Ice Cream Week--Mint Chocolate Chip

  Oh my goodness, my doctor and scale may disagree, but I think one week a month should be ice cream week!!  This has been so fun so far and SOOOO delicious!!  Think of all the fall flavors and then into winter...yum!!

   Today we decided to go with mint chocolate chip.  It's probably my favorite flavor of ice cream and apparently Oren's too, because he's the one who asked for it and then suggested it each day.  Today's recipe is from none other than Mr. Isaac Mizrahi, and can I just go on a little bit of a tangent and say I love him.  Oh, it's my blog, then yes, I will.  I absolutely love it when he comes on Martha Stewart's show.  He's so funny and kind and he sells his clothing at Target which makes him accessible to me as $50 for a pair of jeans is EXPENSIVE to this cheap frugal girl!  He always makes me smile, so when I searched for MCC recipes and his happened to show up on Epicurious.com, I was sold.  Plus it had GREAT reviews and it used actual mint instead of just extract.  

   This was our first recipe of the week that involved eggs to make a custard.  Custard-based ice creams aren't hard, they're just harder than scalding some milk and calling it done.  Yesterday's chocolate recipe was basically the same, it just used cornstarch instead of egg yolks to thicken.  You do have to constantly stir so you don't scramble your eggs, but it's not hard by any stretch of the imagination.  The only other thing about this recipe is that it needs to chill in the fridge for 6 hours to overnight before you put it in the machine.  So it's going to take a little longer than some of our other recipes too...no worries.  We put it on this morning and are enjoying it tonight.

   Here's the recipe, courtesy of epicurious.com

Isaac Mizrahi's Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Makes 1 1/2 Quarts

6     large   egg yolks

• 3/4  cup     sugar
• 2     cups    whole milk  (again, I used mostly 2% and some half and half)
• 2     cups    fresh mint leaves, loosely packed
• 1     cup      heavy cream
• 3     drops   green food coloring  (Normally I would leave this out, but Emma wanted it a little green, so we added 2 small drops...just green enough!)
• 4     ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped  
• 4     ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped  (And y'all know I just threw some chocolate chips in here instead of measuring anything out!)

In large bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar.

In heavy medium saucepan over moderately low heat, stir together milk, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and mint. Heat until steaming but not boiling, then remove from heat.

Ladle about 1/2 cup hot milk mixture into egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent eggs from cooking, then slowly stir the egg mixture back into the hot milk, whisking constantly. Place over low heat, and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coat back of spoon (finger drawn across spoon will leave clear path), 5 to 6 minutes total (do not let boil or custard will curdle). Strain through fine-mesh sieve into large bowl, pressing on and then discarding solids. Whisk in heavy cream and food coloring. Cover and chill until cold, at least 6 hours or overnight.** See note below**

Process custard in ice cream maker, adding chopped chocolate during last minute of churning. Transfer to airtight container and freeze until hard, about 3 hours.

**I actually chose to add my cream with the mint still in and left it steeping until I was ready to pour it in the mixer before straining out the mint.  After tasting, I probably should have taken it out a little sooner as it has a strong herb-y flavor to the mint as opposed to the smooth, sweet flavor we're used to.  It's not bad by any means, just different than usual.  I will admit that my mint came from my garden and some it was a little hardy (meaning had been there for awhile) so that could have contributed too.

No pictures tonight as it isn't set up yet, we enjoyed a bowlful of it very, very soft.  Instead, I have a sneak peek at Emma's birthday pictures.  My friend, Amanda took them last night and put up a few today to enjoy...I sure do love this girl a whole lot...

Oh my goodness...she's got the cutest chicken legs ever, right??

Possibly my favorite of the whole shoot...I can't stop looking at this picture!!!

Man, I really love that girl.  I can't believe she's mine sometimes!  Until tomorrow friends, have a good night and enjoy something yummy!!  We're making peach tomorrow.  I may be the only one who eats it...but that's just more for me!

