National Ice Cream Day!

  I just found out that today is National Ice Cream Day!  So I have decided to take a break from chronicling my travels to post a couple of our favorite ice cream recipes, and to finally post a review on our AWESOME ice cream maker.
  Since the birth of our sweet little heifer, Eulalia, we have had lots of milk and cream to enjoy.  And what better treat to make with cream than ice cream?  Especially in this soupy weather we're having right now.  It's 91º outside, but with the humidity it feels like 105º!
  We bought our ice cream maker just before Easter, and absolutely LOVE it.  It is a Cuisinart ICE-30BC, and makes about 2 qts. of ice cream per batch.  We also bought an extra freeze bowl, so we can make more than one batch of ice cream at a time.

Chocolate Ice Cream
  The book that came with the ice cream maker has some really great recipes, including this super simple chocolate ice cream.  I have been looking for YEARS to find a chocolate ice cream recipe that didn't taste bland or burnt.  This is it.  

1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
2/3 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
dash of salt
1 1/2 c. whole milk
3 1/4 c. heavy cream
1 T. vanilla

Mix cocoa powder, sugars, and salt until well combined (no cocoa lumps.)  Add milk, cream, and vanilla.  Freeze in ice cream maker 25-35 minutes.  Ripen 2 hours in freezer, if desired (keeps it from melting so fast.)


Surprise Sandwich Ice Cream
For those a little more adventurous, and who love peanut butter as much as I do, there is this recipe.  You can leave out the marshmallows and chocolate, and just have peanut butter ice cream, but what's the fun in that?  The name comes from the yummy "Surprise sandwiches" my mom used to make when I was little.  She would take and spread peanut butter on bread, sprinkle it with chocolate chips and marshmallows, and put the sandwich in the oven until the marshmallows toasted.  Yum!  I recommend letting this recipe freeze a couple of days to let the marshmallows soften.  Just make sure you take it out about 15 minutes before serving to make it easier to scoop!


Ice Cream:
2 c. heavy cream
2 c. milk
1 c. white sugar
1/2 T. vanilla
dash of salt
1 c. creamy peanut butter

Additional ingredients:
1 1/12 c. mini marshmallows
Chocolate Swirl (recipe below)

Mix cream, milk, and sugar until sugar dissolves.  In a separate bowl, mix vanilla, salt, and peanut butter.  Add cream mixture into peanut butter a little at a time, until well combined (or use an electric mixer.)  Freeze in ice cream maker for about 25 minutes, or until done. Add additional ingredients and allow ice cream maker to mix them for a couple of minutes to combine.

Chocolate swirl:
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 regular size hershey's milk chocolate bar
1/4 c. cream
dash of salt

In a double boiler, melt the chocolates without stirring until they are shiny.  Stir and add cream and salt.  Drop by tablespoons full when ice cream is done, but while ice cream maker is still running.  Don't over mix!

P.S.
The Chocolate Swirl tastes very much like the chocolate in moose tracks ice cream :)

Unmasking Girl Scouts

    For most of us, the first thing we probably think when we hear “Girl Scouts” is “COOKIES!”  After all, who can resist those yummy thin mints?  Of course, over the years you have probably noticed how the cookies - and boxes - get smaller every year, even as the price goes up.  After all, it’s for the community, right?  Sure, the cookies aren’t as good as you remembered (or as big.) Sure you know they are full of non-nutritious yumminess. So we shell out, to feed our yearly craving, telling ourselves we are supporting our communities and the girls.  

    Because of the feminist agenda I know Girl Scouts supports, I don’t support their cause, but I admit to buying the cookies from friends and family when they come around every year.  But no more.  After reading through a site set up by two brave young women, I don’t think I will ever be able to stomach another girl scout cookie unless I have made it myself (more on that in a moment.)

    SpeakNowGirlScouts.com is a site set up by two Texas teens, both longtime scouts.  They quit the organization after discovering that what the Girl Scout organization supported, they could not.  They took a stand, and are now sharing what they have found with others.  

    I think it is important to note that the problem with Girl Scouts, as with many organizations, does not necessarily lie in the troupes, rather it is a problem with corporate.  Unfortunately, the negatives will undoubtably trickle down, and supporting one means supporting the other.  Which brings us back to the cookies.  

    If you hold the same views that I do, that it is better for women to be feminine than feminist, and that it is impossible for the world see find women equal to men when all they want to do is appear the same as men - in other words, a women’s role in the world is as important as a man’s, and that makes her equal, not her ability to fulfill his role - if you agree, you may realize that you can no longer stomach shelling out exorbitant amounts of money for an increasingly poor, yet nonetheless addicting box of cookies.  Never fear, there is a homemade and evermore delicious option available!!!  And you don’t have to wait for the next cookie season!  

    Sorry, I don’t have my own recipe for any girl scout cookies, but I have tested the Homemade and All-natural Thin Mint Recipe from 101 Cookbooks.  Everyone who tried them, loved them. They were sweet, crispy, chocolatey, minty, deliciousness.  I did coat them with chocolate chips - generally not considered good quality semi-sweet chocolate, but will work in a pinch. I think better chocolate would have added a lot, possibly something just a little sweeter.  I made these for Christmas, and the hidden tin in the fridge stayed fresh nicely.  Another note- they break easily, so do not try to cut them with a fun note-shaped cookie cutter!  

