The Ice Cream Diaries... Part 2 Mama Mia Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Hey Y'all!

Well, I made it through my colonoscopy! Things are good and I don't have to go through that for another 3 years! Whooo, hoooo! I have pictures... BUT... they will not make an appearance anywhere on the Internet!!!

I headed down to Mom's house last Friday. We took a short trip to Savannah on Saturday, where I got to visit Joann Fabrics! Their Simplicity patterns were on sale for $1.99! I also picked up some fabric and other sewing essentials. We also wandered over to the mall and picked up some back to school clothes from Belk. I have my first day of school outfit ready to go! Sunday was spent, well. Y'all probably know how Sunday was spent! I felt pretty good after my colonoscopy on Monday, so we did take a trip to Hancock Fabrics. I picked up some more fabric to make Nook and Ipad covers. I can't wait to get started on those this week!

But, sadly, Summer is slowly coming to an end. I am actually going in to school tomorrow to work on my room for just a bit. I don't think I am going to have a lot of time to work in my room before open house, and I would much rather go ahead and get it done instead of stressing about it! Besides, it is WAY too hot to be hanging out on the beach right now. :)

If you are like me and trying to cram as much summer as you can in right now... I thought I would share with you my absolute favorite ice cream recipe from this summer. Mama Mia Mint Chocolate Chip. It turned out great and I am still eating on a batch in my freezer. In fact, I use this base of milk, cream and sugar as a base for all of my other ice cream experiments. It produces a rich and creamy ice cream base. You can't go wrong with it. And it freezes like soft serve. Sometimes, I have found, that if you use too much heavy cream, your ice cream will freeze and it will turn out chalky. Yuck.

Anyhoo... this is what you will need to make Mama Mia Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream. (Mama Mia is said with a heavy Italian accent. Touch your fingers to your lips. It is that good!)

1 cup of whole milk
2 cups of heavy cream
3/4 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips
1 teaspoon of mint extract

To start, combine 1 cup of whole milk and 3/4 cup of sugar in a bowl. Once mixed, add 2 cups of heavy cream.

Add 1 teaspoon of mint extract. You can add more, but the mint extract is strong. And, you don't want to be all Shamrock Shake. Also, at this point before you add the mixture to the ice cream maker, you can add a few drops of green food coloring. But that was too weird for me! Put the mini chocolate chips off to the side, you will add those in during the last 5 minutes of the ice cream churning process.

Add the mixture into the frozen canister and run the ice cream maker for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add the 1/2 cup to 1 cup of mini chocolate chips. Yes, I added 1 cup!

Ready for the freezer!

So goooooood! You must go and make some now!!!! It is so easy. :)

Alrighty! I am off to watch Royal Pains and my new favorite show.. Necessary Roughness!

Tootles!

:) JKP 

The Ice Cream Diaries... Part 1

Hey Y'all!

Well, I really wanted to get this posted earlier... but I couldn't take my messy, dusty house one more minute! After I came home from the beach this afternoon, I did laundry, cleaned baseboards and blinds, cleaned bathrooms and did some organizing. I feel so much better! Now I am free to craft tomorrow and not feel guilty about the state of my house! Sometimes you just have to take a moment and CLEAN!

One of the things that I have really enjoyed making this summer is ice cream! This is pretty unusual, because I am not a big ice cream eater. Out of all of the desserts I am least likely to pick ice cream. But when this stuff with my esophagus and tummy started, ice cream was the one thing that I could eat that made my chest and tummy stop hurting. So for now, ice cream and I are buddies!

A few Christmases ago, Mom gave me a Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. I was excited when I received it, because besides ice cream you can make sorbet. Somehow or another, I just never got around to using it until this summer. Of course, me being me, I did all kinds of ice cream recipe research. When I went to make my first batch, I was really craving strawberries. Which is weird. I was very allergic to strawberries when I was little, but now I seem to be able to eat them just fine. So I found a great recipe on You Tube of all places! The bonus was that my exact ice cream maker was used in the video, so I didn't have to hunt for my elusive user's manual!

To make this ice cream you will need:
An electric ice cream maker with a freezer bowl (You want to make sure the freezer bowl has been pre-frozen for 8 to 12 hours)
2 cups of heavy cream
A teaspoon of vanilla extract
2 cups of fresh fruit mashed OR 16 to 19 oz of frozen sliced strawberries- thawed (I went with the frozen version because that is what they used in the original recipe)

Start by placing 2 cups of heavy cream in a bowl or large measuring cup. Add thawed or mashed strawberries. Here' s a quick tip... if you use the thawed sliced strawberries, go ahead and mash them a bit. That way large pieces won't get stuck in the ice cream paddle. Stir and then add 1 tsp of vanilla.

Turn on your ice cream maker and then slowly pour in the strawberry mixture.

Now let the machine do all of the work. Unload the dishwasher, put in a load of laundry. Go watch The Weather Channel. In about 25 minutes go back and check on the cream. It will be done!

Getting creamy!

When the ice cream is finished, fix yourself a bowl. It is soft serve at this point. You may prefer to put it in an air tight container for a few hours and then eat.

This ice cream is VERY creamy and yummy, but not overly sweet. If you like sweet strawberry ice cream, then I would add about a half a cup to a cup of sugar when you are mixing the cream and strawberries before you place it in the ice cream maker. I have another recipe that I am going to share tomorrow that has become my go to base for ice cream. And of course, if you like this... you can add other fruit too! I am sure y'all are just shocked that I didn't make this with blueberries! :)

Overall, this was a great first try with ice cream in my ice cream maker. Tomorrow... I will post my favorite recipe so far... Mint Chocolate Chip!!!!

Enjoy!!!
:) JKP