Category Archives: Ice Cream

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

It’s time for the monthly Fantastical Food Fight and I’m so excited for this month’s theme – Mint Chocolate. I knew immediately I wanted to make ice cream – it’s one of my kids favorite flavors.

This ice cream is creamy and rich, plus packed full of mint flavor. My kids thought it was a little strong with their first bite, but after a few more bites, they were loving it! So much so, they ate it all and already asked me to make another batch. Ice cream is simple to make and I love that I can control what ingredients I’m using.

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Grilled Peach and Cinnamon Crumble Ice Cream

We’re in a crazy heat wave and it’s the perfect time to share a new recipe for ice cream! I was looking for something different to make when I stumbled across this recipe. Grilled peaches and cinnamon crumble….yes, please! I knew this would be the perfect recipe to make for this month’s Fantastical Food Fight! Each month, a theme or ingredient is featured and anyone participating the challenge will share their recipes with everyone else. Check out the blog hop below the recipe for more ice cream recipe.

I know last month’s theme was Peaches and Cream, but this recipe was too good not to make. The grilled peaches really enhance the peach flavor and then the cinnamon crumble adds a great texture to the decadent and creamy ice cream. I asked my husband to describe it since I only had spoonful and he just mumbled “mmmmmm” at me. I guess it’s a winner of a recipe!

Grilled Peach & Cinnamon Crumb Ice Cream | Join Us, Pull up a Chair #fantasticalfoodfight
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Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream – The Secret Recipe Club

Welcome to this month’s Secret Recipe Club reveal! This month, my assignment was Our Eating Habits. Jamie’s blog is all about sharing recipes both from her kitchen as well as restaurant reviews. Jamie home-schools her three children and they all are Disney lovers. I might need to pick her brain since I won some hopper passes in a basket party last month and need to start planning our first family trip to Disney!

I had a full list of recipes picked from Jamie’s blog and had originally planned to make these pizza stuffed pretzels, but didn’t plan my time well this month. I love how Jamie lets her kids have their pick of the month – I might need to do that with my kiddos too! I went back to my original list and decided to go with her recipe for mint chocolate chip ice cream. My son helped me make it and had a great time. He was the first one to taste test it and kept telling me how delicious it was. Yes, my almost four-year old uses delicious all the time to describe food.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream | Join Us, Pull up a Chair
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Double Berry Ice Cream Pie

This month is national ice cream month and I knew I had to make ice cream. I love ice cream, but it doesn’t love me back. I know…it’s not fair! I was browsing through the July/August Eating Well Magazine and came across this easy recipe for ice cream pie. It gave a master recipe and then five different flavor combinations. I would recommend making it only a day before you need the pie and not letting it sit in the freezer for an extended amount of time. I found that a couple days after, it started turning icy.

2 cups coarsely crumbled graham crackers
3 Tbsp canola oil
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup nonfat vanilla Greek yogurt
2 cups blueberries and raspberries, pureed

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Process the graham cracker crumbs in a food processor until they are finely crushed. Add the oil and then process until the oil is combined. Lightly coat a pie pan with nonstick cooking spray and then press down the crumbs with the back of a spoon onto the bottom and sides of a pie pan. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes and then allow to cool completely before adding the filling.

Using a handheld mixer, whip the heavy cream until it starts to thicken. Add in the sugar and whip until stiff peaks form. Fold in the yogurt and pureed berries. Pour the mixture into the cooled crust and then cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Place in the freezer for at least 5 hours. Allow the pie to sit at room temperature for 15 minutes until it has slightly softened before slicing.

Source : Eating Well Magazine, July/August 2014

Creamy Pineapple Sorbet

I love making homemade ice cream, there’s just something about it that makes it so much better than what you can buy in the store. Granted, I wouldn’t have started making it myself if I didn’t have an ice cream maker, but I’m so glad that I went out and finally bought one a couple years ago!

