How about a delicious frozen twist to an old classic? I am sure many of you have enjoyed some delicious frozen custard this summer, so why not frozen pudding? This is best served right after the initial churning in the ice cream maker – kind of like a soft serve. I like to sweeten my tapioca with maple syrup and a little cinnamon. This extra little flavor adds a lot of dimension to this tasty frozen treat!

We are busy enjoying summer here on the homestead with a lot of out of town visitors. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

We have had some really scorching days lately! The past several of them have been in the 90′s! I thought I left Florida to get away from the heat, but it looks like it must have followed my mom up here. She arrived on the coolest day we’d had in weeks, lending credence to her idea that we live in The Great White North, but in less than 48 hours, it became an absolute inferno. She loves the heat, so she’s not complaining, but the rest of us are lethargic, even the pets!

So naturally this kind of weather calls for ice cream! But really, we love ice cream and have it quite often no matter what the weather. When I was in Italy, I fell in love with what I called my perfect combination of gelato – one scoop of Frutti di Bosco and one of Nocciola – “Fruits of the Forest” or mixed berries and hazelnut. Such a dreamy combination. Light yet rich at the same time. So I decided to make my own perfect flavor at home, using kefir, a fermented, probiotic dairy drink as the base. We make kefir here at the homestead fresh every day and I love finding new uses for it, beyond a glass straight up for breakfast! So I can now confirm it makes a really delicious ice cream! Next time I will probably add an egg or two to the mix, for a more creamy consistency. But there was nothing lacking in the taste department here! So if you are as hot as we are, or just looking for a different kind of ice cream flavor to cool off on a hot summer day, give this one a try! I promise you will love it!

INGREDIENTS:

4 cups of plain whole organic dairy kefir
1/3 cup of fresh organic heavy cream
¼ cup Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur)
½ cup of raw hazelnuts, toasted
1 cup frozen or fresh organic raspberries
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp ground cinnamon

METHOD:

I have a Vitamix, so I placed all the ingredients, in order listed into the Vitamix and blended just until the nuts were pulverized. I was looking for a creamy consistency. Then I placed all of it, in my ice cream maker and made it according to the manufacturer’s instructions. You can serve it before placing in the freezer for a more “soft serve” texture, or freeze for a harder consistency. I have also found that adding a ¼ cup of alcohol also lends to better scoopability.

Ooey Gooey Cheesy Lasagna!

In this household we like to indulge in The Birthday Week(TM). This means that when either Roberto or I are celebrating a birthday, each day of our birthday week, we get to pick out some little thing to do – whether it is to go to the movies, to the beach, out for ice cream or a treat of some kind, and one of those days, have a special meal made. Not expensive things, just fun little things to keep the celebration going. For Roberto’s actual birthday, I took him to a favorite restaurant here in Saint Augustine and gave him a very special and personal gift – after almost 2 years of marriage and a very long story, I am now officially Mrs. Campus!

Roberto and I with Mom at Easter – at the table where we were most of the weekend! EATING.

So to close out the week of birthday festivities, this past weekend, my mom came to visit and so we of course had to have another celebration for Roberto. I asked him for his menu of choice, and not surprisingly he came up with Lasagna. It is his favorite, after all.

As for a cake, he was looking for something Tiramisu inspired. I know Roberto is a huge fan of ice cream, so I asked him if he’d like me to make him a Tiramisu Ice Cream Cake – and he was game!

Tiramisu Ice Cream Cake

I spent a few days looking online for Tiramisu flavored ice cream, and a sponge cake or lady fingers to make the cake. We happened to be celebrating his birthday with my mom the day before Easter, which meant we would be baking with my mom too. So I had to plan ahead to make sure all this baking wasn’t going to wreak havoc on me with my wheat issues. Therefore, I modified some Easter bread recipes to include my soaking techniques, and looked for recipes to make cake and bread that was more eggs and less flour. The sponge cake recipe I found for the ice cream cake ended up being more like a big crepe than a cake due to my egg whites not cooperating, but it was perfect for the cake.

Preparing Lasagna Rolls

As for the lasagna, I decided to make baked lasagna rolls, so I didn’t need to use as many noodles. I used whole wheat noodles and I used a mixture of mascarpone, homemade goat cheese, parmigiano, basil paste and spinach as the filling and I made a simple sauce using a jar of organic tomato sauce, a can of tomatoes, some wine and spices. Roberto loved these rolls, and declared it the best lasagna he has had in the US. So I was pretty happy with that! We served it with a nice bottle of Cannonau, a Sardinian wine, known for its beneficial antioxidant properties

This weekend was a very Italian food centered time, which is always great.

To see our Sicilian Easter Dinner with my mom, please check out her blog for the recipes and photos.

Lasagna Rolls:

Cheesing it UP!

