READY FOR SOME ICE CREAM??

Blueberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
(cheesecake ice cream recipe adapted from Tartelette)

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
3 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 egg yolks
8 oz. cream cheese
6 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen (thawed)

Directions:

1. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar. In a saucepan set on medium heat, bring the milk and the cream to boiling point, slowly pour a small amount on the egg yolks to temper. Pour the remaining over the yolks and sugar. 
2. Stir well then pour back in the saucepan and cook over medium low heat until the cream thickens and coats the back of a wooden spoon. 
3. Remove from the heat and whisk in the cream cheese until completely melted and incorporated. Cool to room temperature then cover and refrigerate until cold. 
4. Process in an ice cream maker until it has reached soft-serve stage and almost doubled in size. 
5. Mash blueberries lightly, then mix in with ice cream and place in the freezer to harden, which will take about 2 hours. Serve in bowls or ice cream cones and enjoy! 

Makes about 2 1/2 quarts

FROM

http://mikelekid.blogspot.de/2011/07/blueberry-cheesecake-ice-cream.html

YUM YUM SMOOTHIES

Hey,

I was working around the house, projecting, planting in the garden, spray painting patio furniture, and was ready for an afternoon break and snack.   Something cold, and creamy like ice cream.   Well,...... did not have any of that around so started thinking of what I had in the frig that I could throw together and make some smoothies.    I pulled out some Honeyville berry smoothie mix,  my home made yogurt, water, and ice.   I put it all in my new Blendtec blender and mixed it all up.   I am ashamed to say, my new blender has been sitting on my counter for at least 5 months and this is the first time I've used it.   Oh my gosh!   That sucker works great!   It crushed that ice and made a perfect smoothie in a few seconds.   Well, after enjoying one great smoothie  I put the remainder in Ball containers and put them in the freezer  for tomorrow or maybe later tonight.   Hmmmmmmmm.    

These are just the ingredients I used, but you can make your smoothies with anything you like.   Experiment!   Have fun!   

DIY TERRA COTTA CLAY PENDANTS

I have seen several ideas for DIY  terra cotta pendants for your Doterra oils.   So I tried my hand at it and this is what I came up with.   I tried a couple of different mediums, (clays),but ended up with the Mexican Pottery.  It air dries and is easy to work with and has the look I wanted.   I wanted the pottery look, so it would be porus for the essential oils to absorb.  You don't want a surface that is sealed.  I also added a little "bling"   While the clay was soft was soft I added a slight indention to hold the  crystal.  Now I might continue to add some other beads.   Who knows what I will add and come up with.  I do know I will try some more of these.  Different sizes and shapes.

SUMMER SHAKES RECIPE FROM HILLBILLY HOUSEWIFE

• 1-1/2 to 2 cups ice water
• 1-1/2 cups nonfat dry milk powder
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 to 1-1/2 trays of ice cubes, as much as you can spare
• 2 tablespoons corn oil plus a 5-second squirt of non-stick spray for emulsification purposes

Place all of the ingredients into the blender, including the oil and the non-stick spray. Use less water for thicker milk shakes and more water for shakes that are easy on your blender motor. The blender should be about 3/4′s full. Place the lid on. Process for a full 2 minutes. Pour into cups and serve. Makes 4 – 12oz servings. For preparation tips please see below.

I love this recipe because it makes very rich milk shakes without any ice cream. I don’t always have ice cream in the house because the kids eat it so fast. With this recipe we can have delicious frosty milk shakes for a fraction of the cost of those using ice cream. And all the ingredients are on the pantry shelf.

Reader’s Tip: A reader named Chris made these with Splenda replacing the sugar measure for measure and said they turned out perfectly. If you like Splenda, then this tip would be a great way to reduce the calories and make them sugar-free. Thanks for sharing Chris!

Variations:

• Add 1 tablespoon of instant coffee for a mocha shake
• Add 1 very ripe banana for a chocolate banana shake
• Add a big spoonful of peanut butter for a decadent Chocolate Peanut Butter Shake.
• Add a few broken red and white candy mints for a refreshing Chocolate Mint shake.
• To make Vanilla Milk Shakes, omit the cocoa powder, reduce the sugar to 1/2-cup and add 1 tablespoon (yes a full tablespoon) of vanilla flavoring. For a french vanilla milk shake crack in an egg too.

A few tips and a long rant:

I get more email about this recipe than I do about almost anything else. The people who love it always add the oil and the nonstick spray. The people who hate it seem to think they can get by without these ingredients. Let me make things clear. Fat makes things creamy. It may seem weird to add vegetable oil to a beverage, but manufacturers do it all the time. Coffee creamer has oil and shortening it. Fancy coffee mixes and hot cocoa mixes have oil and shortening added. Whipped topping and many ice creams have added vegetable fats. Read the labels if you don’t believe me. Dairy fat tends to go rancid when it is dried so it is seldom used in commercial products. Instead food manufacturers use vegetable fats, usually of the hydrogenated variety. They are cheaper than dairy fats, don’t require refrigeration, and are easier to use.