I found myself with a container of pineapple that needed to be eat eaten or it was going to go bad. I searched around for a recipe to use it up and stumbled across this recipe. It was perfect! I also had a little bit of whipping cream left over from another recipe. The kids are loving this sweet, frozen treat! Plus…I love that I can just eat a spoonful and it satisfies my sweet tooth!

2 cups of fresh pineapple chunks
6 Tbsp sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 tsp lemon juice
In a blender, combine the pineapple, sugar and water. Process until the mixture is smooth and there are no chunks. Add in the cream and lemon juice. Pulse a few times to combine. Place the mixture into the refrigerator for at least an hour. 
When ready to make the sorbet, pour the mixture into your frozen ice cream bowl and process according to instructions of the ice cream machine. Once ready, transfer to a freezer safe container and allow to freeze for at least 2 hours before serving. Dig in and enjoy! 
Source: I Wash…You Dry

Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream

I know during these cold months, ice cream isn’t the first thing that comes to mind to make…but sometimes it’s nice to step outside of the box. My husband is a big fan of peanut butter cups and I happened to pick up a bag of the minis during my last trip to Target. They were on clearance in the Valentine’s Day section, so I figured why not.

After I came home I knew I wanted to make ice cream with them, but was just going to do vanilla bean and add them in, but then it hit me to find a recipe that had peanut butter ice cream. I found the perfect recipe and this ice cream was amazing! If I buy peanut butter cup ice cream from the grocery store, the peanut butter flavor is subtle – not with this recipe! You could taste the peanut butter in every spoonful and my husband asked that when I make it next time to leave out the peanut butter cups.  I know it’s not the healthiest version, but after the crazy busy week I’ve had, it was nice to sit down with a small bowl and indulge.

1 1/4 cups smooth peanut butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped peanut butter cups

In a medium bowl, mix the peanut butter and sugar with a hand mixer until the sugar is incorporated into the peanut butter. Add the milk and mix on low. Allow time for the sugar to dissolve into the milk before moving on to the next (no one likes ice crystals in their ice cream). Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla extract.

Using your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions, process the ice cream until it has thickened. Pour in the chopped peanut butter cups when there’s only a few minutes left in the process. Remove from the ice cream maker and place into freezer safe containers. Freeze for several hours to have a soft-serve consistency or longer for a more firm ice cream.

Try not to eat all of it in one sitting! 🙂

Source: Recipe Girl 

Rocky Road Ice Cream

I was away over the weekend in Nashville for my business’ leadership summit – it was an amazing time! I met so many great people, learned so much more about Rodan + Fields and ate some amazing food. I enjoyed the most delicious shrimp and grits one night for dinner…..amazing! I also picked up some nasty cold while I was there, so this week has been all about chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese. I feel horrible and hope to kick this bug soon. Pity party for one here!

I made a batch of rocky road ice cream before I left for Nashville so my husband would have a little snack at night to indulge in after taking care of the kids all weekend. Needless to say, he enjoyed it since it was gone when I got back on Sunday! I did get to taste-test a small bowl before I left. It was delicious, the perfect amount of chocolate and of course, I added extra marshmallows and pecans. 
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup skim milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp vanilla
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans
1 cup mini marshmallows
In a medium bowl with a spout, whisk together the cream, milk, both sugars and cocoa powder for 2 minutes until the sugar is dissolved. 
Using an ice cream, make the ice cream according to the instructions. Once the ice cream has finished churning, fold in the pecans and marshmallows. Transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for at least 1 to 2 hours until the ice cream has harden.
Scoop a big bowl and enjoy! 
Source: Our Best Bites

Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

I’m so excited to make ice cream again! I don’t know why but I only seem to make it in the summertime. I need to do it more often since it’s so much better than store bought ice cream. I bought ice cream containers from Sweet Bliss Containers and I have to say I will never go back to storing ice cream any other way! The little vents in the lids make them airtight and you don’t get the ice crystals on top.

I used local strawberries and the strawberry flavor is amazing and the chocolate chunks add a little bit of crunch and a different type of sweetness.