INGREDIENTS:

1 package of whole wheat lasagna noodles (12 noodles)

filling:
8 oz. mascarpone cheese
4 oz. homemade raw milk goat cheese
2 inch piece of parmigiano cheese, grated
3 oz. fresh baby spinach
3 TBS fresh basil paste
salt & pepper to taste

sauce:
2 TBS olive oil
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, diced
28 oz. can of fire roasted tomatoes
½ jar of organic tomato sauce
¼ cup red wine
oregano, thyme, and basil to taste

12 round pieces of fresh mozzarella

METHOD:

Bring water to boil for pasta, and cook according to package directions, except cut the cooking time by half. Drain and set aside.

Prepare the sauce. Sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil, until translucent. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, wine and spices. Mix together and cook over a medium-low heat for about 35-40 minutes.

While sauce is cooking preheat the oven to 350F. In a bowl mix all the filling ingredients together. Then divide and spread the filling over the length of each noodle, and roll up. Place noodle rolls into a prepared baking dish – place a little of the sauce on the bottom of the pan before laying the rolls on top. Then place a piece of mozzarella on top of each roll, and pour the rest of the sauce over top of the whole dish. Then grate extra parmigiano on top. Bake for 45 minutes, and then remove the foil, and bake for another 10-15 or until cheese is browned. Serves 6.

Tiramisu Ice Cream Cake

One recipe of Tiramisu Ice cream from Desert Candy Blog
(the only thing I changed about the recipe, is that I used a tub of tiramisu marscapone, and 8 oz. of sour cream, as well as sweetening with maple syrup instead of sugar)

One recipe of Sponge Cake Roll Recipe
(again I sweetened with maple syrup)

METHOD:

Preparing Components for Ice Cream Cake

Prepare the ice cream base the night before, so it has a chance to chill. In the morning, bake the cake according to the recipe – don’t forget to roll it in a towel before it cools. While it cools for about 20-30 minutes, churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s directions.

Rolling Ice Cream Cake Roll

Smear the cooled cake with the soft, just churned ice cream, and sprinkle with cocoa powder. Roll up and place in the freezer. After about an hour, sprinkle the cake with some more rum, and then let freeze for about another hour. To serve, slice, and sprinkle with cocoa powder and powdered sugar – and extra maple syrup for those with a sweet tooth. Serves 10

Cute Pets, thrown in for good measure! Everyone deserves a treat!

United Irishmen Flag

Well it’s better late than never, I say. Just think of this post as a jump start to next year’s celebration!

These last few months have been very exciting for me. I recently discovered that along with my new found English ancestry (and a few other Northern European ancestries) and in the company of millions of other Americans, I may have some ancestral roots in Ireland. I am still learning about where it comes from, which has been a very fun process for me and has revived in me my love of anthropology and population migrations. I am not sure how much I will ever really know about my heritage, being adopted with no ancestry history, but it looks like there is a strong Northern Irish connection from all my research so far. So this year, I decided that I want to explore these cultures in my ancestral line through the foods of these lands, and St. Patrick’s day seemed like a good place to start, in good company.

I am not Christian, so for me, my St. Patrick’s celebration is not religious or political, but more of a general Celtic heritage and cultural celebration. It should be no surprise that I have Celtic ancestry, as I have always loved Celtic music (even teaching myself to play the fiddle) and culture, and Scottish and Irish desserts have been among my favorites for years. So I felt like even with its religious roots, this would be a good a time as any to celebrate the rich culture and heritage of Ireland with so many others!

Some Irish Feast Ingredients: Fresh Organic Eggs, Organic Cream and Guinness plus Homemade Buttermilk and Whiskey and Aquavit Soaked Raisins

I wanted to celebrate by cooking some semi- “traditional” dishes, and to challenge myself by cooking with Guinness! So the menu is as follows :

*Guinness Stew
*Sautéed Cabbage in a Mustard Glaze
*Brown Soda Bread
*Guinness Ice Cream

Everything is made from scratch, including the buttermilk in the soda bread. The meal turned out great, and I would certainly make any of these dishes again, for St. Pat’s or any other day.

Brown Soda Bread

I was inspired by several different recipes for this meal, and it all started with Jenny’s Brown Soda Bread Recipe .

As many who follow this blog know, I have been tweaking various bread recipes these past many months, so that the flour can be soaked for at least 12 hours before baking ( to find out why click here ). Jenny is a master at this kind of cooking, even recently being featured on CNN for her Real Food Challenge . When I saw her soda bread recipe, I knew I had to make it.

Guinness Stew

From there, the idea for an Irish feast began. I didn’t have a lot of time this year to research “corning” my own beef brisket , so to speak (maybe next year). So I decided to go with something a bit more in my comfort zone – beef stew with a beef and Guinness broth.

I love sautéed cabbage, and since it was on sale at the grocery store, I decided to grab a head and figure out what to do with it later. As I was cooking the stew, an idea for a delicious spicy mustard and honey glaze was concocted in my mind! I will definitely be making cabbage this way again!

Creamy Guinness Ice Cream without white sugar

I had also been wanting to try this recipe for Guinness Ice Cream for about 2 years. However, I did modify it, to make it more healthy by omitting the 2 cups of sugar called for in the original recipe and using date sugar and maple syrup to sweeten it, instead. I also omitted the brown bread, however I may have to add it in the future, because it sounds yummy!

