Favorite Recipes Ice Cream + a Sorbet

Today I want to talk about some of the ice cream recipes I tried. Although I don’t remember everything I made, this is more of a collection post since I’ll be talking about multiple recipes briefly. For all of them, I used our Cuisinart Ice-21 1 ½ quarts Ice Cream Maker—which I love since it doesn’t require salt. However, you don’t need one to make frozen desserts. If you look around, there are ways to do it without a machine.

The first recipe is Simple Vanilla Ice Cream from Cuisinart. It was in the machine’s booklet, but you can find it on Cuisinart’s website. After making it so many times, I found that I like an additional ½ cup of milk, which I have to admit is probably ½ cup too much. After all, the instructions mention something about keeping the base 1½ quarts (about 6 cups), but I push it a little. (But I won’t personally recommend doing this). But overall, this has ruined most store brought ice creams for me.

The next one I made more recently is tea flavored ice cream. I wanted to make it out of the vanilla recipe above, but I wasn’t sure how to go about it. I ended up using Milk Tea Ice Cream by Catherine Zhang from Zhang Catherine as instructional reference.

In the end I heated 4-6 bags of Celestial Seasonings’ Sugar Cookie Sleigh Ride with the cream, milk, and vanilla. Then I poured the hot mixture into a bowl with the sugar and mixed it well. Lastly I let it cool and left it in the fridge overnight before churning. I think this was the best ice cream I made. It was absolutely delectable! But then again this is a favorite tea. As for my reference recipe I’d like to try it one day on it’s own. 

I also want to mention a few things I found after making this twice. I found that dissolving the sugar into a hot base gave it a slightly different texture. I haven’t tried this with any other recipe though. And I ended up straining the mixture, because a film developed on the surface once it cooled. 

I don’t have images for all of them, including this one, but I absolutely loved this Pineapple Ice cream, by Swathi (Ambujom Saraswathy) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen. I haven’t made any in a long time, but from what I recall, it was really refreshing. I do want to try it with coconut since I thought it could be a nice homemade replacement for Thirfty/Rite Aid Coconut Pineapple Ice Cream.

Lastly, (and the last thing I churned last year) I made This Lemon Sorbet by Leigh Anne Wilkes from Your Home Based Mom. It was the simplest sorbet recipe I could find quickly, so it’s a favorite. I accidently messed up since I didn’t let the sugar mixture cool before combining it with the other mixture. But I think it still turned out great. It also tasted great. Unfortunately, I discovered I’m not big on strong lemon flavor. So I do want to try it again (and make sure I cool it enough).

Favorite Recipe: Refried Beans

Typically when I have tacos or burritos, I don’t eat it with refried beans. I usually mix in drained/rinsed black beans from a can, and cook it all together with the taco seasoning. I like it that way, but recently I was in the mood for refried beans, just without it being so oily. Once I had the thought, it turned into a craving. I did not have any, of course, and I also didn’t want to go to the store to get it. So my choice was clear: I was just going to have to make it.

With the powers that are a quick google search, I found this 10 minute Refried Black Bean recipe from Joy Food Sunshine. This recipe was truly simple to assemble, and even quicker to cook. There wasn’t much effort involved at all, and it came out perfectly. [**Note: the only changes I made were doubling the recipe and I also didn’t add any cilantro. It really depends on how many people you’re making it for. Otherwise the basic recipe is fine as is.]

As for the taste it was fantastic. I paired it with simple chicken and cheddar cheese, and it was delicious. It tasted just like the stuff from the can. Except, I got more of the flavor from the seasonings that were added, and there was no extra oil in this recipe. Even the texture was similar. [Note: I used a masher to crush the bean and broth mixture in the pot, but it was soft enough to use a fork or spoon if I’d wanted to.] I also think it would pair quite well with whatever taco or burrito mixture you want.

Ultimately, I see myself using this recipe again. What have you been cooking recently?    