3 cups ripe strawberries, cleaned and hulled
1 cup light cream
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chunks, chopped

In a food processor, puree the strawberries until they are chopped and to the desired size. I pureed mine until there were a few little chunks because I didn’t want big chunks of strawberries in the ice cream.

In a large bowl, combine the strawberries with the other ingredients except the chocolate chunks. Place into the refrigerator for at least an hour. Using an ice cream making, make the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instructions. When there’s about 5 minutes left in the ice cream process, add the chocolate chunks.

Transfer to a container and place in the freezer to fully freeze. When it’s ready, dig in!

Adapted from: Shannon’s Kitchen Creations

The Secret Recipe Club – Nutella Gelato

It’s that time again…The Secret Recipe Club!!! This is my fifth month participating and I’m really enjoying it. Each month, I’m challenged to narrow it down to one recipe and this month’s blog was challenging. This is the second time I’ve been assigned a blog that focused on vegan eating. I think someone’s trying to tell me something! Trust me, we eat vegetables, I just don’t blog about it that often since I usually just steam some fresh veggies and I’m sure you all know about steaming veggies.
 

Here’s my previous SRC recipes:

So back to the SRC – this month’s assignment was from Baking & Biking. Sarah is the foodie behind this blog. We have lots of things in common – both of us are “at-home” cooks who learned to cook by growing up in the kitchen with our moms and then experimenting on our own while in college. Sarah has lots of great smoothie recipes but since my blender is on the fritz, I had to skip trying one of them. Instead I opted for her recipe for Nutella Gelato Shake. I figured you can’t go wrong with Nutella and gelato – plus I hadn’t make ice cream in over a month and it was due time I make a batch. Sarah added butterscotch chips and toffee bits to her gelato, but I opted for semi-sweet chocolate chips. The gelato is so creamy and rich – perfect for when you’re craving a sweet treat!

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup skim milk
3/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup Nutella
Pinch of salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


In a saucepan, combine the milk, cream and 1/2 cup of the sugar over medium heat. Cook until the sugar dissolves.

In a medium bowl, add the egg yolks and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Using a hand mixer, beat the mixture until the eggs have been thick and pale yellow in color. It takes about 4-5 minutes.

Pour 1/2 cup of the warm milk mixture into the whipped egg yolks. Stir and then add this mixture to the saucepan. Cook over very low heat; stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon.


Stir in the vanilla, Nutella and salt until it is completely dissolved. Transfer the mixture to bowl with a spout. Chill the mixture completely before pouring it into your ice cream maker. Follow the instructions for your ice cream maker to freeze the mixture. Add the chocolate chips (or other add-ins) about 10 minutes before the gelato is done. Freeze until the mixture firms up.


Want to be part of The Secret Recipe Club? Join here!

Peach Sour Cream Ice Cream

I love peaches! We’re lucky to have an amazing orchard close to our house that supplies us with most of the fruit we eat year round. I bought a quart of peaches at the Farmers Market last week and I knew I wanted to make ice cream with them. My husband always tells me how much he loved eating Breyer’s peach ice cream growing up.

I thought about making just a traditional vanilla bean ice cream, but wanted something different. Many of the recipes I came across were egg based and I was not in the mood to make my kitchen any hotter than already was with our heat wave. I sometimes wish we had central air, but then I think about the work it would be to install it in our 110 year house.

So back to the ice cream…we all loved the tangy the sour cream added and the peach flavor was so intense. I’ll definitely be making this again!

1 lb peaches, skins removed and cubed
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup skim milk
1 cup lowfat sour cream

In a small bowl, add the peaches and sprinkle with sugar. Stir to combine and refrigerate for at least an hour. Stir occasionally to dissolve the sugar.

In a blender, add the peach-sugar mixture and the remaining ingredients. Puree until smooth. Chill in the refrigerator. Add the chilled mixture to your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.

Source: One Ordinary Day