Homemade Ice Cream

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! I don't know if I would actually "scream," but I certainly throw fits when someone else eats the last serving and will drive to Publix at ten at night if I'm having a mint chocolate craving, so I certainly love the stuff. It's a family trait, really - my father has a serving of ice cream every night before bed (and he's thin as a rail, go figure) and my brother thinks nothing of destroying an entire Ben & Jerry's pint in one sitting. Given the amount of ice cream consumed at my house, plus a desire to focus on food with natural, pronounce-able ingredients and without laundry lists of preservatives and additives, I finally bit the bullet and bought an ice cream maker! The Cuisinart ICE-21 Frozen Yogurt-Ice Cream & Sorbet Maker, to be precise. And man, was that money well spent.

We started with vanilla, the most basic ingredient in the included recipe book. Instead of a entire cup of whole milk, I subbed in half a cup of almond milk. Mixing the milks, sugar, salt, and cream took about five minutes with a whisk, and after sitting overnight in the fridge and a mere 15 minutes in the machine, look what we had!

Homemade goodness

The ice cream was absolutely delicious. It was sweet, creamy, and even better than store-bought, in my opinion. The consistency isn't as hard as the stuff in cartons, but if you prefer it that way, just scoop the ice cream out of the mixer, place it in an airtight container in the freezer, and wait a couple of hours. We didn't have the patience for that though, so into our mouths it went! I hadn't even finished making the last serving before the first person was buzzing around looking for seconds - pft, like there were any.

The Cuisinart is really a great machine. The bowl is double-insulated with liquid in the middle, so it has to be frozen before the mixture is poured in (in our fridge, it didn't even take six hours to do the trick). We just turned it on and went about our business - you can definitely hear the engine running, but it isn't loud enough to make you reach for a pair of earplugs or anything, and my mom was able to hold a conversation in the next room, which is open to the kitchen, just fine. I actually found the hum oddly comforting, but maybe that's just because I knew what it was saying . . . ice cream is coming! ice cream is coming!

It's actually really fun to watch it work, too. The paddle stays in position while the bowl rotates around, so you could see the ice cream being summoned from the sweet liquidity depths of the milk and cream mixture. Once the liquid was gone, you just pull out the paddle and eat!

All ready to be scooped out

The possibilities are endless. I want to try substituting all the milk for almond milk, which would drastically cut calories and fat without, I think, sacrificing flavor. And that means I can have three scoops next time, right? Right?

Brit + Co Post: Chocolate and Peanut Butter Recipes

Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were one of my favorite treats growing up. "25 of the Best Chocolate and Peanut Butter Recipes #GuiltyPleasures" is inspired by that love, and takes the classic chocolate/peanut butter pairing to the next level.

Is it bad I'm tempted to eat ALL THE STACKS?

From the article: "In the culinary world, there are some combinations that are widely accepted as tasting better when they’re together. Case in point — tomato and basil, bagels and cream cheese and of course, chocolate and peanut butter. Whether you’re looking for something vegan, a treat that’s quick to make or a dessert that’s completely show-stopping, here are the best chocolate and peanut butter recipes on the planet."

Berry Trifle

I love berries, and I love angel food cake, and I love all things British, so obviously I love trifle. The colors made it a perfect choice for our Fourth of July festivities,  but this dessert lends itself to any event at any time, really. And it offers endless room for variation, which I love. Prefer raspberries to strawberries? Go right ahead. Want to make a few individual servings in Mason jars because you can't be bothered to pull out your trifle dish? Knock yourself out. The sky's the limit!

Blueberries and strawberries and cake, oh my!

Our trifle used strawberries, blueberries, premade angel food cake, and premade lemon loaf cake, both purchased at Walmart since there wasn't going to be enough time to make the cakes from scratch, but that's always an option if you want to go to the extra mile, of course. The lemon loaf cake tasted delicious and added a nice dimension to the flavor palate, but red/white/blue fanatics or trifle purists might want to stick with regular loaf cake to avoid any yellow.

The cream layer is, like everything else in a trifle, customizable to your taste. I like beating one brick (8 oz.) of softened cream cheese with a half cup of sugar and a dash of vanilla, then gradually beating in two cups of heavy whipping cream. This makes a soft, spreadable cream with just enough tang from the cream cheese to make us happy. If you want a firmer or more cream cheese-y spread, use two bricks and a cup of whipping cream. If cream cheese isn't your thing at all, whip one to two cups of heavy whipping cream until its at a soft consistency and add a tub of softened Cool-Whip for extra volume.

Once you've got your chosen cream, berries, and cake (cut into cubes if you're feeling geometric or just torn into shreds if you're feeling rugged), it's time to layer! Half the cake, half the cream, and half the berries, and then the next half of cake, half of cream, and half of berries. As you can see, I went for the natural (aka "just thrown about") look, but you can also arrange the berries in fancy patterns. Cover with cling wrap and let chill in the fridge for at least an hour, and then dig in!

Homemade Crunchwraps

I have a confession to make. I like eating healthy, and try to get as many fruit and vegetables as possible into my diet, but I also love eating at Taco Bell. So, the last time I had a craving, I figured that anything they could make, I could make, and decided to try my hand at one of my favorite treats from the Bell - crunchwraps!

Nice and toasty

It may take a little practice to get them crisp, but even if your early efforts don't come out as perfectly-looking as Taco Bell's, don't worry, they'll still taste delicious! My brother swears they're even better than the store-bought ones, and he's a hardcore Bell aficionado, so I'm trusting his judgment.

Recipe:

Large/extra large flour tortillas

Ground beef (I used a package that had slightly less than 2 lbs, and ended up with 10 crunchwraps)

1 green pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

Olive oil

Seasoning to taste: paprika, cumin, oregano, basil, chili powder, taco seasoning, etc.

Spreadable cheese (like Tostito's Cheesy Dip)

Hard taco shells

Sour cream

Romaine lettuce, chopped

Tomato, diced

1. On high heat, add olive oil to a large frying pan and cook the pepper and onion until onion is translucent.

2. Add the ground beef and seasonings and brown. Transfer the meat to a bowl and clean the frying pan (you're going to use this for the crunchwraps now.)

3. Turn the burner down to medium.

4. On a tortilla, spread some cheese in the center, in about a 3 inch circle.

5. Place some of the ground beef right on the cheese.

6. Take a hard taco shell, break it in half so that you have two half-circles, and place the sides together on top of the beef, flat sides touching, so that you have a circle.

7. Spread sour cream on the taco shells.

8. Add romaine lettuce and then tomatoes.

9. Fold the sides of the tortilla around the filling. Don't worry, there will be open space in the middle.

10. Spray just a little cooking spray on the pan and place the crunchwrap on the pan, open side down (be careful not to overspray, as your crunchwraps will turn out more soggy and not as crisp and brown).

11. Press down with a plate/spatula, and let crunchwrap cook for about 3-4 minutes. You can carefully pull up a side with the spatula and check to see if it's browning.

12. Flip over and do the same to the other side. Done!