This was a wonderful celebration to begin to connect with some of my ancestral roots and share it with my awesome and supportive family. Thanks Guys! Hope my readers enjoy this menu as much as we did! Recipes under the cut…

Guinness Stew
(inspired by this recipe )

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. Stew beef chunks
2 TBS whole wheat flour to dust
oil for cooking
3 russet potatoes, chunks
6 carrots, rustic chunks
1 small onion, chunks
2 cloves garlic, sliced
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp dried thyme
2 cups homemade beef stock
1 bottle of Guinness
1 cup caramelized onions
2 tsp arrowroot

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 350F. Toss meat in flour (reserve any leftover flour that does not cover the meat). In a large dutch oven, over medium-high heat, heat olive oil on stovetop – and brown meat on all sides. Then add potatoes, carrots, raw onion chunks and garlic and season with salt, pepper and dried thyme. Cook veggies in meat fat and oil until browned – about 5 minutes. Add 2 cups beef stock, one bottle of Guinness and caramelized onions. Then add any extra flour and stir. Bring to a simmer. Then place in the oven, and cook for about 1 hour, stirring every 30 minutes and checking for liquid. If extra liquid is needed at any time, add water, more beef stock, or even more Guinness – the choice is yours! But I doubt that you will need any. Then bring it back to the stovetop and let it simmer, with the lid on for another hour. Right before serving, whisk in 2 tsp of arrowroot to thicken. Serve with Irish Soda bread – and a side of cabbage. Save room for Guinness Ice Cream for dessert!

******************************************************

Sautéed Mustard Glazed Cabbage

INGREDIENTS:

1 head of green cabbage
2 TBS olive oil
salt
pepper
¼ cup good quality spicy mustard
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
2 TBS honey

METHOD:

Heat oil in a cast iron skillet until very hot. Add half the cabbage to the pan, with salt and pepper and sautee until soft. Then add the other half. Meanwhile, in a small bowl whisk mustard, apple cider vinegar, and 2 TBS honey. After all the cabbage is cooked and soft – about 10-15 minutes, pour the glaze over top.

*****************************************

Brown Soda Bread – see Jenny’s recipe . The only modifications I made were that I couldn’t find currants, so I had to use raisins. Also, I soaked the raisins in a mixture of whiskey and Danish Aquavit – to bring out the caraway flavor.

****************************************

Guinness Ice Cream – as inspired by this recipe from Ice Cream Ireland !

INGREDIENTS:
½ c. date sugar
5 organic egg yolks
1 1/8 c. organic heavy cream
1 1/8 c. whole organic milk
1 Can (500 ml) Guinness
½ cup maple syrup
½ tsp ground cinnamon

METHOD:

Measure out 100ml of Guinness and set aside. Boil 400ml Guinness until it reduces to 100ml in volume. Cool. Beat the date sugar and egg yolks together until thick and pale yellow. Bring the milk to a simmer. Beat the milk into the eggs and sugar in a slow stream. Pour the mixture back into pan and place over low heat. Stir until the custard thickens slightly (around 70C). Use a thermometer, as at 75C the eggs will scramble! Allow the custard to cool.
Once the custard is cool, stir in both the reduced and non-reduced Guinness. Whip the cream in a separate bowl and gently fold into the custard. Freeze using a domestic ice cream machine, or cover and place in the freezer. Yield: 6 Servings

Has an amazing flavor combination ever come to you in a moment of revelation, that makes you stop and wonder if you can actually crave something that you aren’t sure even exists? If you have had this experience, you know what I am talking about!

Right before we left for our trip to New England, I got an amazing craving for a Pumpkin Milkshake. I love milkshakes, I love pumpkin and I have an obsession for delicious dairy treats. So I got on this pumpkin milkshake kick. However, I wasn’t even sure if they existed. I had never had one, or seen one to my recollection – which amazed me! I am sure they exist somewhere, but they should be everywhere!!!

I was leaving for New England in just a few days, and wasn’t prepared to go out to the grocery store and get the ingredients to satisfy my craving. I bought myself a Pumpkin Spice Frappucino, in vain, it wasn’t quite IT.

Flash forward: I bought several extra cans of organic pumpkin at the store right before Thanksgiving. I am famous for roasting actual pumpkins, but I love the stuff so much, it is convenient to have it in a can to add to whatever suits my fancy! So last night I remembered my desire for a Pumpkin Milkshake. I had just recently purchased egg nog as well, for Egg Nog Lattes (check out Alice’s recipe ) and I thought that would be the perfect combination for my NOGshake!

These Pumpkin Nogshakes are delicious. Even more decadent would be adding a bit of booze – maybe baileys, maybe rum, perhaps a little whiskey. I will leave that to you and your discretion. But have yourself a Pumpkin Nogshake and be of good cheer!