Ice Cream Week--Strawberry and Chocolate-Peanut Butter

  To start off ice cream week, we went with simple but delicious Strawberry ice cream...4 quarts of it.  MMMMMMMMMM!!!!!  We got quart-sized plastic freezer jars ahead of time so that we could more easily store (and share) all of the ice cream we're making.  So, to two of the quarts we added chocolate chips (it was supposed to be chocolate chunks but I forgot to buy some and didn't feel like chopping some up...chips work just fine!!).  That was Chris' suggestion.  To one quart we added sprinkles because Emma wanted to make some "Pink Princess" ice cream and we figured that was as close as we were going to get.  We left the last quart plain.  


  The kids thought it was so fun.  I am letting them do as much as they can to make it, until they get bored and want to go do something else.  Emma couldn't believe I gave her the job of scalding the milk yesterday.  "I'm supposed to just stand here and stir????"  I told her that was a very important job that could make or break the recipe and I was trusting her to be careful by the stove.  She was not impressed.  ;)


  Oren helped me measure out the other ingredients and turn on the food processor to puree the strawberries. They both helped me add it to the machine and layer the ice and salt.  And we all helped eat it.  I felt a little like the "Little Red Hen" as they crowded around my final product...


  For the strawberry, I used a recipe out of our user's manual that came with the machine.  It's SUPER easy and the result is absolutely delicious.  Unbeatable.


Strawberry Ice Cream
  from Rival Ice Cream Maker User Manual
For 4 qts  (I have the ratios for other amounts if you're interested)
     2         c.    milk
     1 3/4   c.    sugar
     1/2      tsp.  salt 
      2         c.     half and half
     1         Tbs. vanilla extract
     4         c.     whipping cream
     4         c.     pureed strawberries (I just used 2 frozen sliced strawberry containers...no idea how much that is since I threw the packages away, sorry!!)


Scald milk until bubbles form around edge.  Remove from heat.  Add sugar and salt.  Stir until dissolved.  Stir in half and half, vanilla and whipping cream.  Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.  Add pureed strawberries.  (I added them before I chilled it because I had it all ready...don't think it matters two bits either way.)  Freeze as directed.  


See what I mean...EASY!!!

Two bowls of strawberry-chocolate chunk...I was going to get all bloggy perfect and "style" my food, but the kids just wanted to eat it and I didn't blame them.  Sorry this picture doesn't do the ice cream justice!

  Today our flavor was Chocolate-Peanut Butter.  Oh my goodness...that's all I can say.  I am not a huge choc-pb fan.  I mean I will eat a Reeses peanut butter cup if it's laying around, but it's by no means my favorite or what I would ever gravitate too.  But that may have changed with today's creation.  I searched for recipes last night and found this one that looked good.  And boy was I right!  Joy described this ice cream perfectly.  And it was a perfect segue from a scalded milk recipe to an egg custard since it is cooked on the stovetop, but uses cornstarch instead of egg yolks.  It was easy (just a little more time consuming) and tastes delicious.  I will say the peanut butter ribbon threw me for a loop...I've got no peanut butter ribbon in mine, it's all just mixed together, but whatever...

Joy's Double Chocolate peanut Butter Ice Cream
   from Joythebaker.com
Makes ~1 quart  (I doubled it.)

2 1/2 c.   whole milk  (I didn't have whole milk so used mostly 2% and a little half and half)
1       c.   sugar
1/3    c.   unsweetened cocoa powder
pinch of salt
3       Tbs cornstarch  (I was out of cornstarch...used 2 T. of wondra for each T. of cornstarch)
1/2     c.   heavy cream
3/4     c.   semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2     c.   smooth salted peanut butter 


   In a sauce pan over medium heat, stir together 2 cups whole milk, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Heat until the milk start to steam, but before it starts to boil.
   In a small bowl, stir together the remaining 1/2 cup of whole milk and the cornstarch. Stir until no lumps remain.
   Add the cornstarch mixture to the heated milk and chocolate mixture and bring to a low boil. Boil until thickened. The mixture will look the consistency of chocolate pudding. Remove from flame.
   In a small sauce pan, heat 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Once boiling, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Let sit for 1 minute, then stir the cream and chocolate mixture until incorporated.
   Stir the cream and chocolate mixture into the cooling chocolate ice cream base. Place in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap or a lid, and put in the fridge until cool.
   Once cool, follow the manufacturers instructions on the ice cream maker to churn ice cream. Once the mixture has chilled and thickened in the ice cream maker, slowly drizzle in 1/4 cup of peanut butter. Don’t over mix. You want a nice ribbon of peanut butter running through the ice cream.
   Transfer the ice cream into a freezer safe container and fold in the remaining 1/4 cup of peanut butter. Cover and freeze until solid.

