A Breakthrough!

With this seemingly endless state of limbo (we have not been able to sell our house yet--it's been almost a year--and we've have been living in my in-law's home until we can sell and purchase a home of our own), I have not been very productive, at least not in a creative sense.  I have, of course, been doing the everyday necessities required to raise a family, but don't have my "stuff" to use to do creative things.  But . . . last night . . . a breakthrough.  I creating something wonderful!

Well, for Christmas, my brother-in-law and his family got us an awesome soft-serve ice cream maker that doesn't need ice or rock salt, thus cutting down on the mess and frustration with at-home ice cream making.  So, being the ice cream lover that I am, I've been taking advantage of this new toy and experimenting with ice cream recipes.  But, I've been disappointed with most of the recipes I've found either because they just don't taste that great, they are too difficult or time-consuming to make, or they freeze too hard after being stored in the freezer.  So, I set out on a mission--to discover or develop an awesome ice-cream recipe that is easy to make, doesn't require any eggs, and has a good ice cream texture, even after being stored in the freezer.  Pretty much all of the really good ice cream recipes seem to require eggs, which means either eating raw eggs, or cooking them first (which is pretty labor intensive as you have to be careful to avoid scrambling the eggs--kind of like making a custard).

So, after lots of batches of ice cream, and still being left wanting, it occurred to me that I recently tweeked a Tres Leches cake recipe to one that I absolutely love.  I also found a tres leches hot chocolate recipe that is to die for in a Better Homes and Gardens magazine this year (I will include the recipe below).  So, I thought, maybe there's a tres leches ice-cream recipe out there.  But, after much research, I couldn't find any online.  So, I decided to devlope my own.  This was a daunting undertaking, as I knew that proprtions would effect the texture of the ice cream and, although I like to consider myself an expert ice-cream taster, I am by no means an expert ice-cream maker.  So, after studying several ice-cream recipes and their proportions, and a few failed attempts, the break through happened!  I think I've done it!  I've made an awesome, easy ice-cream, without using eggs, which holds it sumptuous, creamy texture, even after spending the night in the freezer.  I am calling it "Tres Leches Ice Cream" when I include the vanilla and serve it after a Mexican dish and "Creamy Coconut Ice Cream" when I leave out the vanilla and serve it after an Asian meal.  I've been enjoying it with diced mangoes on top, but I'm sure it would be delicious with strawberries on top as well.  Here's my recipe (followed by the tres leches hot chocolate recipe I referred to earlier) so you all can enjoy it too.  Try it out and let me know what you think:

Recipe:  Tres Leches Ice Cream

Recipe developed by:  Jennifer Norton

Yield:  1 to 1.5 quarts

Ingredients:

                1 can sweetened condensed milk

                1 can coconut milk

                1 cup heavy whipping cream

                1 tsp. vanilla (optional--I've made it both ways and both are delicious)

                Topping/Mix-in:  2 to 3 cups diced mango, or other fruit of your choice (if fruit is not sweet enough, cover with a spoonful of fructose and let sit)

Directions:

               Do NOT shake the can of coconut milk.  Carefully open the can of coconut milk and skim the cream off the top (should come out to a little more than 1 cup (about 1 1/3 cup).  Save the remaining coconut milk/water for any other recipe you may have that you could use it in, or just enjoy a nice swig of coconut milk.  Mix the skimmed coconut cream with 1 cup heavy whipping cream, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk, and 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional).  Freeze in an ice cream maker for soft serve texture (if you prepare it ahead of time, you can chill it in the refrigerator to facilitate faster freezing when the time comes to freeze it).  For a more standard ice cream texture, place in your freezer after making in the ice cream maker.  Top with or mix in mango or other fruit of your choice.  Serve.  Enjoy!

Note:  This ice cream holds a nice ice cream consistency, even after being stored in freezer.

