Next I made the above said ice cream base (actually, I substituted 2% for whole milk but it would have been better with whole milk) with a glurple of vanilla,  if you don't know what a glurple is, ask your mom or your grandma. If that still doesn't work for you, I'm guessing it was a couple of tablespoons.

Follow the direction on your ice cream maker. You'll need crushed ice and ice cream salt (aka rock salt). I also stirred in some cinnamon before freezing. After freezing it for a few hours I stirred the crisp into the soft ice cream and then put it back into the freezer over night. When the ice cream was fully set, I scooped it into another bowl, poured caramel ice cream topping over it, mixed it gently and packed it down. And that's it!

I hope you have fun trying it and come back for more. This next year of ice cream making is going to be SWEET!

Move It or Lose It!

If you're a busy mom like me, you may feel like you don't have time to work out or to focus on your body. WRONG. In fact, if you don't take some time out to strengthen and tone your muscles, you'll soon have a decrease in energy and an increase in stress. So, picture this. You just finished cleaning up after breakfast. Now, how hard is it to do this?

Or, this?

Or, even this?

Just take like five minutes or so to feel the burn. And don't forget to tuck in that tummy. also, try using dish rinsing time to focus on keeping a tight solid core and improving your posture. At the end of each day, I always turn on some up beat music and have a race with my kids to tidy up the house before the song is over. When I put my all into it, I get an extra chance to raise my heart rate and to teach my children to clean as hard as they play. I hope this helps. Have fun and kiss those kiddos.

Gardening Tips

At last....Spring has sprung!!! And with it comes the refreshing ardor of gardening.  I have always loved gardening, growing up I was fascinated that such a big plant can sprout from such a little seed, and I was the one who loved planting flowers to put in the window during spring.  Now I am fortunate enough to have a backyard with a garden about 70'x50' I can plant whatever I want in!  I thought I would share some tips that I have discovered throughout the years in order to make your gardening experience more pleasurable:

1. Preen is a miracle weed-killer.  Last year I converted a thick lawn into plantable gardening soil with the sole help of a tiller.  I was not happy to find that just a month or so later, even though I had planted vegetables and fruit, it was basically a lawn again.  Then I thought to use Preen, which kills grass seeds without harming fruit and vegetable seeds, and the weeds have become SO much more manageable.

2.  Start your seeds indoors.  Many people know this, but especially tomatoes, peppers, and onions, its always best to start your seeds indoors about a month and a half before the last expected frost, and transplant them when danger of frost has passed.  As I have learned, this is NOT true for carrots and corn.  BAD idea, unless you want a twisty ball carrot that is uneatable..

3.  You will always have to weed, at least a little.  My elderly neighbor that has been gardening in the same garden for the last 140 years still has to weed some, no matter what weed killer she uses.  The key is to keep it manageable by going out there for a few minutes every other day.  If you neglect to weed for a month or two they will quickly become unmanageable and you (if you're like me) will give up.

4. Water deeply about every 4 days.  Its always better to get a really good soaking every few days rather than a light sprinkling every day.

5.  Fertilize and pesticides.  I know everyone is all about the organic crap, but fact is your plants grow so much better, so much faster, and are so much tastier if you use plant food.  That's just the way it is.

I am planning to plant corn, tomatoes, onions, red and jalapeno peppers, peas, strawberries, watermelon, and cantaloupe this season.  So far I have the strawberries from last year and have just planted peas (which are resistant to frost and best if planted early), and have started onions, the peppers, and tomatoes indoors.  I will let you know how things go!!

How to make an arrow toothpick.

My new favorite cookie recipe.

One of my favorite things about living in Southern Oregon is having the historical Butte Creek Mill near by. You can find locally milled grains, flours and mixes at near by retailers; order online or visit the historical millhouse in Eagle Point and see the stone mill in action. My favorite BCM product is there pancake and waffle mix. Inside the package is a list of great ways to ues the mix. I've made the chocolate chip cookies many times and sometimes tweek it a bit. I think I've perfected it, atleast to my taste. The great thing about cookies made with this mix is that because of the whole grains, you don't get that tummy acke that comes with eating empty carbs and you never want to stop eating them. Wait... that could be a bad thing. So here is my recipe for my new favorite cookies.

1/2 cup partially melted butter
1/2 sugar
1/2 brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 eggs
2 cups BCM pancake and waffle mix
1/2 cup oats
1 cups chocolate chips
1 cups dryed sweetened cranberries

  Level cookie dough into icecream scoop and drop onto cookie sheet 3 inches apart.
Flatten dough with a fork.
Bake at 350○ for 10-12 minutes.

Happy baking!

What I do with those left-over Christmas M&M's

Christmas is over now and I still had half a bag full of red and green M&M's. My first plan was to keep them stashed and eat them whenever I want. Now that's a great way to start of the new year. So here's what I did. Valentine's day is next month, right? And st Patrick's is the month after that. So I simply separated the red from the green. Now I have the red to decorate sweets in February and green for sweets in March. Now maybe I can loose some of those holiday pounds.