And I'm sorry but I have no picture of this because we had Emma's birthday portraits tonight and by the time we got home we had time for a quick bowl before bed...and a delicious bowl at that.  I'll post yummy pictures tomorrow I promise!

If you make any yummy ice cream, either using or our recipes or one of your favorites, let me know.  Tomorrow is going to be mint chocolate chip using mint from our garden...

Monday Munchies--Ice Cream Week

One of the things I wanted to do this summer with the kids was make ice cream in our old fashioned ice cream maker.  While I would love to have one of those small ones that makes a quart or two and sits on your counter, we have the bucket that you fill with ice and rock salt.  At least it does plug in and we don’t have to churn it.  ;)

  But we couldn’t decide on just one flavor of ice cream to make, and honestly, what fun is one flavor?  So we decided to have ice cream week.  Each day this week (that we feel like it) we’re going to make a different flavor of ice cream.  We made a list of all the ideas we could think of, and I mean not just vanilla or strawberry, but like flavor combination ideas, and the list was like 15 kinds long.  Of course, some of those are Emma and Oren’s suggestions that will not be making the cut...candy shop ice cream (meaning throwing in every kind of candy we can think of might sound good, but no thank you...)  

  Today we decided to start with strawberry ice cream with chocolate chunks.  I tried to convince them to be adventurous with adding mint or basil or something else, but chocolate chunks in their strawberry was adventurous as my crew gets apparently.  I’ll post pictures tomorrow with the results and keep you posted on other recipes we try this week…Any suggestions?

Mmmmm....can't wait!  photo courtesy of eatingoutloud.com

It's Done... What do you think?

Alright, I finished up the dress last night. And I'm glad I made a muslin first. Maybe it's just that I've gotten spoiled using tutorials and patterns from other bloggers. I think that ladies that sew make tutorials and patterns with other home sewers in mind. They take the time and space in their pattern to really explain each step, often with great photos for visual learners. They're also often kind enough to include an email address if you have questions or are unsure about a step in the design.

Here is the original version...Burda 06/2011 Twisted bubble dress with elastic belt

Whereas the big pattern companies...not so much. I have read in the past that Burda patterns are often a little vague. A little vague does not even begin to describe the instructions for this dress. Without giving the pattern away since they are selling it, here are the directions for attaching the lining to the outer shell.
   Turn in lower edges of dress and lining. Pin edges together with one straight pin, so that right side seam of dress meets left side front seam of lining. Reach through opening in side seam, between outer fabric and lining, and pull out lower edges of dress. Remove the pin but keep hold of the edges. Stitch edges together, right sides facing. Push hem edge to inside again and pull down. Sew opening in lining seam closed.

Remember now that the outer shell of the dress is about 2x as big as the lining too. They never even once mention to gather or bunch up all that fabric to get it all matched up. Now after trying that multiple times with only a mess...I gave up, turned on a DVRed show of Martha's Sewing Room on how to attach a dress to the lining and voila...I had it done in 5 minutes. And that's where pictures made all the difference. I understood what Burda was saying, but seeing it done made it so much easier to make my hands do the same thing.

So here it is:

I definitely learned with this muslin. IF I make this pattern again, I will do a few things differently. Since I changed the lining to include only 2 pieces (front and back) instead of the 7 they had, I didn't have an exact spot to start my twisted hem and so went too far which is why it's so gathered up on the sides. I will make the twist a little less which I think will make the bottom not so poofy and maybe a little longer too. I will also tighten the top up quite a bit. I followed the measurements and used elastic that fit my chest, but by using such a small width of elastic (1/2 inch), I feel a little nervous that it might slide down even with such a big top keeping it up. :)

I'm not unhappy with this result at all. I actually kinda like it and am glad to have finished it. Any finished product is progress toward becoming a better seamstress. I learned about fitting myself and about pattern making. I think the color is great for summer and the length is daring without being risque.

