Strawberry Ice Cream

I have lived in a house with an ice-cream maker for almost three years and haven't made homemade ice-cream till now. To be honest, I thought it was difficult to make ice-cream, it is NOT. However, it IS delicious.

Simple Strawberry Ice-cream

about 1 lb of fresh strawberries, hulled and cut into large chunks
8 oz of cream cheese
3/4 cup of sugar
1 cup of milk
1 Tablespoon of lemon juice
dash of salt

1/2 cup of cream

Into a large, somewhat powerful blender hull and quarter the strawberries. Add cream cheese, sugar, milk, lemon juice, and salt. Blend until thoroughly combined, check the strawberry chunks, stop when pleased. Stir in the cream.

Transfer liquid to ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's directions.
Basically, after freezing the metal bowl at least over-night, add the liquid, insert the paddle and turn it on. I found this on-line resource for real manufacturer's directions. About twenty-five minutes later, voila, soft-serve ice-cream. Can be placed in the freezer till desired hardness. Careful, it gets really hard!

From Epicurious

Jambalaya

Sausage, Shrimp and Chicken Jambalaya

Olive oil
2 - boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 lb - Andouille sausage, cut into 1/4" rounds
1 onion, chopped/diced whatever
1 red bell pepper chopped/diced/whatever
2 ribs of celery chopped/diced/whatever
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
Tony's Creole seasoning or other Cajun style seasoning
Salt, pepper, cayenne pepper
1 1/2 cups of uncooked rice
6 cups of dilute chicken broth (1/2 strength Better than Bouillon)
Worcestershire sauce
Hot pepper sauce (like Tabasco)
1 lb (less is fine) ;large, whole deveined, shelled shrimp

Very lightly coat a stock pot with oil, over medium-high heat, lightly brown sausage on all sides, 5 - 7 minutes. Remove from pan, retain drippings and add whole chicken breasts to pot. Season with salt, pepper and brown on both sides, 8 - 10 minutes. The chicken does not need to be thoroughly cooked, but pretty close, it should only be slightly pink in the center. Remove from pan, let stand 5 minutes and cut into bite-size pieces. Retain with sausage.

Add a small amount (less than a tablespoon) of olive oil to pot. Over medium heat saute until translucent onions and garlic, about 5 minutes. Add celery, bell pepper, continue cooking, 5 minutes. Season to taste with the Tony's (Be careful: It is both spicy and salty). Add the broth and the retained sausage and chicken, cover and bring to boil. Drizzle in the Worcestershire and Tabasco, to taste. Add the rice and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer about 20 minutes, covered if you're happy with the "stuff" to liquid ratio. Uncovered it you want less liquid. Just prior to serving stir in shrimp and allow to cook, no more than 4 minutes.

Time: 45 minutes - 1 hour

Yield: 6 - 8 servings

Finest form of flattery

I never believed that "copying" was a form of flattery as kid. Obviously, it is....

This quick post came from a new blog I discovered this week.... Food Musings.

What's in your fridge??

The peanut butter with my name on it... It was at work for a little bit and everything has to be labled there.







Somethings in there that I LOVE: Trader Joe's Organic Breakfast Blend Coffee and Orange Juice (even thought the price has gone up still great deal); Strawberries - seasonal fruit, high in Vitamin; bell peppers - I really like them in just about anything or all by themselves.

Something I wouldn't get again: Wolvaer's Pale Ale - Yummy! and organic but not good enough to ship across the country from Vermont.

And why the cereal, mac and cheese box (Damn, I can't eat that now!) and croutons in there. I have been fighting a moth infestation for months. I have nearly eradicated them but anything with wheat in it goes into a plastic tub in the cabinet or the fridge.

There is something generally lacking these days in my fridge...
Dairy. After several very uncomfortable days, I have eliminated dairy totally, for a bit. All uncomfortableness--- gone. Oh- No! I have been thinking.. it might be true: Lactose intolerant. We'll see!

What does the inside of you of your fridge look like?? No rearranging allowed.

Pizza Dough

I am constantly inspired by the things that other people are making/eating. One of the newest blogs that I am following is A Year in Bread. I love the individual blogs of each of the contributors too. So, inspired in fact that we're having homemade pizza for dinner.

Pizza Dough
Measure 3 cups of flour, add 1 teaspoon of active dry yeast, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of each dried parsley, oregano, thyme and/or rosemary. Thoroughly combine with a fork. Add a generous 1 1/3 cup of warm water. Stir until combined, starting to have a ball of dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead three to five minutes into a stiff ball. Oil a large bowl, add dough and allow to double in size in a warm place (I turn my oven on and than off after a minute or two.) for an hour or so. Punch down and allow to rise for at least 15 more minutes. Roll out.
Add your favorite toppings.
Enjoy!

Blueberry Muffins

Andy is teaching a course this semester, he has two T.A.s that are responsible for running the lab associated with the class AND grading mid-terms over spring break. So, to sweeten the task, once they're done grading they can trade their tests for baked goods. They'll have a choice of these or banana bread (upcoming post).

1 egg
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cup low-fat yogurt, Greek style (very thick)1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/ 8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups blueberries (leave in freezer until you are ready to use them)

Preheat oven to 375°. Have all ingredients, except frozen blueberries, at room temperature (this takes at least an hour). Prepare muffin pan with paper cup liners.

1. In a medium-sized bowl, beat the egg briefly with a wire whisk to lighten. Add the sugar and continue to whisk until you can no longer feel any resistance from undissolved sugar.
2. Add the butter to the bowl and mix briefly to combine, then add sour cream and vanilla, whisk until mixture is very smooth.
3. In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly to mix and eliminate lumps.
4. Add the blueberries to the dry mixture, toss gently for a few seconds to coat the berries.
5. Add flour mixture to the liquid mixture and combine with a few quick folds.
6. Scoop batter into muffin pan.
7. Bake for about 25 minutes.

Once they come out of the oven, brush with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Yields: 12 muffins

Time: 45 minutes, once all ingredients are at room temperature