Fun Food Friday- Homemade Ice Cream

Holidays are usually a bittersweet time for me.  When I married a minister I knew that there was a pretty good chance that I wouldn't ever live near my family again.  But I decided living away from Steve was worse than living away from my family. :)  And technology and airlines make the miles between seem not quite so far.  But holidays are always a little hard because rarely do I get to spend them with my family.  I am very thankful that we live near Steve's family so we are able to spend holidays with them.  Another thing that helps is holding on to traditions my family had.  One of those traditions was making homemade ice cream for the 4th of July.  Growing up my parents would pull out this huge wooden ice cream maker (thankfully not a crank one :)) on the 4th and make a big batch of ice cream to have while we watched the fireworks.  We didn't have it for a few years because the big wooden ice cream maker broke and then we realized, hey, we could just get another one and wouldn't you know it, they're a lot more efficient now. :)  For some reason when we got a new one I don't know if my mom couldn't find her old recipe or if she just decided to look for a new one, but she found this one on-line and it was soooo good so it has become the official Vanden Heuvel ice cream recipe. :)  I can't quite make it the same because my dad used to go out to the barn and scrap the cream off the top of the milk tank to use as the cream and well, I don't have access to fresh cream, so I use store bought, but it's still pretty tasty.  So even though I wasn't able to spend the 4th with my parents or siblings, I was able to think of them while I made and ate my homemade ice cream. :)

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream

Ingredients: Milk, Heavy Whipping Cream, Vanilla, Eggs, Sugar

You will also need an ice cream maker, ice, and rock salt (also called ice cream salt) 

Crack 4 eggs into a mixer bowl

Mix until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes)

With a mixer on low add 1 1/2 cups of sugar

and mix until all combined

add a quart of heavy whipping cream (4 cups)...

2 cups of milk...

and 4 teaspoons of vanilla (which is 1 1/3 tablespoons :))

Mix, slowly, until all combined and smooth

Transfer the mixture to the ice cream maker container

Place the container into the bigger container (doesn't mine look like a trashcan :)?)

Insert the mixing blade (or whatever it is called) and the cover

Then you put in a layer of ice

Then a layer of rock salt (I discovered that Kosher salt works as well because I didn't check how much rock salt I had beforehand and I did not have much left)

Continue this until the inner container is all covered

Put the motor on, plug it in and away it goes. 

Hopefully your ice cream maker isn't as loud as mine.  I really think I need a new one, it took over an hour and it usually takes about 30-45 minutes.

Once complete remover the inner container...

You want to wipe off the lid to get the salt off it so it doesn't fall into the ice cream when you remove the cover.

Oh my goodness, look at that goodness...

Carefully remove the mixer blade thingy

I lost the stopper for the cover of my ice cream container, so I transferred it to another container.  The ice cream needs to harden some, so you can either put it back in the container full of ice or just put it in the freezer. 

 

It is very delicious just like this. 

Or if you're feeling a little naughty :)...

Go ahead and throw some crushed Oreos on top. 

It also is fabulous with cut up peaches, chocolate syrup, caramel, pretty much anything you normally put on ice cream :)

So glad I can pass this tradition on to my children.  Micah is glad too :)

Yep, he's a fan :)

 

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream
*This recipe makes 2 quarts of ice cream.  It's very thick, so that's about the max that my 3 quart ice cream maker can handle

4 Eggs
1 1/2 cups Sugar
4 cups (1 quart) Heavy Whipping Cream
2 cups Milk
4 teaspoons vanilla

In a mixer bowl beat eggs until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  With the mixer on low slowly add sugar until all combined.  Beat for another minute.  Add cream, milk and vanilla.  Slowly mix together.  Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and follow makers instructions.

Week 37

 

And right away we go for the sign :)

But Mommy was smart this time, she taped all the corners so they couldn't pull it down.

 

Micah was helping me get them to smile by being funny behind me

 

And of course he needs to jump in the picture

Jonathan (left)- 21.2 pounds

David (right)- 19.2 pounds

 

Jonathan has hit another development milestone, well, at least in his crib.  I went in the nursery the other day to check on the boys because they weren't falling asleep for their nap and low and behold there was Jonathan sitting up in his crib. :)  So we decided it was time to lower their mattresses.  It's now a lot lower to bend down to get them, but now I don't have to worry that the first time they pull themselves up will be in their crib. :)   

Aren't they just so precious when they're sleeping :)

 I'm looking forward to David figuring out how to sit up himself because gets mad quicker while on his tummy.  Although he has now figured out the whole scoot backwards thing 

 David started out where that brown monkey is

Other than that we have just been hanging out.  We did get the pool out which Micah found quite fun, especially since we put the slide in it.

So much fun!

 

And the twins got to enjoy their dinner outside while being entertained by Micah and Daddy

 We've had some rainy days this past week, but Micah has been great at keeping the twins entertained.  And just to prove how much they love their big brother, check this out:

So sweet!

And then comes the poke :)

Oh the trouble these boys will get into :)

We also got to hang out with Steve's entire immediate family on Saturday (his brother & his wife live in Minnesota but were out visiting) which was a lot of fun.  We decided to take family pictures since the last one we took was 4 years ago before any of these cute grandkids came around.  And while we were at it we thought we'd take a fun picture of our family.  So here you go.

 



And one last VERY exciting thing to happen in our family this week is we added another member on the Vanden Heuvel side!  My sister and brother-in-law had a precious baby boy, Caleb Robert!  We are so excited for them and can't wait to meet him in September!  Boys rule in our families! :)

I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July!