Recipe:  Tres Leches Hot Chocolate

From or derived from the Recipe of:  Aubrey Shaner, Better  Homes & Gardens Contest Winner

Yield:  5 cups

Start:  5-10min. ahead                                Time in the Kitchen:  5-10min.

Ingredients:

                3 cups fat-free milk

                1 – 14oz. can coconut milk

                ½ - 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk (2/3 c.)

                2 tblsp. Unsweetened cocoa powder

                ½ tsp. vanilla

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, combine fat-free milk, coconut milk, and sweetened condensed milk.  Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.  Wisk in cocoa powder until well combined.  Remove from heat, stir in vanilla.  Serve and enjoy!

A Retirement Gift

So, my father-in-law retired last year so I had to decide what to give him for retirement. He had mentioned at one point in time that he would like one of the flipping toys I make. So, I made this special one for him. He worked in Church Education, so one side of the man looks like the working, CES guy with "CES: Church Education System" written on it while the other side looks like a retired man having fun with "CES: Completely Emancipated Slacker" written on it. It's hard to see in the picture, but the retired guy has a gold chain that says "CTR" and is wearing a wifebeater tank, luau shirt, board shorts, and flip-flops--I just couldn't resist. This is my favorite toy I've made. I would love to make more that look like one person from one side and another from the other. Here are pictures and a video of it working. (This is the one I described, but didn't have pictures for, when I posted the other two I made last year.)  SORRY THAT THE VIDEO IS SIDEWAYS.

UPDATE:  I forgot to post the flipping guy toy I made for my dad when he retired a few years ago.  He was an exceptional dentist by profession, is an audiophile at home, and has always enjoyed going for drives and getting new cars.  It was his grandfather that made the flipping toy that I always loved to play with as a child that got me interested in making some of my own. This is the toy I made for him:

My First Website/Our House

We are trying to sell our house without a realtor so I put together my first website to showcase our house. I'm pretty proud of myself for doing so with as technically illiterate I am. If you want to see it, it's:
www.7797saturn.webs.com

Santa Gift

So, for the boys this year, Santa got them a set of bunk beds and decorated their room for them. It's not as great as their old room in Iowa, which had more architectural interest, more white trim, and black carpet to pull it all together (refer to earlier post about our Iowa house to see pictures of their old room), but they do each have their own closet in this one. I think they will still like it. Here is the before pictures of the room and pictures of the finished product. FYI, Santa found these awesome bunk beds at Target.com, even though he vowed never to shop there again, after much aggravation with orders last Christmas. But, they were such an awesome deal, he couldn't pass them up. In fact, we think he got the last ones available because they went out of stock right after he ordered them. They convert into two matching twin beds. So, they should give us plenty of good years.

More Christmas Gifts

So here is the main gift I've been working on for the boys. I made one for each of them This is the finished product. I'm a little dissapointed that they turned out so "cutsie"-looking. You can't really see in the picture, but there is a cut in the wood that extends the line of the jaw as well as one that continues the line of the mouth. So, they look a little better in person. I was also mad because I couldn't find leather strapping anywhere in town so I had to make the bridle and reins out of ribbon instead. Arghh. Anyway, here it is. I hope they like them.

More Christmas Stuff

O.k., so we finished the block puzzle for Ben. Here it is. Ben is really excited about the baby on the way and is equally excited about all baby animals, so I made sure to include pictures that had baby horses as well. I think he's really going to like it. As soon as I can make it over to Home depot, I will make a base/frame for each of the puzzles to hold the blocks together.

Christmas Presents

So, we have been extremely blessed this year to be able to purchase a minivan to accommodate our growing family. However, it has left us with a very limited Christmas budget. Therefore, we are making alot of our gifts this year. Here is the first one we have made. This is for Nathan from Ben. Nathanael is really into superheroes this year. It is a block puzzle. Since the blocks all have 6 side, there are 6 puzzles that can be made from the same set of blocks. We picked out pictures from the internet, printed them out, cut them to fit the blocks and modge podged them on. It turned out really great. I think Nathan is really going to love it. