Simple Homemade Ice Cream

My brother and Breanna (lovely sister-in-law), made amazing homemade ice cream while I was home.  There are only 4 ingredients in the ice cream which makes it even better.  The ice cream itself was not too sweet, so it was perfect combined with Oreo's and chocolate syrup! 

I ate this lovely creation two nights in a row.

If you have an ice cream maker, you have to try this recipe!

Trace and Breanna'a Homemade Ice Cream

4 cups milk

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. vanilla

(You will probably need ice and ice cream salt for you ice cream maker)

Mix these ingredients together and place in ice cream maker.  Follow instructions for you ice cream maker!  

Enjoy with toppings of choice!

Amazingly Overboard

Last night at our friends graduation party she had an ice cream dessert instead of cake.  It was basically a crushed oreo crust topped with ice cream and re-frozen.  It was so good that I wanted to come home and make one for our freezer.  Cliff and I were talking on our way home from church and I said we should go get oreos and he laughed and said why...."So I can make that amazing ice cream dessert."  To which he said, "I think you should just make a giant brownie crust instead."  Oh, okay, maybe I will take it one step farther and make an ice cream cake topped with homemade brownies!  Cliff helped me come up with the overall idea and he said he wanted it to be his Valentine dessert (I gave him a coupon for a dessert of his choosing for part of his V-day gift).  He REDEEMED his dessert today!!!

 Extreme Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake

 A mouth watering bottom layer of peanut butter chocolate chip cake

 Homemade chewy fudge brownies for the top

 These are the brownies pre-oven but thought they needed a pic side by side.  I baked them while the cake was cooling

 When the cake is almost cool, you take your favorite ice cream and scoop it on top of the cake.

 A beautiful layer of ice cream

 As the ice cream sits you can smooth it out and then put it back in the freezer.

 When your brownies are almost cool, cut them up and crumble them over the top.  I needed some pretty contrasting color so I went ahead and drizzled some white chocolate over the top!

Served with a cup of coffee and a movie.  I think Cliff was pleased with his Valentine Dessert.  May I also say we like to call this a Mother's Day Cake.  Even though we didn't get to see our Mom's today we did talk to them and send them a picture of this beauty because we would have loved to share with them.

Lauren's Extreme Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake

Layers Include:  Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake, Ice Cream of your choosing, Homemade Chewy Cocoa Brownies and a drizzle of white chocolate.  Check out the recipes I used.  Then read how I assembled it all at the end

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cake
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup oat flour (oats blended in blender, can use normal flour instead)
1 egg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup sour cream
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup water
splash vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.  In a large bowl combine the sugar and flour.  In another bowl beat egg, baking soda and sour cream until combined.  Set aside.  In a small saucepan melt butter, peanut butter and water over medium heat.  Bring to a boil stirring constantly and take off heat right after it boils, stir in a splash of vanilla.  Pour hot peanut butter mixture into the flour mixture and stir well.  Add the sour cream mixture and beat until well combined.  Pour into a lightly greased round baking pan (I used a large spring form pan for the purposes of the ice cream cake).  Or for a thinner cake you can bake it in a 13x9in cake pan.  Top with chocolate chips and bake for 15-20 minutes.  Toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean.
*Recipe from Mels Kitchen Cafe.  I halved her recipe and changed it slightly.  If you want to double my recipe above (or check out here recipe) you can bake in in a 15x10in jelly roll pan.  She also had a great frosting if you were just making the cake.  If I was not using it the base of my ice cream cake I would frost it with chocolate frosting for sure.

Chewy Cocoa Brownies
I followed this Nestle recipe exactly and then added some chopped Hershey bars before putting it in the oven.



Ice Cream of your choice
My choice was  a 1/2 gallon of Blue Bell Dessert Trio which is vanilla ice cream with chocolate chip cookies, pecan brownies, chocolate coated cake and a swirl of chocolate sauce.  I know I know you can wipe up your drool now!

White Chocolate Drizzle
Place 1/2 cup white chocolate chips in a small bowl and place in microwave.  Heat 45 seconds at 70% heat and stir.  Keep heating in 15 second increments at 70% heat until soft.  Place in a ziplock bag and cut the tip of the bag.  Drizzle the white chocolate onto your cake.

 Important Ice Cream Cake Instructions:

Make and bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cake in a large spring-form pan.  While that is in the oven start your brownies (box brownies would be fine if you wanted to make this a simpler process).  When your cake comes out of the oven put it on a cooling rack and then put your brownies in the oven.  Start cleaning your mess because it is a big one!  When your cake is cool to the touch and the pan is still a little warm, top with ice cream.  As your ice cream melts a little, start to smooth it out.  Place that in the freezer and let your brownies cool as that starts to harden.  When your brownies are almost cooled, cut them up and place them on top of your ice cream.  Put it back in the freezer and you can melt your white chocolate.  When you are ready to drizzle take your cake out one more time and drizzle your chocolate over the top.  Let it re-freeze for at least 2 hours and then you are ready to serve.  Enjoy this highly indulgent cake.

I am headed to bed but had to share this before I started my busy week.  Have a Happy Monday and a great week.  See you soon for more new recipes!

Random Fun From the Weekend

We had a great week/weekend!  Kourt and Keith were gone most of the weekend, but they did get to stay with us 3 different nights.  We had lots of fun running/walking on the trail, going to Market Square, cooking, and going to ice cream.  As you know we had Chicken and Dumplings for Keith's Birthday, but I did not get to post much about the apple cake, which is very delicious.  It is my go-to apple cake recipe.  I don't go for cake that doesn't involve chocolate very often but I do love this one.  I typically make it for breakfast when I have company because it is an overnight cake, but Keith requested it for his Birthday dessert which was a great idea!  And by the way, I like to call this cake healthy because it has oatmeal and apples in it!

 We had this warm with a hot cup of Earl Grey tea and Prailene Ice cream right out of the pint...that we shared!  The next morning we had it for breakfast with eggs and fruit!

 Fresh blackberries and grapes!

Please make this cake, you will love it!

 

Here's the close up.  It is best warm, but Keith will eat this cake any way...LOL I mean seriously he can put it down.

Overnight Apple Cake.

1 cup flour

1/4 cup wheat flour

1.5 cups old-fashioned oatmeal

2 Tablespoons flax meal

1 tsp. baking powder

1 Tbsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

10 Tbsp. Butter, softened

2 eggs

1 cup plain yogurt

1/3 cup milk (or you could use 1 1/3 cup buttermilk instead of the yogurt and milk)

3 small apples or 2 large, chopped (I don't bother peeling them because the peel has good fiber and it tastes great still...and it saves time)

Topping:

3/4 cup walnuts or pecans

1/2 cup brown sugar (you can use a little less)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup oats

Grease a 13 by 9 inch baking dish.  Combine flours, oats, flax, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl and set aside.

Combine granulated sugar, brown sugar, and butter in a large bowl and beat until well mixed.  Blend in eggs, yogurt, and milk.  Decrease speed and add flour mixture, beating until just blended.  Fold in apples and pour into cake pan.  Prepare topping and sprinkle evenly over the batter.  Cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, uncover the cake and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350.  Bake 45 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Hope you enjoy this as much as we do.  Serve with milk and coffee and whatever else your heart desires!

*Modified from American Profile

*********

Other exciting things:

 Loaded Baked Potatoes with baked beans-Kourt made some awesome veggies!

 Grilled chicken, bacon, cheese, butter, chive sour cream, and avocado!  So good.

Afterward we went to Culver's for the best dessert ever.  This was so good I am already craving another: chocolate custard, oreos, reeses, and peanut butter.  The girl was super nice while Kourt and I took forever to figure out our creations.  Cliff kindly saved me a little of his (he got a bigger one) to eat as leftovers this week can't wait!

*******

Here are a couple of the things I made for breakfast (I love cooking for people by the way).

