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I’m totally ADDICTED to my ice cream maker, hahahaha! In two days I made two different kind and you know what… the bowl is still in the freezer so I can try another kind tomorrow! HAHA!

I love the texture that the banana gave to that ice cream, it’s fun and like the mango ice cream, it’s super delicious and…. HOMEMADE! Yeah!

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-ICE CREAM MAKER RECIPE-

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Servings

About 5 cups (1.25L)

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Ingredients

* 1 cup sliced strawberries

* 1 very ripe medium banana

* 3/4 cup milk (I used 3.25% milk)

* 2/3 cup sugar

* A pinch of salt

* 1 1/2 cups cream (I used 10% cream)

* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (I used my Mexican vanilla)

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Directions

* Before even starting the recipe, make sure your ice cream maker bowl is in the freezer, in fact it takes about 16-24 hours to be totally frozen. I put it in my huge vertical freezer and it takes about 16 hours to be rock solid.

* Put the strawberries and the banana in a food processor and pulse until you reach the texture you want (I wanted a smooth texture with some tiny pieces in it)

* In a bowl, whisk  the sugar, the milk and the salt together until all the sugar is dissolved. Stir in cream and vanilla. Add the fruit puree and mix well.

* Cover and put the bowl in the refrigerator for few hours (I left mine there for about 2-3 hours)

* Pour the mixture into the ice cream maker and put it on. Calculate about 20 minutes to reach the perfect texture. (the mixture has to thickened)

* Since the ice cream will be kind of soft, if you want a more firm texture, remove the ice cream from the bowl and put it in another freezer safe container. Freeze for few hours. (This is what I did) (don’t freeze your ice cream in the ice cream maker bowl.. use another container!)

* Remove from the freezer and serve.

* Enjoy!

Freshly made freezer jam/sauce, along with tonight’s strawberry harvest

It’s Memorial Day weekend, and rather than sitting in traffic on I-75 with the rest of southeastern Michigan, Bill and I have decided to have a “stay-cation.”  I’m thinking we may regret this decision in the next few days, as temperatures are supposed to be in the 80s and 90s, and a cabin on the lake would be much more pleasant than our sweltering sun-drenched backyard.  But, alas, the decision has been made.  Our exciting plans include lots of sweating profusely, venturing into Detroit to visit Historic Fort Wayne and the Dossin Great Lakes Museum, and trying desperately to keep up with our strawberry crop.

Thanks to an often summer-like spring, our strawberries came in several weeks earlier than usual.  They are in full force now, and a disproportionately large amount of my time has been devoted to picking, coring, and rinsing them….and using them up before they go bad.  But I don’t mind too much because they are oh so tasty!

Besides munching on them with a sprinkle of sugar, here is what we have made so far: Strawberry spinach salad, a pitcher of strawberry mojitos, strawberry-topped vanilla bean ice cream, strawberry smoothies, homemade strawberry banana “ice cream,” and several jars of freezer jam.

My improvised recipe for the smoothies consists of throwing a handful of fresh strawberries into my Magic Bullet blender along with half of a container of Greek yogurt, some crushed ice, milk (Lactaid), and a spoonful of my last jar of freezer jam from 2010.  Sometimes it’s refreshing to drink lunch from a straw, as I did today.

With the hot weather upon us, I’m thankful that I also recently discovered a quick and easy way to make a creamy frozen treat that is very similar in taste and texture to ice cream. Simply slice up a very ripe banana, freeze the pieces, and then purée them to a smooth consistency. Again, I use the Magic Bullet.  It’s the most healthy and natural ice cream you’ll ever have!  A few days ago, I did the banana thing and added in some fresh strawberries.  It had a great flavor, but  it was a tiny bit soupy due to the juiciness of the berries.  Next time, I’ll freeze the strawberries a bit and see if that will make a difference.

Speaking of juicy….my freezer jam is refusing to set up properly.  I followed the recipe in the Sure Jell package to a tee, but after the requisite 24 hours on the kitchen counter it’s not at all firm.  Not sure what went wrong.  The thing I love about freezer jam, though, is that if it turns out runny, it is still perfect for spooning over pancakes, waffles, crepes, ice cream, or adding into smoothies!

Strawberry-Banana Ice Cream

• One frozen banana, chopped
• 5 small frozen strawberries
• 2 tbs. milk

Place ingredients in food processor and blend till it becomes a thick ice cream consistency.

Enjoy the taste of healthy ice cream…just look at that heaping bowl full of it. YUM.

So this week I have been eating like a  crazy teenage boy going through a huge growth spurt. NOTHING is filling me up. I will eat my lunch (PB & J sandwich, apple, carrots, and cheese stick) and feel like I had a grape. At dinner last night, I ate more than my dad and ended up eating some of my his leftover food. The family-sized bag of caramel chocolate kisses we just bought is gone- and I’m the only one who eats them. Weird. However, I’ve just decided to roll with it…my body knows what it’s doing and I’m not going to deprive it. I’m not too old to hit a growth spurt, right?

Off to go eat my third afternoon snack (pancakes).

Anyway, now onto today… Saturdays are typically my favorite day of the week and when I start them out bright and early with a great spinning class, it can’t get any better!

On my drive there, I had half a Clif bar like I usually do… I don’t know what happened to the picture though – my camera ate it!  Class was PACKED, but it was an awesome workout, burning close to 500 calories!  When I got home I did 8 minute abs & 3 sets of 15 push-ups, which was a toughie…

Now, as I write this to you, I’m finishing up a delicious bowl of oats.  This bowl included 1/2 cup cooked oats, pumpkin, flax, and cinnamon.  I topped it with raisins, Grape Nuts, and almonds.

We have a showing at our house at 12pm, so I didn’t want to use our coffee pot.  Instead I stopped at Wawa and got a Hazelnut coffee.  It’s been a while since I had coffee from there, but it was so worth it.

Now it’s off to tidy up the house one last time and then head out before the people get here!

Happy Saturday!