Favorite Recipe: Tortillas

Besides birthday cakes, I did some other baking. So far I’ve made cookies, cheesecake, brownies and other dishes/desserts. Most of those recipes are ones I’ve talked about before, except for tortillas. Everyone else on my twitter and Instagram timelines is out there making sourdough bread, and here I am over here just making tortillas (sadly, I don’t have any sourdough starter…). This Homemade Tortilla recipe from The Brewer & The Baker is my current go-to recipe for making tortillas.
(Note: I use a modified version of this recipe, which I tested out the ingredient amounts for over time until it suited my needs. However, I recommend sticking to the recipe before making any adjustments, because it’s fine the way it is. I also only use cooking oil or Olive oil when I make them, instead of shortening or butter….)

Tortillas, for me, have been a pretty forgiving type of bread to make. There’s no yeast involved, and the rest time is short compared to other bread types. This recipe is quick and easy, and the results always have a great taste.

(Note: I use a countertop griddle to cook mine, but I’ve also made them in a skillet on the stove.)
One thing I adhere to when making tortillas, is to keep them covered. They can seem a little stiff or crunchy around thinner edges when they come off the pan. But letting them sit covered and in their own steam, really softens them up.

I had two uses for these: for tacos and for pizza. For tacos, I make them a little smaller so there was more of them. When I made them for pizzas, I divided the dough four ways and rolled them to be vaguely-rectangular in shape—around personal pan size. (Note: I cooked the tortillas before putting the toppings on them, and the only other cooking I did after that was to broil it in the oven on the lowest setting to melt the cheese. It comes out like a thin-crust pizza.)

What have you been baking recently? If you found any good recipes, leave your recommendations in the comments.

**(This post was written in early May)**

Falling into Fall {#2}

     Welcome to the second Falling into Fall post. Food, that’s right, I’m here to talk about food today which has nothing at all to do with books. Unless, of course, I was talking about cookbooks which I’m not so they don’t really apply. Anyway I’m just going to move on. One of my main goals this year is to make more candy/desserts/food. I’ve seen plenty of recipes floating around with simple explanations on how to make some of my favorite treats/dishes. I’m going to leave a few links so if you want to try some of them as well.

Homemade Reeses Peanut Butter Cups @Lauras Sweet Spot This is a different recipe than what I used last time.  But I have made peanut butter cups before, and they were delicious. So I want to try them again with this recipe.

Homemade Butterfinger Eggs (only 3-ingredients) @Raining Hot Coupons   This is just one of the many recipes I really want to make.

Homemade Twix Bars @And They Cooked Happily Ever After There are just so many things I want to make, and this is another one of them.

Chocolate covered pretzels…does this one really need a recipe? I think it’s pretty straight forward.

Dark Chocolate Nutella Brownies @ CookiesCakesPiesOhMy  This is the typical recipe I use for brownies, the texture is always good, and I’ve used it multiple times with different swrils—i.e. Nutella, peanut butter…sometimes both. I’ve also doubled the recipe to make a larger pan (Also had to cook it a little longer) and used just normal cocoa powder instead of dark chocolate.

French Bread Rolls to Die for Posted @Allrecipes.com by JOCATLIN Oh gosh, what should I even say about these easy French rolls?  Well for one, forget buying them, this recipe is awesome. And yes, I’ve tried these before and they were marvelous.

Cranberry Shortbread Bars @ Joy of Baking I have made this with canned cranberry sauce—shortcut—with jellied and at another time with whole berry. Both turned out to be delicious and I look forward to making this again.

Slow Cooker Quinoa Chicken Chili @The Girl Who Ate Everything  CHICKEN QUINOA CHILI, that’s all I’ve got to say on it. I haven't tried it, but it looks delicious.

Crock Pot Cream Cheese Chicken Chili @True Life Kitchen I’ve had this one before and let me just say that it was delicious and I want more. With the colder weather coming this is the perfect dish.

Cheerio Muddy Buddies a.k.a. Puppy Chow @This Little Light Blog Actually, I tried this one just this morning and it was awesome—and I had to include the link on this post—so if you like Muddy Buddies then I definitely recommend trying this recipe.

    Out of all of those links I have yet to mention anything pumpkin...oops. Well here's one...ok two before I wrap up this post. Pumpkin Cake Cheesecake @Sally's Baking Addiction & Pumpkin Waffles @Kitchen Meets Girl So that's all, check back on October 30 for the next Falling into Fall post. Question: what are some of your favorite fall desserts/dishes?