Pumpkin NOGshakes

(1 – 6 oz. serving)

INGREDIENTS:

2 oz. egg nog

¼ cup of vanilla bean ice cream

¼ cup of plain pumpkin puree

dash of both cinnamon and nutmeg

optional: ½ jigger of booze of your choice

METHOD:

Stick it all in a blender, or use an immersion blender to mix throughly. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

]]> http://www.leftoverqueen.com/2009/12/02/pumpkin-nogshake/feed 29 http://www.leftoverqueen.com/2009/09/16/decadent-chocolate-cake-and-goat-milk-ice-cream http://www.leftoverqueen.com/2009/09/16/decadent-chocolate-cake-and-goat-milk-ice-cream#comments Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:23:13 +0000 The Leftover Queen http://www.leftoverqueen.com/?p=2312 Pin it

How good does that sound? Unfortunately I did not serve these items together, but I wish I had! They would have been perfect together. I have been meaning to post the cake recipe for over a month now. I made it for my cousin Michelle’s birthday. She is a well known chocoholic, and so I knew I wanted to make a super chocolate birthday cake for her to celebrate! Sweets for the sweet!

The recipe was based on one from Peanut Butter and Julie’s Blog (thanks Julie!).

The recipe calls for melting chocolate in hot strong coffee! What a revelation! This was a perfect way to really up the ante and flavor profile of the cake. I used nothing below 75% cacao chocolate and I substituted extra virgin coconut oil and blood orange salt to add to the underlying flavor as well . I made a 9-inch round cake and layered the cake with leftover cream cheese icing that I had frozen when I made too much for the wedding cake and then topped it with crushed hazelnuts. It was totally a success! I am not much of a chocolate lover, but I really loved this cake. I reduced the amount of sugar from 3 CUPS to 3/4′s of a cup – resulting in a deep chocolate flavor without an overly sweet taste.

As for the ice cream, I mentioned in my last post that I have switched over almost exclusively to goats milk. My friend Judy at No Fear Entertaining told me a long time ago that she had made an awesome chocolate pudding using goats milk, so it inspired me to try goats milk in my desserts. Normally when making ice cream, I don’t put eggs in the base as a shortcut and time saver. But this time I decided I really wanted a creamy custard, so I used both goats milk and cream, as well as eggs. I added a bit of crushed cardamom pods while the vanilla bean was steeping in the milk/cream. It added a really rice flavor and I think enhanced the vanilla flavor of the ice cream. The consistency was good, but it was very rich. I think next time, I will skip the cream and just go with the eggs and goats milk.

Recipes below the cut…

Decadent Chocolate Cake

Makes one 9-10 inch layer cake

INGREDIENTS:

pat of butter for greasing pan

1 1/2 cups hot strong coffee (I made espresso)

1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate (nothing below 75% cacao)

3 large organic eggs

3/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil

3/4 cup pure cane sugar

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups Dutch processed cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder

1 teaspoon salt (I used blood orange infused)

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 300F degrees. Grease cake pans with butter.

Mix the hot coffee with the chopped chocolate, stirring occasionally until the mixture is smooth.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), beat the eggs until they are slightly thickened, about 3 minutes. Slowly add the coconut oil, and mix at medium speed for 1 minute. Gradually add the sugar, mixing until well combined. Slowly add the buttermilk, coffee mixture, and vanilla, and mix until blended.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the batter in three additions on low speed, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center emerges clean, 55-65 minutes. Cool for 15 in the pans, and then carefully invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Frost the layers as desired, decorate, and serve!

Goats Milk Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/3 cups whole goats milk

2 1/3 cup organic heavy cream

1 whole vanilla bean

1 cardamom pod crushed

3 large organic eggs

½ cup pure cane sugar

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

METHOD:

Combine milk and cream into a medium saucepan. Using a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Use the blunt egde to scrape out the seeds. Crush the cardomom pod. Stir vanilla seeds and pod, and the crushed cardamom into the milk/cream mixture. Bring mixture to a slow boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about a half an hour, stirring occasionally.

Combine eggs and sugar into a medium bowl. Use hand mixer and beat until the mixture is thick, smooth and pale yellow, about 2 minutes.

Remove the vanilla bean pod from the milk/cream mixture and discard. Measure 1 cup of the hot liquid. With hand mixer on low speed slowly pour the milk/cream into the eggs/sugar. When combined, pour mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of the milk/cream and stir to combine. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick and covers the back of a spoon.

Transfer to a large glass bowl. Stir in vanilla extract, cover and chill completely.

Pour chilled custard into the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers directions!

We recently received another box from a FromTheFarm.com producer. This time it was a dozen beautiful ripe peaches. When I opened the box the sunny aroma immediately hit my nose. I knew these peaches were ripe and so we decided to get to work.

That night for dessert I made a wonderful and simple Peach and Cherry Cobbler. My version was about as easy as you can get. I sliced about 3 peaches into rounds, laid them, overlapping in a spiral in an oval baking dish. Then I halved some fresh cherries and dotted the peaches with them. Then sprinkled the top with cinnamon. My topping was simple – just mix some oatmeal, brown sugar and butter in a bowl and sprinkle on top. I baked it in the oven at 350 F for about a half an hour. Served with vanilla bean ice cream, it really hit the spot.