 Jumbo banana nut muffins with eggs and hash browns.  I have not been very good at banana stuff in the past, but this recipe was awesome so I am glad I have a recipe to use now.

 Whole wheat buttermilk pancakes.  Okay, this is the recipe my Mom made growing up and they are so comforting to me!   She would make them Sunday mornings so that we would get our lazy butts out of bed and go to church-thanks MOM!  Anyways, I will always and forever love these pancakes (she usually did half wheat flour, half white and both are great).

Both of these recipes came from the Better Homes and Garden Cookbook.  One is their Muffins recipe, and one is their Buttermilk Pancake recipe. 

Modifications:
Muffin Ingredients (all preparation is the same)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup blended oats (to make oat flour)
1/4 cup wheat flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup buttermilk (I use milk and about 2 tsp vinegar-mix together and let sit for about 5 min)
3/4 cup ripe mashed banana (approx. 2 ripe bananas)
1/4 cup oil
1/3 cup walnuts or pecans
I also made the streusel topping with 2 Tbsp. oats, 2 Tbsp. Brown sugar, and 1 tsp. cinnamon to top the muffins.  These are awesome warm out of the oven with a little butter


Pancakes:
Everything the same except I used wheat flour and brown sugar instead of white sugar. 

Hope everyone is off to a good week.  Let me know if you have any questions about the recipes or modifications! 

Unplanned Amazing Dessert

I am eating an amazing ice cream creation right now!  I made it on the spur of the moment and I am happy I did.

Dutch Chocolate Blue Bell, a Reese's cup, 2 Oreo's, a mini Twix, banana, and peanut butter.

First I chopped all the toppings:)  Then, last minute I decided to put the ice cream into the ninja with a little milk and 1/2 of a frozen banana.  I whirled that together about 10 pulses.  Then I added a scoop of peanut butter and all the toppings.  I pulsed it about 6 more times and viola:

I split the creation into two bowls. I put it back in the freezer for about ten minutes so it could freeze a little more.  I used almost an entire pint of Blue Bell, but it did not make a huge bowl.  I was a little surprised but it was so good I did not need a huge bowl.

Okay, on to dinner!  I made homemade skillet macaroni and cheese and Vegetable Sauté with Simple Cream Sauce.  If you are looking for a simple veggie side dish, this would be a good one to try...it was a nice change from my plain skillet veggies.

 

Veggies in the skillet.  The cream is not heavy on these...just a light coating.  I was happy because I used up the uneaten veggie tray veggies from Thanksgiving. 

This meal is fast and super delicious.  I have made this mac and cheese two times and it was great both times.  Here is the process:

 Water, milk, and noodles to simmer!

 Add milk and cornstarch mixture and get ready to add cheese.

 Stir, stir, stir!

 Until it gets all creamy and cheesy, beautifully thick.

 Here is my stove full of dinner:)

Onto the plate and into my stomach.  You have to try this macaroni and cheese it is so delicious.

Skillet Macaroni and Cheese

2 cups water, plus extra if needed
1 cup milk (I used whole)
6 ounces (about 1.5 cups) rotini
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon hot sauce
3 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded (3/4 cup)
3 ounces Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (3/4 cup)
1 tablespoons butter
Ground black pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS:
Bring 2 cups water, 1/2 cup milk, the rotini, and 1/4 teaspoon salt to a simmer in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat. Cook at a vigorous simmer, stirring often, until the rotini is tender and some of the liquid has disolved, 9 to 12 minutes.
Whisk the remaining 1/2 cup milk, the cornstarch, mustard and hot sauce together in a small bowl, then stir into the skillet. Continue to simmer slightly thickened, about 1 minute.
Off the heat, stir in the cheddar and Monterey Jack, one handful at a time, adding water as needed to adjust the consistency of the sauce (I didn’t need any additional water when I made it). Stir in the butter and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.
*This is modified from MelsKitchenCafe (the first time I made it I followed her recipe exactly, this time I needed to half it, so I tried it exactly how it is above.