First things first, I promised some recipes. I have three summertime sweet recipes that have been a huge hit in my house. They were also made with all real ingredients and with the exception of a couple of ingredients - most of them were from local farmers. I am REALLY loving this CSA we have joined!
For the past couple of weeks in our weekly produce bundle, we have received a lot of mint. I love mint, but there is only so much that can be done with any copious amounts of a single herb. Therefore, I decided to take my large amounts of mint and turn them into something wonderful - Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream (my favorite flavor!). I got this recipe off of epicurious.com, which is a great website for all sorts of recipes. Below is a picture and the recipe:
Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Creamyield: 1 1/2 quarts
6 large egg yolks
3/4 C. sugar
2 C. Whole Milk
2 C. fresh mint leaves
1 C. Cream
3 drops of optional food coloring
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
Whisk together the egg yolks and 1/2 C. of sugar.
In a medium saucepan over low-medium heat, stir together milk, remaining 1/4 C. sugar, and mint. Heat until steaming but not boiling, remove from heat.
Ladle about 1/2 C. of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent eggs from cooking, then slowly stir the egg mixture back into the hot milk, whisking constantly. Place over low heat and cook, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens enough to coast the back of a spoon. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Discard solids. Whisk in cream and food coloring. Cover and chill overnight.
Process the cold custard in you ice cream maker. Add the chopped chocolate during the last couple minutes of churning. Transfer to an airtight container and freeze until hard.
This was a total crowd pleaser. Now I know that there is food coloring in this recipe and I am totally against adding additional chemicals into our bodies. However, without the food coloring it looked a yellowish orange and I had a hard time eating mint ice cream that was orange. Aside from that, the sugar and the chocolate, all of the other ingredients were purchased within a 30 mile radius of my home. Very satisfying!
Another great ice cream recipe is this chocolate peanut butter one that I kind of came up with on my own. I kind of put a few recipes together to come up with this one. I made it for my brother-in-law as a thank you for watering our flowers while on vacation and he was very pleased with the trade-off. It's great!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
6 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 C. Cream
2 C. Whole Milk
2 egg yolks
1/2 C. Sugar
1 T. vanilla extract
Peanut Butter
Combine the cream, milk and chocolate in a medium saucepan over medium heat and cook until mixture almost boils and chocolate is melted. Reduce heat to low.
While that cooks, beat yolks, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Add a small amount of the hot milk mixture to the yolks and stir until combined. Gradually add the yolk mixture back into the hot milk stirring continuously. Cook over low heat until slightly thickened and mixture coats the back of a spoon. Cool in the refrigerator overnight.
Place the cold custard into your ice cream maker and process. During the last 5 minutes of churning add small spoonfuls of peanut butter. Enjoy!
The final summer treat I wanted to share was this great popsicle recipe that I got out of Cooking Light. It was delicious. My daughter couldn't get enough!
Minted Watermelon and Lemon Ice Pops
Watermelon layer:
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 c. water
1/4 c. chopped fresh mint
2 C. packed cubed seeded watermelon
1 T. fresh lime juice.
Lemon layer:
6 T. sugar
1/2 C. water
2/3 C. fresh lemon juice
1/3 C. fresh orange juice
1/4 t. orange extract
To prepare the watermelon layer, combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in mint, cover and remove from heat. Let stand for 30 minutes. Strain through a sieve into a bowl.
Place the watermelon into a blender and process until smooth. Strain puree through a sieve into the sugar and mint mixture and discard the solids. Stir in lime juice, cover and chill for 1 hour.
Fill 1/2 of the popsicle molds with the watermelon layer and freeze for 1 1/2 hours or until almost set.
To prepare lemon layer, combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook 30 seconds. Pour into a bowl and add lemon juice, orange juice, and orange extract. Cool for 15 minutes, cover and chill for 1 hour.
After the watermelon has been the freezer for 1 1/2 hours, remove and add lemon layer. Insert handles or sticks into molds and freeze until solid.
These are all three really great summer treats. We received 4 quarts of strawberries from our CSA farm this week, so check the blog. I'm going to dig up some recipes for strawberry ice cream, strawberry sherbet and strawberry popsicles. It should be good!
Finally, I really wanted to show you all a picture of the great skirt I finished for my daughter. She got to debut it on our vacation and I was very pleased with the results. I think this is going to be one that I reproduce to sell at the Fall Festival. While she can wear it now, I can add tights and a long-sleeve top to take it into Fall:
I think that's about all for now. My family and I got to work out at our CSA farm yesterday and my husband took some really great pictures. I'm hoping to post those here in a couple of days just to show the beauty of sustainable living. I also got some really pretty veggies that I can't wait to try and report back on! I'm so excited to get to the point where a grocery store is only a side thought!