A few days later we decided to make Fresh Peach Ice Cream. I love ice cream and it had been a long time since I had fresh peach ice cream. So we chunked up 2 peaches and pureed them in the food processor. Then in a bowl we mixed 3 cups of whole milk, 1 cup of heavy cream, about 2/3 cup of sugar – raw and brown mixed, and vanilla together. Then stirred in the peach puree. Then we turned the ice cream machine on, and poured in the mixture – and soon we had yummy ice cream.

The rest of the peaches we enjoyed in our morning fruit salads and also stirred into vanilla yogurt, topped with cinnamon! Peaches are one of summer’s delicious treats, what do you like to do with your bounty of peaches?

In Foodie News:

Three Books and a Whisk:

My friend Elle, from Elle’s Kitchen HAS MOVED, and is running a great giveaway to promote the new movie, Julie & Julia . Her blog is featured as a “Featured Blog of the Day” on the official movie website! Way to go, Elle! And to celebrate she is giving away 2 cookbooks and a cool retro whisk! So go check it out.

America’s Next Top Cookie:

How would you like to win a gift certificate for Starbucks or Peet’s Coffee? Well Tiffany from The Cookie Blog, who was featured on FFF  last week is giving away a gift certificate (winner’s choice). She is running a cookie contest called “America’s Next Top Cookie”. All you have to do is bake a cookie and photograph it! The contest is based solely on the beauty of a cookie. Any foodies who would like to compete, can find more info at The Cookie Blog.

Our friends Chris and Erin, from The Olive Notes host a weekly community potluck dinner for all their friends, here in Saint Augustine. It is a way for all of us to get together on a regular basis. You don’t have to RSVP, just be sure to come with a dish, dessert or a drink based on a pre-determined theme. Sometimes these Tuesday night Community Dinners fall on a holiday, and today was one of those times. So of course the theme for tonight was Mexican.

I really didn’t know what to make. I hadn’t gone to the grocery store in about a week, so I started rummaging through the pantry. Originally I thought I would fall back on beans and rice. However I saw a can of coconut milk and a can of sweetened condensed milk. I had a mango in the fridge, so I thought about making a mango-coconut ice cream. That was until I pulled the mango out and realized it was still hard. However, next to it was a papaya that was very ripe.

When I pulled out the can of sweetened condensed milk, I read the back and the recipe was for flan. Lo and behold, on the ingredient list was also a can of coconut milk and a few other ingredients I had on hand. I was in the mood for ice cream so I decided to use all the same ingredients for the flan, but instead make ice cream. I cut the papaya into rounds, took the seeds of of the middles, sprinkled them with sugar and popped them under the broiler for a few minutes. Once they got caramelized, I took them out, squeezed a fresh lime over top and sprinkled the papaya liberally with cinnamon.

I made the ice cream, while the papaya was cooling, and once it was blended and still soft and creamy I scooped a big dollop of ice cream and placed it in the hole of each papaya slice. I also put a fresh mint leaf on top – and it was almost the color of the Mexican flag! Then I put it in the freezer to harden.

This was a nice cool treat to end a meal of spicy Mexican dishes! Happy Cinco de Mayo Everyone!
I am a bit late with this, but I dedicate this dish to Peter and Christey of FotoCuisine, who picked the ingredients for this month’s Royal Foodie Joust, which were the colors, Red, White and Green.

Voting closes tomorrow, so be sure to cast your vote for your favorite overall, best photo and most unique interpretation of the dish. Stay tuned to the LOQ blog to find out the winners!

(*still to come – the last of Italy – Rome)

Caramelized Papaya with Flan Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:

1 can of coconut lite milk
1 can (from coconut milk) of whole organic milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
3 large organic eggs
1 tsp Tahitian vanilla extract
1 large papaya cut in rounds and de-seeded
sprinkling of sugar
juice of 1 lime
dusting of cinnamon
fresh mint leaves for garnish

METHOD:
Peel papaya and cut the papaya into rounds, take the seeds of of the middles, sprinkle rounds with sugar and pop them under the broiler for a few minutes. Once they get caramelized, take them out, squeeze a fresh lime over top and sprinkle the papaya liberally with cinnamon.

While the papaya is cooling, make the ice cream. In a large bowl blend 3 milks, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Pour into ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Once the ice cream is blended and getting frozen, yet still soft and creamy scoop a big dollop of ice cream and place it in the hole of each papaya slice. Garnish with a fresh mint leaf and serve.

Gosh, it feels like forever since I actually posted a recipe on this blog! The scary thing is that I have A LOT of them to post! With the New Foodie Blogroll launch over, I have accumulated a lot of recipes and photos of dishes I have been preparing this summer, that I haven’t had time to post (and scarily enough, posts I had written right before the wedding, that I still have to post Bad, bad, blogger!).

