Caleb's New "Toy"

Along with all the toys and clothes my parents got for Caleb and Annalise for Christmas, they also gave each of them a J.C. Penney gift card. Besides new clothes, I have enough hand-me-downs for Caleb to keep him dressed until he starts kindergarten. So I didn't feel too guilty for asking him this loaded question:

"Caleb, do you want clothes or do you want an ice cream maker?"

His answer ;), "AN ICE CREAM MAKER!!!"

So here it is, Caleb's Ice Cream Maker:



And if it's still working when he goes to college, he can take it with him!

Well, today we made some AMAZING strawberry ice cream with fresh Florida strawberries.

The ingredients:
1 pint of strawberries
1 cup sugar - divided
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla

First slice the strawberries and stir in the lemon juice and 1/3 cup of sugar, allow to mascerate for 2 hours.

Next drain the juice off the strawberries, combine juice, 2/3 cup sugar, and milk and stir until the sugar is disolved. Add cream and vanilla, follow ice cream maker instructions.

This is the cream mixture at the beginning of the churn. (Note: We added a tiny bit of red food coloring.)

In LESS THAN 30 MINUTES, it became soft serve ice cream!

We added the berry slices with 5 minutes to go in the machine.

After spending the rest of the day firming up in the freezer...isn't this the prettiest scoop of strawberry ice cream!

Caleb takes the inaugural bite!

Caleb says, "Ice cream...
"...GOOD!"

February 19 - March 3, 2008

Don't forget! It's LEAP YEAR!

19 T – Spicy Beans, Sausage Cornbread “Stuffin’ Muffins”
20 W – In a Hurry Curry, Rice, Carrot Stix
21 R – Asian Chicken Noodle Bowls
22 F – Pizza, Salad
23 S – Chicken Satay Noodle Salad
24 U – Spaghetti w/Meatballs, Salad, Bread
25 M – Old Cutler Prez. Mission Dinner
26 T – Shrimp Tostadas, Salad
27 W – Spicy Honey Glazed Chicken, Broccoli
28 R – Pork Soft Tacos, Salad
29 F – Grilled Chicken, Stuffing, Broccoli
1 S – Pernil, Scalloped Potatoes, Cucumber & Carrot Salad
2 U – Cubanos, Tater Tots
3 M – Hashbrown Turkey Cutlets, Broccoli

The recipe for the sausage cornbread muffins was a Publix Apron's Simple Meals card, but it's kind of old, so I couldn't find a link to it on their website.

Happy Valentines Day!

I made cookies today:


They are a Valentine's modification of these Christmas Cookies.

Finger lickin' good! :)


There actually isn't any sugar in the cookie part of these cookies, but the icing and filling made them really sweet. The cookies are very much like puff pastry.

***

We're still working on the last menu, but a few of the recipes have turned out really well. Tonight we had Southwestern Nachos - and I made a few modifications to the meal. They were very good - instead of using pork loin, I braised 3 small pork chops in apple juice and minced garlic then shredded the meat. Instead of high priced "Scoop" tortilla chips, I used store brand white corn tortilla chips. I used all the beans recommended (the original recipe made two 13x9 pans, I made one 9x9 pan), less corn, a whole tomato, about 1/3 of a red onion, red pepper flakes, and lime juice. Instead of velvetta I topped it with shredded cheese. It was yummy!

Also the African Beef Curry was a super easy meal and very good. I also really liked the Ham Barley soup. However I do not recommend the Orange Chicken with Sweet Potatoes.

February 5 - 18, 2008

5 T – Tuna Tortellini Soup (Camp 24), Salad
6 W – Orange Chicken with Sweet Potatoes, Rice
7 R – Lasagna, Bread, Salad
8 F – L.O. Lasagna, Bread Salad
9 S – Glazed Ham, Mashed Potatoes, Peas
10 U – Sunday Chicken Stew (**prep Saturday night**)
11 M – L.O. Sunday Chicken Stew
12 T – Ham Barley Soup, Salad (Camp 26)
13 W – African Beef Curry, Rice
14 R – Southwestern Nachos, Salad
15 F – Chicken with Yellow Rice, Green Beans
16 S – Pizza, Salad
17 U – Pork Chops, Broccoli Bake (Camp 139)
18 M – Spaghetti with Meatballs, Bread Salad

I guess I never listed my Campbells soup cook book - "Camp" refers to it.

The Broccoli Bake on the 17th is very similar to Green Bean casserole. I am on the look out for new and different ways to serve broccoli - Caleb has already caught on to that "little tree" bit.