Sunday, September 18, 2011

Settling Into Routine

19th Anniversary Trip 014
My husband and I, celebrating 19 years of marriage this past August.

I have been living fast and furiously the last couple of weeks.  After ending the Summer on a high note of great family time, we reluctantly crawled into another school year.  Our kids have a mish-mash of classes so getting into a schedule takes a couple of weeks.   The last scheduling hurdle is adjusting to the 6:30am band class which starts this coming week.

Nao Interventio through Mt. St. Helens 206

Really, though, it is nice to have the kids focused on their classes and into normal sleep routines.  I like having an agenda each day, even when that agenda is to do nothing.  That is how this weekend went- yea!

Ok, I didn’t actually do nothing, I just let the day dictate what I got accomplished.  Mostly, I folded laundry but in between loads, I looked through magazines.  A recipe for honey vanilla ice cream jumped out at me.  I am a sucker for honey and it was a custard recipe.

I have been procrastinating making ice cream even though I had a 1/2 gallon of heavy whipping cream in the fridge.  Costco has the best heavy whipping cream and it is pretty economical to buy it in a 1/2 gallon, but what do you do with 1/2 gallon of heavy whip?  Fortunately the best heavy whip makes the best ice cream.  Since I started doing this, I have a hard time eating store-bought ice cream.  I am rather lazy in getting it done though, which is probably better for my waist line.  Still, someone bought the cream so I had to make the ice cream.

ice cream 022

When Costco had  a coupon at the beginning of summer for a Cuisinart counter ice cream maker, I knew I had to have it.  It ended up being $25.  My daughter bought one to put in her hope chest.  I had been using an old wooden one but it was loud and took a lot of work.  Lucky for me it was damaged when I flooded our basement earlier this year.  (That’s another story.)

ice cream 021

I cooked the custard before church so by the time we got home, it was ready to throw in the pre-frozen container.  I set up the machine and the ice cream was ready in about 15 minutes.

The recipe is as follows:

3 c heavy cream
1 c milk
1/2 honey
1 vanilla bean, split
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 lg egg yolks

Heat the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan over med heat, about 5 min.  Whisk 4 yolks in a heat proof bowl.  Drizzle 1 c hot cream mix while continually whisking egg yolks.  Add yolk/cream mix to remaining cream in saucepan and heat until slightly thickened, about 5 min., whisk continually while heating.  Pour custard through fine sieve and scrape seeds from bean into mix.  Add vanilla extract.  Cool at least 1 hour.  Follow instructions of your ice cream maker.

Like I said, this machine took a whole 15 minutes or so to harden the custard.  The cooler the custard, the faster the maker will work.  My only complaint is that 4 cups of milk  really doesn’t make that much ice cream.  Funny how the thought of drinking a glass of milk does not appeal to me but frozen, I could eat four cups.

I am sorry I cannot give credit to where I found this recipe.   I thought it was either Real Simple or Country Home but I couldn’t find it on their websites.  It never occurred to me I would be sharing about making this recipe.

5 comments:

Maria@BubblegumandDuctTape said...

Thanks for the recipe, my mouth is watering. I have the ice cream maker from Kitchen Aid.

I'm not a morning person either so I recently changed my hours at work from 6:30 to 9:00....oh it's so nice to be able to sleep in.

Sherry said...

I don't have an ice cream maker but I know that I would love that recipe. I am going to go make a cup of tea and quit thinking about ice cream. I hope you are sailing along smoothly with that new schedule.

The Tablescaper said...

I too have had a hard time crawling back into the schedules of school, then add all of these back to school nights and it's just all too much.

Love your solution to use up the cream!

I host a weekly blog called Seasonal Sundays. I'd love to have you join me one of these Sundays.

- The Tablescaper

Marty@A Stroll Thru Life said...

Oh the ice cream sounds wonderful. I havn't made homemade ice cream in years. We so need to do that. Thanks so much for stopping by and your gracious comments. Hugs, marty

Sonia said...

HI Beth,

Thanks for your lovely visit!! Well don't be sad.. you live in the Pacific Northwest and that alone is reason to celebrate! I know what you mean about the wedding..not everyone has the ability to have a wedding in such a grand place..my wedding was in a small church and I'm sure wherever your daughter gets married it will be the most beautiful wedding!! I love your area of the country..we have visited Seattle and Victoria and feel in love with it...my husband is from Northern California and misses it so much!!
Happy Fall!

Miss Bloomers