DISCLAIMER: So be forewarned that some of the upcoming posts aren’t going to be seasonal for most of my lovely readers. I see that there are Autumnal posts all over the blogosphere, and although the weather is a little less humid here, we are still very much in the throes of summertime, here in Florida! (OH HOW I MISS THE FALL!!!)

We are going to be heading to New England for our annual trip in October and my goal is to post all my backlog before then. So that when I come back, I have all fresh material!

So before this gets too out of date, here are the lovely ice cream recipes for you that I promised over a week ago! *blush*

Here are the next two installments of the Ice Cream Diaries…

Lemon-Ricotta Ice Cream

I had some leftover ricotta cheese in the fridge and I had seen Laurie from Dalla Mia Cucina make a Ricotta and Rum Gelato and I thought – there you go! That’s what I want to do with my leftover ricotta! I had about a cup left, so I decided to fill in the rest with whole milk and Greek yogurt.

A while back I had made some lemon-ricotta muffins that I found on Rosa’s Yum Yums that were awesome so I decided that I wanted to make lemon-ricotta ice cream. Also I have been trying to find a solution to the super hard ice cream texture that most of our ice cream has (to the point that we have to take it out of the freezer 40 minutes before we want to eat it!!!), and since I know vodka doesn’t freeze, I put a nice shot of vanilla vodka into the mix. Just for texture purposes! It worked really well! So now I know the trick to making softer ice cream!

Click through for recipe and for the Mango-Organe Sorbetto….AND the MEME!

Lemon-Ricotta Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup part skim ricotta cheese
1 cup Greek yogurt
2 1/2 cups whole milk
1 TBS vanilla extract
1/2 cup raw sugar
rind from one lemon
1 shot of vanilla vodka

METHOD:

In a large mixing bowl blend ricotta, yogurt, milk and sugar until well blended. Add vanilla and lemon rind and mix for another minute. Stir in the vanilla vodka. Pour mixture into the bowl of your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers directions. My ice cream maker calls for a churning time of 25 minutes. This time I let it go for about 40.

Mango-Orange Sorbetto
(sorry no picture)

Our friends Erin and Chris from The Olive Notes were having a potluck dinner at their house in which the theme was Foods made with Alcohol. Immediately I knew what I wanted to make! I had a few mangoes in the fridge and I knew how well this experiment of mine was going with making ice cream with booze, so I decided to spread the wealth! This is super refreshing and great for those last days of summer! The perfect adult slushie!

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 half mangoes
pinch of salt
3 cups water
1/4 cup agave nectar
2 0z. vanilla vodka
1/2 cup pure Valencia OJ

METHOD:

Puree the mango with the sugar in a food processor. In a large bowl combine the water and agave and add the mango puree. Stir in vodka and orange juice. Pour mixture into the bowl of your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers directions.

MEME

Okay, my friend Alex, from Just Cook It! tagged me for a 6 random facts meme and awarded me with the ‘Brilliante Blog Award’ (among a few others) ages ago. So today I am getting the chance to do it and give you all six random facts about me!

1) I have two favorite authors: Tom Robbins and Anne Rice
2) My favorite cartoon as a child was The Smurfs
3) I have a weakness for French fries and milkshakes
4) I love thunderstorms
5) I hate cooked celery
6) I love hiking in birch tree forests

I have really so enjoyed my ice cream maker since we got it back in March as an early wedding present from my mom. Ice cream is a big passion of mine, it is something we eat almost everyday, in small amounts (sometimes!) and I find that it has been a really fun and creative outlet for me! But…we have been making so much ice cream since we got the maker, that I literally have a backlog of recipes to share with you all. So consider the next few days, the ice cream chronicles, as I share with your our creations!

I am always looking out for new and great recipes for ice cream, gelato (although you can’t really make true gelato without the proper equipment), sorbetto and slushies. I hoard little bits of this and that away in the freezer for future ice cream endeavors, especially from Daring Bakers Challenges.

This is the inspiration for today’s two recipes!

For the Pistachio-Cherry, I broke down and went with an egg base, something I have been avoiding. However, I had 6 leftover egg yolks in the freezer from a Daring Bakers challenge that needed using. So I decided to finally do an egg based ice cream to remember what the difference in texture is. Texture has been the most difficult thing for me to perfect in past attempts. I was really frustrated to see that there really is a difference. This ice cream was so creamy, its nuts! And this ice cream TRULY was nuts because we went a little nuts with the pistachios! But I was really struggling with the consistency issue and not using eggs. I was determined to find something that will work besides eggs, and I believe I found my answer …in BOOZE (see more on this farther down)…

Roberto loves Pistachio gelato, or ice cream. It is his absolute favorite. Second runner up, Amarena, otherwise known as black cherry. So we decided that this ice cream should incorporate these two flavors making the Ultimate Roberto Ice Cream. Unfortunately, we did overdo it with the pistachios, which means that flavor really overwhelmed the sweet cherry flavor. But it was still good, just not very cherry.

I had a lot of fun getting the cherries ready for this endeavor. I really enjoy cutting into rich red fruits, like pomegranates and cherries and watching their juices stain everything from the cutting board to my fingers. I can’t explain it, but it makes it fun. I guess it is the kid in me.

