Vanilla Ice Cream

Oh, the sacrifices I make for you. I had to dish up for breakfast some ice cream and put it on apple pie to bring you this photo for today's blog. Of course after I photographed it, I couldn't let it go to waste. Where did the apple pie come from? Well, I had pie dough left over after I made the squash pie I showed you yesterday. "Waste not want not" you know.

Okay, I could have done chicken pot pie with the rest of the pie dough and that would have been far more nutritious. But in the interest of nutrition, I used a combination of Braeburn and Granny Smith apples and cut the sugar to 3/4 cup since Braeburns are so sweet. That should count for something. Besides, I think cookies probably have more sugar in them than a slice of my apple pie. Of course they don't have a scoop of ice cream on top. But if you would have seen the big smile on my husbands face when I handed him a plate with apple pie and ice cream last night, you would know why the thought of chicken pot pie went out the window. Sometimes improving marital relationships just has to comes ahead of nutrition.
What I really wanted to show you was my new ice cream maker. It lets you peak inside while the ice cream is mixing and chilling. Also, it makes ice cream faster than my old model, a quart to two quarts, not a gallon, and no ice or salt is required. I love it!!

My old ice cream maker was used when I bought it at a backyard sale years ago.

You put your custard into this tall cylinder shaped canister and surrounded it with chopped ice and rock salt. A word to the wise, if you are not making a custard and are using raw eggs, DON'T put them in whole and expect the ice cream maker to mix the ingredients for you. You'll have frozen orange shaped balls in your ice cream. Wonder how I know that?

Since I now make only three cups of ice cream at a time, digging that little bit out of the bottom of this tall tube was a pain. With only Kirk and I at home now, we don't eat nearly as much ice cream and a change of flavors - vanilla, rocky road, orange sherbet, chocolate chip mint, etc. - is preferable to months of eating one kind.

Besides with this machine, you can talk over the top of it. It takes up less room, is faster, and makes a firmer ice cream. Have I told you lately? I am so glad I bought a milk separator! Oh, the fun we've been having with goat cream, Alfredo sauce, cream biscuits... and the ice cream recipes we've been coming up with.