Fat is added to foods for many different reasons. For this recipe it acts as a flavor carrier and adds richness and depth to the texture and flavor of the finished shake. Oil is the ingredient that makes your milk shakes thick and creamy. If you make it without any added fat you will not get a milk shake that resembles Wendy’s Frosties. You will get chocolate ice. Chocolate ice is nice, but it isn’t a rich, creamy Frosty.

Think about how creamy mayonnaise is. It’s 99% vegetable oil. All of that creaminess comes from mixing oil with a small amount of vinegar and an emulsifier (eggs in the case of mayo). Then it’s all whipped to creamy perfection. To make your milk shakes creamy you need to emulsify the milk and the oil, the same way the oil and vinegar must be emulsified for mayonnaise. To emulsify something is to mix it up really well, so the particles won’t separate on standing.

Nonstick spray contains liquid lecithin as it’s active ingredient. Lecithin is found in eggs and in soybeans, both of which are natural emulsifiers. You can buy liquid lecithin at your local health food store or online from natural food resources. If you liked, you could use 1/2-teaspoon of liquid lecithin instead of the nonstick spray. Most folks don’t have liquid lecithin laying about the house though, so I give you the option of using nonstick spray instead.

Liquid lecithin is derived from soybeans. It is a fat; a healthy fat. When manufacturers discovered that liquid lecithin has nonstick properties they put it in a can with a propellent and thus invented nonstick spray. Before manufacturers discovered this, old hippies and health food freaks were using lecithin to grease their baking pans and adding it to salad dressings so they would stay mixed longer. Today, some vegans use liquid lecithin as an egg substitute in baking. Most store-bought chocolates and salad dressings have liquid lecithin added to give them the creamy satiny quality that we all look for in these products.

Which brings us back to this recipe. If you want a luscious, satisfying milk shake then follow the recipe and add the oil and the nonstick spray as directed above.
Before you write me and complain that this recipe advertises something that it doesn’t deliver, please check the recipe to see if you left anything out or fudged on any of the ingredients or directions. Try the recipe again, being sure to measure everything carefully. If you don’t add enough ice, then the recipe won’t be very thick. If you add too much water, then your blender will be overloaded. If you don’t add enough dry milk, then it will taste watery. If you only blend it for a moment or two, then it will be chunky instead of creamy. If you omit the oil and nonstick spray then you won’t get a milk shake. You’ll have something similar, but it will fall short of the mark. The directions are specific for a reason. If you follow them then you will have satisfying results. Assuming you doing everything as written and you still are not pleased, then you may write me and complain. I may be able to help out. Thank-you.

–The Management

P.S. In my original recipe I pointed out that for an almost fat free milkshake you may omit the oil and only use a squirt of nonstick spray instead. Many people were satisfied with this version and enjoyed it immensely. Since posting my rant, they have emailed requests that I include this option for others who may need it for dietary reasons. If you prepare milk shakes with this option and are not satisfied with your results, then try it with the oil added, to see if you like it better. After trying both versions you may write me and complain if need be.

BEVERAGES FROM HILLBILLY HOUSEWIFE BLOG

A Summer Sipper – Haymaker’s Punch

July 15, 2011 By Manuela

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will know that I love the “Little House on the Prairie” books. I re-read them every year and my favorite one is “The Long Winter“. I save that one for a really really cold day in winter, which in Georgia isn’t until about January or February.  In that book there’s a part where Laura helps Pa with the hot tiring job of haying and at lunch time…

“Ma had sent them ginger water. She had sweetened the cool well water with sugar, flavored it with vinegar, and put in plenty of ginger to warm their stomachs so they could drink til they were not thirsty. Ginger water would not make them sick, as plain cold water would when they were so hot“

I always wondered what that tasted like. I thought flavoring something with vinegar was odd. But in doing some re-search, I found that it was quite common for ordinary folk back then  to use vinegar as lemons and oranges were not available to them. So the only way they could get that tart tangy taste was to use vinegar.

I was so excited when I found the recipe for making Laura’s drink in “Making It – Radical Home Ec for  a Post Consumer World” by Kelly Coyne & Erik Knutzen. The drink is called Switchel or Haymaker’s Punch  and it was the drink of choice for hot tired workers. A sort of pre-cursor to the sports drinks of today like Gatorade.

There are quite a few recipes out there for this drink but they are basically all the same.  The recipe I used is from the book and it’s quite delicious!

Haymaker’s Punch

• 1 cup apple cider vinegar (mine is from the health food store raw with the “mother” in it but I’m sure any kind will be fine
• 1 cup of honey (or molasses or the sweetener of your choice – even white or brown sugar)
• 1 ounce of grated or sliced ginger, or 1 tsp of ground ginger

In a sauce pan heat the vinegar, honey & ginger (except if using powederd ginger). Simmer for a few minutes and then remove from heat and let it sit for 15 min or so to let the flavors meld together

Strain the ginger or add your powdered ginger. I made mine the day before I was going to use it because supposedly the flavors mellow the longer you let it sit.

To serve – add all the vinegar, honey & ginger mixture to about 1 quart of cold water and stir. I added a bit more water since I thought the taste was too strong, so taste before serving and make your adjustments. I added some sliced lemons.

It’s surprisingly delicious and refreshing, is an economical drink as it’s made with ingredients most people have on hand, and you know what’s in it versus buying a drink at the store.