The second “leftover ice cream” was made from the cake remnants from the last DB challenge – the Hazelnut Gateau which was kind of a disaster for me. So I had a LOT of remnants. I had it stuffed in the freezer and had pretty much forgotten about it until I asked Roberto what kind of ice cream he wanted next. We had recently gotten a bottle of Bailey’s to experiment with making cocktails and so we decided to make a Bailey’s ice cream. That night, I DREAMT about adding the gateau pieces to it (this is how obsessed I am about ice cream!) and I am telling you guys, it is worth making the gateau, to put in this ice cream! I feel so validated now! Ben and Jerry’s really needs to buy this recipe from me to mass produce! LOL! The Bailey’s, since it is alcohol, doesn’t freeze so it made this ice cream so soft and scoopable and creamy!

Click through to see how we made them.

Very Pistachio Cherry Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups ripe black cherries
2 TBS agave
1 TBS brown sugar
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
4 1/2 cups whole milk
1 tsp each: vanilla extract and almond extract
6 egg yolks
1 whole egg
1/2 cup raw cane sugar
1/2 cup raw, unsalted pistachios – toasted

METHOD:

In a large saucepan combine cherries, agave, brown sugar and pepper. Cook over medium high heat for about 15 minutes so the cherries release their juices. At the same time, toast the pistachios in the oven at 350 F for about 10 minutes or until aromatic. Remove the pistachios and set aside in a clean bowl.

Remove half of the cherries from the saucepan and set aside. To the cherries in the saucepan add milk, and extracts and bring to a boil. Simmer on low for 30 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, using a hand mixer, whip the egg yolks, 1 whole egg and 1/2 cup raw cane sugar. Whip for about 5 minutes or until pale yellow, smooth and thick like a runny mayo. With the mixer still on low, add two cups of the hot milk mixture, slowly a cup at a time and blend until incorporated. Then pour this into the saucepan with the rest of the milk mixture. Cook over medium-low until it coats the back of a spoon (about 5 minutes).

Meanwhile, in a food processor, grind the reserved 1/2 of the cherries and 1/2 of the pistachios with a spoonful of the custard. Then add this puree to the saucepan. Allow the custard to cool and then chill for 30 minutes. Pour into the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions. Before putting the bowl in the freezer, fold in the rest of the pistachios.

Baileys Hazelnut-Gateau Ice Cream

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups whole milk
1/2 cup raw cane sugar
2 TBS maple sugar
1/4 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream
1 1/2 TABLESPOONS of Tahitian vanilla extract
leftover cake

METHOD:

In a mixing bowl combine the milk, sugars, Bailey’s and vanilla and mix together until sugar is dissolved. Add the cake and mix until the cake has been incorporated into the ice cream, as much as you would like.

Pour into the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker and follow manufacturers instructions.

Independence Day in the US is all about BBQs and fireworks. I guess it is a fitting way to celebrate a birthday. I mean, we all usually celebrate our personal birthdays with great food,cake and fanfare .
I think next year, on my birthday, I should ask for the fireworks, too.

But really there is no better way to celebrate a holiday or event than with delicious food. We all know that well. This weekend we were celebrating with my family. My mom and my aunt and uncle came up to Saint Augustine to celebrate the birth of the USA in the oldest town in the USA. We spent Friday afternoon sightseeing and so I decided on a simple menu, that I could do ahead of time, so that I could not only enjoy my guests, but so that we could have a delicious, but quick meal in between all of the festivities.

You know what they say though about the best intentions…

Menu:

Pork Kebabs with my special Middle Eastern inspired meat rub with cippolini, orange bell pepper and cherry tomatoes with Tzatziki

Since I don’t have a grill, and can’t grill where I live (2nd story condo in a downtown area) I did my kebabs under the broiler!

Tangy Potato Salad: loosely based on Nana’s Potato Salad but with lots of sweet Hungarian paprika and some cider vinegar thrown in

Green Beans Vinaigrette: Just green beans tossed with garlic, cilantro, sherry vinegar and extra virgin olive oil
(sorry no pics)

To Drink? White Sangria with strawberries and stone fruit (bottle of Riesling, bottle of bubbly and chopped fruits)

For Dessert? Cardamom and Pistachio Brownies from Mallika’s blog with homemade Pomegranate Sorbet (recipe to follow)

So I gave myself Thursday afternoon and evening to boil the potatoes and blanch the green beans, prep the meat with the rub, make the tzatziki, the brownies and the sorbet. No big, do it all the time. I prepped the veggies and the meat in no time, with no difficulty. Then I made the brownies. It was a bit of a challenge because I have never made brownies from scratch (oh the horrors!) before (we are not big brownie people, so that is why), plus the recipe I was following on Mallika’s blog were in metric. So I sat down to quickly do the calculations and it just wasn’t making sense – so honestly I scrapped the directions and just winged it. They turned out a little on the cake-y side, as opposed to squidgy, but we actually prefer them this way, so they were fine.