Does anyone else really hate modeling?  I could photograph Emma all day, but take 2 pics of me and I want to be done!

So here are my questions for you, great readers...What do you think? Tell me honestly, I need the advice. Chris said he thought I could definitely wear this version at the beach but anywhere else would look out of place. Emma said she liked the back better than the front... SHOULD I make it again? If I do...any fabric advice? SHOULD I wear this one out in public? And should I belt it or not? The pattern said to include a belt, but with it so short and me being quite bigger on top than the 2 models, I don't know...

More Photo Fun

Well, the dress and I are working out our differences, I may or may not get it finished tonight, but I am close.  So, for now, here are my photo fun challenge entries:

June 17--Bokeh
  According to wikipedia:  in photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light. ... Blah, blah, blah...to me it means keeping one thing in the front of the picture in focus while blurring out as much of the background as possible.  For my entry I used this picture of one of my roses.  This photo is straight out of the camera.  I didn't edit at all! And I'm pretty proud of that.  I love my camera!

June 18--Eyes
 Have you ever visited Katy's blog at No Big Dill?  (completely awesome by the way, and you should definitely follow her if you don't!!)  Her side bar is filled with the eyes of each of her 5, yes, I said 5 girls.  I think it's such a cute way to think of your children and how different they are. But, surprisingly, while I usually think my two don't look alike, some of their expressions, just in the eyes, were so similar.  I ended up going with this shot of Emma...  I love it because she still looks so young in it and it's less and less that I see that from her!

June 19--Summertime
  Just like childhood, this topic was so vague and "easy" it seemed hard to me.  So many of the other topics this month cover summertime to me, and I didn't want to copy anything I'd already done or take away from something left on the list.  In the end, I went with my alarm clock which may seem strange but it's because we don't use it in the summer.  We wake up when our rooms are light enough to naturally wake us up and start our day of fun.

June 20--Water
  Just a shot of the pool, but I like it.

June 21--Macro (up close)
   Here's a shot of one of my zinnias up close.  They are by far my favorite summer flower!  Possible my favorite altogether.  I love to plant a ton of them and bring them in all summer long in arrangements!

So there you go.  My photo shots from this week.  I've only got 9 left which seems wierd since June will then be over and that's a little sad.  So let's make the most of it and keep playing, huh?

I'm off to wrestle with, I mean hem my bubble dress.  Pictures tomorrow one way or the other.  Let's hope for a fashion photo shoot and not a SEWING FAIL!

I will not give up or "My Seam Ripper and I get reacquainted..."

So I downloaded this super cute summer dress from Burda late last week.  I mean, look...how cute is this??

She totally looks just like me right?  Can't you just see me going to Walmart in that hat??  I wish!

Based on the real lack of direction in the pattern I decided to make a muslin version first.  For those that don't sew much, or sew clothing, making a muslin means making the pattern in a fabric that you are not worried about losing, often actual muslin, but it can be any fabric.  That way you can test the pattern and fine tune it to make sure that when you make the dress with your fashion fabric you're ensured a good fit.

I chose to use a curtain I'd bought at Walmart for a project in Emma's room and didn't need. I figured it was a lot of fabric at a great price and I wasn't out much if it came out bad.  I also used an old white sheet for the lining.  I got it all cut out and went for it this morning...

Until it came time to sew up the lining.  If you've never used Burda patterns, they don't come with a seam allowance, you have to add your own.  I don't know why since you need it, but they don't.  I chose to omit the SA (seam allowance) here because I cut it on a larger size than I actually am.  Plus the dress is very blousy and I didn't want to end up with it overly large.  MISTAKE.  Cutting with no SA for the outer was fine, but the lining--Oh my goodness...first off, the lining had a center front, 2 side pieces, 2 side back pieces and 2 back pieces.  What the heck for???  So by not including the SA I lost like 3 inches and I don't know who made that pattern to start with, but there wasn't room even with 3 inches added in!  But, I just added an additional panel and moved on...

