press & advertising

. . . You’ve had homemade ice cream!!!

I’ve definitely been on an ice cream kick since getting my ice cream maker a couple of months ago. Now that the weather is heating up our apartment, it has been a great way to cool down.

Included with the ice cream maker we bought we got a ‘recipe book’. I’ve always been sort of skeptical of the quality of the recipes in there, but since Brittany from the ward suggested the maker and the recipes included, I thought I’d give them a try. I really enjoy how simple the recipes are, and how few ingredients you really need. My favorite recipes in the book are the Strawberry ice cream and Peach Frozen Yogurt. I’ve done my own variations on the recipes, either for convenience or taste, and they have turned out great.

Strawberry Ice Cream

• 1 pint fresh ripe strawberries, stemmed and sliced
• 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1 1/2 cup whole milk*
• 1 1/2 cup heavy cream*

In a small bowl combine strawberries, lemon juice and 1/3 cup of sugar. Stir gently and allow strawberries to macerate in juices for 20 minutes (in the freezer). In a medium bowl, whisk milk and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add cream plus the strawberry mixture. Turn on your ice cream maker and pour into freezer and mix until thick.

*The original recipe calls for 1 c milk and 2 c heavy cream, but it’s still super creamy if you use less cream. Also the original recipe called for 1 tsp pure vanilla extract, but I think it ruins the citrusy/creamy flavor.

Apricot Pineapple Frozen Yogurt*

• 6-8 apricots, pitted
• 1/2 cup pineapple juices from canned pineapple
• 2 cups plain yogurt
• 1/2 cup sugar

Slice apricots in half and place in blender with pineapple juice. Blend until smooth. Add yogurt and sugar and blend until smooth and the sugar is dissolved. Turn ice cream maker on, pour mixture in, and freeze until thick (25-30 minutes).

*This was originally peach frozen yogurt, but since there were no canned peaches in my house or at Trader Joe’s, I used fresh apricots, and reserved the juices from canned pineapple. Also, the recipe calls for Fat Free Vanilla yogurt, and 1/3 c sugar. Since Vanilla yogurt is really sweet, I used plain instead and added a little extra sugar. Also, I used regular yogurt because fat free is just gross; not creamy at all.

. . .

A note for those of you that may be interested in getting an ice cream maker, I read an article from Cook’s Illustrated that tested many different types of ice cream makers and the Cuisinart was the best kind for the price.

Only rarely do I overestimate how much we eat, and when I do, usually the leftovers are gone within the first 4 hours of being in the fridge. However, when it comes to slow-cooking pulled pork, that’s a very different story. I guess it really was two weeks ago that I made Maegan’s version of the Cafe Rio Sweet Pork recipe (which is FABulous, by the way). I had made it before, but I think I only cooked a pound or so, and it was gone really fast. So, this time, I made it with the three pound pork loin and instead of using Dr. Pepper, I decided I’d try Coca-cola instead. I don’t know if the Coca-cola made any difference at all to the flavor, but it was right on.

The only thing missing was having my sisters and my mom here to enjoy it with me.

Is this an appropriate post?? I’m not really sure, but Chris and I (and his parents) thought it was pretty funny.

Chris’s mom was in town last week, along with her she brought a magazine she recently started subscribing to; Cook’s Illustrated. It’s pretty rad. Each article showcases a recipe or a way to cook things, like roasting salmon, and the writers talk about their various experiments and what was successful and what wasn’t. There were a few things that we tried from the magazines she brought. Among them was a recipe for meringue cookies. Linda was pretty anxious to try it out. I, on the other hand, was slightly skeptical because I’ve had little to no success with making anything meringue related.

I was pleasantly surprised! The cookies turned out so delicious. After cooking them, Linda and I had a little brain storming session on different ways we could make them. I thought it might be good if you made them smaller with little wells and after cooking them filled the wells with caramel and dipped them in chocolate. Pretty much anything is good with caramel and chocolate, so of course it would taste good.

Just after this little brainstorm, Chris bit off the ends of two cookies and stuck raspberries on top. He tried to see if Penelope would be fooled and try rooting around at the sight of them, but she’s no dummy.

Since getting the camera yesterday, I’ve been wanting to try out another recipe from the cookbook my mom compiled. My goal is to make and photograph as many of these recipes as possible because I’m hoping to reformat the recipe book with juicy photos. I have taken some photos, but they were with my old camera, and some of them didn’t turn out as great or as appetizing as I had hoped. So, I think I may have to make/photograph some of the recipes twice. I’m pretty sure Chris won’t mind.

This afternoon I decided, at the last minute while grabbing groceries for something else, to make Asian Lettuce Wraps. I love this recipe because it’s so filling, and yet so refreshing, a perfect summer food. In fact, I don’t think my mom makes this in the winter, so I really only have summer memories of this food. It has something to do with the crisp, cool iceberg lettuce. Maybe I like it so much because last weekend it got up to 90 degrees in our apartment, and I was craving nothing but iceberg lettuce. Strange, I know.

Basically this is the PF Chang’s lettuce wraps recipe, I believe. I think my mom found it somewhere in the Deseret News a while ago. It’s really easy, fairly fast, and a fabulous finger food. By the time we finished eating them last night, my plate, face and belly were covered with food. I’m a messy eater I guess! Here’s the recipe. . .

SPICY ASIAN LETTUCE WRAPS

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1 lb. pkg Green Giant Frozen LoMein Stir Fry
2 T. chili-garlic sauce
2 T. soy sauce
3 T. oil                                          1/3 c. peanuts, chopped
2 garlic cloves, miced                1/4 c. green onions, chopped
1 T. sugar                                     2 T. finely chopped cilantro
2 T. peanut butter
2 T. water
8 lg. leaves Bibb lettuce
1 1/2 c. grated carrots

Cook chicken in oil, add stir fry, then sauces, garlic, sugar, peanut butter and water. Mix remaining ingredients and place in lettuce leaf. Serve immediately.