Then it was time for the sorbet, my pièce de résistance. So I made the simple syrup in this tiny saucepan I have with a broken handle (meaning all that was there was the screw and a little piece of the handle). After it was all set, I went to pour it in a small pyrex bowl, to cool. But as I was pouring, the handle finally broke all the way off, and as this happened the pot fell onto the pyrex bowl, knocking it to the floor, shattering the bowl and spraying my freshly cleaned kitchen and newly bought kitchen carpet with super sticky gooey simple syrup. The first thing that came to my mind after, “thank goodness I miraculously avoided being burned” was: “oh crap, Roberto is going to kill me!” (he has been trying to get me to throw this pan away for ages), followed by “Damn it! I am out of sugarrrrrrrrrrrr!” also dammit, my pyrex bowl is broken and dammit I no longer have a small saucepan. Followed by “I can’t believe I have to go back to the store!”

From there it was just a downward spiral. My kitchen was covered in gooey glass, and I needed to go get more sugar. So I zipped out to the store, while Roberto kindly volunteered to do cleanup duty (thank the Universe for good and helpful husbands!).
As I was driving to the store, the light for gas came on, so I had to stop and pay a gazillion dollars for a tank of gas. Then when I finally got the the store, I stepped out of the car and dropped my cell phone onto the pavement, which then promptly fell apart. I had had it, and expletives were flying from my mouth when I look up and see a mother with her little daughter walking towards me. As I mouthed “so sorry” to her, I picked up my cell phone pieces, put it back together and braced myself for the insanity that is the day before a holiday shopping frenzy at the grocery! Luckily I made it out alive and without any problems, and back home with no other detours. I managed to finish making the sorbet before completely crashing. We ate some leftovers, drank a mojito to dull the pain and torture of earlier events, and watched a few episodes of Buffy, The Vampire Slayer on DVD. Normalcy returned and all ended well.

The next day our guests arrived and we all enjoyed a nice and relaxing weekend. I hope you all in the US enjoyed your long weekend too!

Pomegranate Sorbet:

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cup pure cane sugar
1 1/3 cups water
2 cups pure unadulterated pomegranate juice
1/2 cup vanilla infused vodka
1/3 cup pomegranate seeds (optional for crunch)

METHOD:

Combine sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and cool completely.

Combine pomegranate juice, vodka and sugar syrup. Pour into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer’s directions. Before putting into the freezer, fold in the pomegranate seeds.

Here is the next in the Artisan Ice Cream series. With summer in full swing, I am always more drawn towards lighter tastes and although I am pretty happy with the ice cream base I have been using, I do feel after using it several times, there is room for improvement – mostly in texture.

I love the ultra creamy texture of ice creams using eggs, but there are several reasons I want to stay clear of eggs. For one, the fat and cholesterol – most recipes call for 6 eggs, while others I have seen as many as a dozen! Another is the cost of organic eggs, which are the only eggs I am willing to put in this temple of my body. A third problem with egg based ice cream bases, the time involved in a cooked custard ice cream. Ice cream really is a part of our daily diet – so I can’t think of it as a splurge. I need an ice cream base that is the best of both worlds – creamy texture, light on the clock, waist and the wallet.

So with creamy and light at the forefront of my mind, I went out on a limb this time. I knew I had some mango, lime yogurt puree tucked away in the freezer from when we made Elle’s Mango Buffalo Wings and I wanted to incorporate that into this week’s ice cream. Since there was already yogurt in the puree, I thought adding more yogurt would be a great idea – giving the ice cream some extra tang, and a little more fat, when using a whole milk Greek style yogurt. I also wanted to try a different kind of sugar, so instead of adding pure cane sugar like I normally would, I used sweetened condensed milk. I love the flavor of sweetened condensed milk anyway, and I have seen it used as a base in a lot of custard like desserts, so I thought perhaps it would give me a bit of the creaminess I was after. To the mix, I threw in some shredded coconut to add a little texture. Not to mention I absolutely LOVE shreds of coconut in ice cream.

The verdict? It is more of a creamy consistency and much more dense than previous batches. I don’t think I have found the perfect base yet, but I am going to continue experiementing. I think I will keep experiementing with sweetened condensed milk and I know when I want tang to go for using yogurt. I think I would also add more coconut to this ice cream if I were to make it again. This is a tangy and creamy ice cream/ yogurt. If you like a sweeter version, I would add some sugar or agave.

This is my entry for the Ice Cream, You Scream Blogging Event, hosted by Nikki over at Nik Snacks

(And no, those are not my manly hands, those belong to the Hubz)

Mango Coconut Yo-Cream

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 cups whole milk
1 TBS vanilla
1 3/4 cup mango puree
1/2 cup shredded coconut

METHOD:

In a large mixing bowl blend cream, sweetened condensed milk, yogurt and milk until well blended. Add vanilla and mango puree and mix for another minute. Pour into the bowl of your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturers direction. My ice cream maker calls for a churning time of 25 minutes. This time I let it go for about 40. Fold in the coconut and place in the freezer.