Another view of the dress from Burda...

But then, to attach the 2 layers, they had me gather the outer shell and then baste the lining to it.  Once that was basted I was to sew the lining to the SA to create a casing for some elastic (which I could never find mentioned what size or how much...I based it on my chest).  So, I basted, realized that it wasn't as even as I'd like, ripped it out, basted again, questioned their judgement on this SA casing thing and kept going only to fight the elastic in this small space.  I tried it on...it looked okay, but some of the basted seam was already coming undone.

So, during the Gator baseball game tonight I had a nice long visit with my seam ripper.  He and I haven't hung out much lately, but I think he missed me, and obviously I can't do a project without him.  I got the lining completely separated from the outer shell and I called it quits for the night.

I am determined to beat this pattern.  I mean, this dress has Kelli written all over it. :)  And who doesn't want to go to town in a curtain?  It's so 21st century Scarlet O'Hara!  I'm starting over in the morning by cutting a new lining with only a front and back piece based on my measurements and not just pieces of paper.  I'm going to sew the shell and lining together with a larger SA at the top.  That way I can make a casing for the elastic that will look nice and hold the dress up.  (Key issues if you ask me.)

And as for the bubble hem...well the directions are a little iffy there too, so I'm going to read them well and then go with what I know.  Hopefully between the two, I can get it right!  ;)

I am hoping for pictures tomorrow.  Wish me luck!!

More Photo Fun

**Fellow bloggers, have you ever written a post, previewed it, got it all ready and then forgot to press Publish Post?  Because I would feel better if I wasn't alone since I wrote this all up yesterday...Oops!**

I didn't realize I hadn't updated my photo fun entries over here in a week!  Oops...
I am really enjoying this challenge as it's forcing me to think about my subject and how my camera can best capture it.  I rarely use auto and am working on becoming a photographer as opposed to a picture-taker, but have a LOOONNNNNGGGG way to go!

Here's my last 7 entries:
Day 10:  Animal
  We've had our cat Punkin for 8 years.  A few years back she ran into something and it cost her an eye.  But it hasn't slowed her down at all...she's still bringing us treats.  Who doesn't love part of a chewed up lizard, squirrel, rat, frog, etc on their welcome mat in the morning?  Notice in this picture she's not big on being "styled" by my photo assistant, Oren.

Day 11:  Silhouette
  I realize this is not a real silhouette with his profile darkened, but it was right before bed and I was tired....No excuses.  Chris says it looks like a mug shot.  :(

Day 12:  Sun Flare
  I had to read up on how to do this on purpose other than just shooting a tree with the sun in the shot...I found some really great info on a photographer's website, gotta love those willing to share their knoweldge.  Thank you, bloggers!  Had my camera battery not run out, I could have kept shooting, but for a first attempt, I was proud of this shot.

Day 13:  Reminds you of childhood
  This prompt was a little too vague for me...it was so easy it became difficult if you know what I mean.  I finally settled on a root beer float, or the makings for one since it was like 10 in the morning!  I set it up on a white tee shirt in front of my kitchen window.  I taped wax paper to the window to give that white background look without a light box!  Again, learned this tip somewhere on the web a while back!

Day 14:  Someone you love
Simple enough although Chris will hate it.  I tried to get one of him in his reading glasses...he said no.  Too bad 'cause he looks Super Smart & Sexy in them!

Day 15:  Action
  Can you see where we spend most of our summer??  Or what Emma's favorite bathing suit is this year??  Anyway, I thought about playing around with shutter speed and trying to blur this one, but I need some more practice with that...apparently I only get good results with that on accident.  ;)

Day 16:  Mason Jar
  And while I would have loved to photograph a line of mason jars filled with delicious (seedless) blackberry jam the lack of rain we had for like 2 months dried them all out and we got none this year.  So we'll be eating store bought jam till next summer...
  But I like this too.  It's my centerpiece decoration in the pool enclosure....