groovin’

woot! i’m back in my groove. 🙂

i actually cooked last night!

granted, it was a pretty simple recipe, but i still cooked.

i made jessica’s buffalo chicken pasta bake again.

and it was delicious….again.

i also had a side of roasted broccoli, but apparently i didn’t think it needed a photo? hmm…

i also made another little treat…

vanilla bean ice cream!

we have apple squares from brad’s grandma and pie from my mom in our refrigerator and it was calling to me to be warmed up and served with vanilla ice cream.

yeah, the ice cream melted immediately…i should have probably put it in the freezer to set a bit before scooping it, but i was too excited!

i adapted the ice cream recipe from this one. i was originally going to make that one, but then heavy cream was really expensive at the store (there was no store brand on the shelves…), so i got half & half instead… i know i had vanilla bean in there, but i really wanted it to be vanilla-y, so i added some extract, too! also, the original recipe called for 3 cups heavy cream, but i didn’t want our ice cream maker to overflow, so i went with 2 cups of half & half. i’m really happy with how it turned out & now i’m wishing i had taken prettier pictures last night….

vanilla bean “air” ice cream

ingredients:

• 1.5 cups whole milk
• 2 cups half & half
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 vanilla bean
• 1 tap vanilla extract

methods:

• whisk together milk and sugar until sugar is completely dissolved.
• add half & half, vanilla extract, and scrapings from inside of vanilla bean and whisk well
• refrigerate for at least 30 minutes
• dump into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer instructions for best use (i keep my tub in the freezer at all times, but the manufacturer suggests freezing for at least 12 hours to ensure uniform temperature while processing.) i ended up processing mine for ~45 minutes.

when brad tried this, he said it was like air. i think using whole milk + half & half made it much lighter than most recipes i’ve tried that call for heavy cream. i think that’s why this took longer to come together than most recipes that call for cream.

***

today is a typical thursday at work. i do have to leave a bit early to take jake in to the vet.

just for a check up though! want to make sure he’s all healthy and get him on a vaccination schedule. 🙂

i’ve also got a pretty long to-do list for at home tonight that i can’t wait to tackle! it involves bottling kombucha, making cashew butter (i’m thinking birthday cake butter again…),

and a couple cleaning chores…

*****

what’s your favorite way to eat ice cream?

on top of a warmed up brownie/cookie/slice of pie?

by itself?

with birthday cake?

in sundae or shake form?

i’ll take all of the above… i love ice cream and any related desserts (think gelato, fro-yo, etc…).