I plan on testing some other “girl scout” cookie recipes soon, and will be sure to share the results!  One site in particular that looks good is Baking Bites blog.  There is even a recipe for tagalongs!  Can’t wait to get baking!  The thin mint recipe are slice and bake, so I will definitely have to try those as well.  If you have your own recipe, or if you try one of these, let me know!  I'd love to compare notes  :)  

Favorite Easter Books

Hi All!
It's hard to believe Lent is almost over!  With less than two and a half weeks left, I've started thinking of some of my favorite stories for Passiontide and Easter.  
Benjamin's Box is a sweet story about a young boy witnessing the events leading up to the Resurrection.  We follow Benjamin as he sees Jesus come into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, as he helps prepare the upper room for the Passover, as he sees Christ carry his cross, and finally as he sees the stone that was rolled from the tomb, as well as many steps along the way.  As the story progresses, he collects things from each event and puts him in the box his grandfather gave him.  This is a great story to read to children during Holy Week, because they see the events from the perspective of a child like themselves.  You can buy the Resurrection Eggs to go with this book and there are Easter eggs with each of the items Benjamin collected.  Or, you can turn it into a scavenger hunt and create your own treasure box with items collected around the house.
The one issue I have with this book is that during the Last Supper, it says Jesus said that the bread was LIKE His Body, and the wine LIKE His Blood.  This is easily fixed with a sharpie, though.

The Country Bunny, I admit, does not say anything about the true meaning of Easter.  It is about the Easter Bunny, or rather many Easter Bunnies.  Still, it is one of my favorite stories from my childhood.  It is also an excellent reminder that you can't judge a book by it's cover.  The cover of this sweet tale suggests that it is a "modern feminist tale."  I disagree.  I think it is a very traditional look at motherhood.  The country bunny always dreamed of being one of the official Easter Bunnies, running around the world delivering baskets of eggs to children.  However, she found herself mother of no less than twenty-one children.  When they were very young, she undoubtably spent much time running after them, but as they got older, she trained her children well, until they were able to keep house as well as she could.  So now she has time to go be an Easter bunny once a year.  What's more, her children have kept her young and strong trying to keep up with the all, so she is able to compete with the much bigger bunnies for the job of Easter bunny.  I thing this story highlights the importance of diligence, kindness, perseverance, industry, and knowing that there is a time for everything. And the illustrations are adorable!

Before you say that Easter has nothing to do with Easter Bunnies, I present my defense.  The First Easter Bunny was written by a Catholic Priest, and tells the story of a little bunny who was the first to witness the Resurrection.  I admit, I don't know for sure if I have read this book, but I do recall the story, and I think that by explaining the Easter Bunny to children this way, they are able to make the connection between the colored eggs, the baskets of candy, and the bunny and the Easter Story.  For those who find the Easter bunny a fondly remembered part of childhood, or who have family who insist on sharing the story with your children, this is a great story.

Another story that I remember from my childhood is The Proud Tree. It's the story
 of the tree that became the cross.  Poor Rex, the proudest tree in the forest, is thrilled when two soldiers come to find a cross for a king.  He pictures himself moved to a palace garden, but is cruelly disappointed when he is chopped down instead.  I'm sure you can guess the rest of the story.  Another, similar story is The Tale of the Three Trees.





Finally, a book for adults.  The Spear, by Louis De Wohl, tells the story of the centurian who pierced Christ's side.  This book does an excellent job of weaving together the Easter story, the characters witnessing it, and, perhaps most of all, the historical background, all while building a believable character and a great plot.  I must warn you that there is an act of adultery between the main character and a young woman, but it is essential to the plot.  This book, like all of De Whol's stories, is hard to put down and really brings the events to life.

Taxes

Taxes.  That inevitable force in life, right next to death.  Funny, we seem to avoid both, don't we?  If you ask me, too much of either isn't very healthy.  Taxes have come up two of my classes the past couple of weeks.  First was in my Business Plan Developement Class.  If you have a business, you really can't legally avoid taxes.  If anyone knows a way around that without running into the risk of liability, let me know.  The other class that has prompted ponderings is my U.S. History class.  We are studying the events leading up to the American Revolution.  I shan't get into details, but apperently taxes had something to do with it.  It was something about the British raising taxes to pay for things that America neither wanted nor needed, and America not having a say in things like the rest of England. I guess I'd be pretty irritated too, if my government was taking my hard earned cash and using it to pay for things that I didn't think it should be paying for.  Especially if I was loosing out in other ways.  What would really bug me would be if I knew that the majority voted one way and the government still insisted on doing things another way.
Now, I do know that taxes are in many ways a necissary evil.  After all, taxes pay for things like roads and these community college classes I'm taking.  But it seems like that money goes for many things that I really don't see the benefit of, too.  Such as bike trails that people drive their SUVs to to get exercise.  I could probably go on all night.  But when it comes down to it, grandpa says it best.  This is a video clip from one of my favorite movies, You Can't Take it With You.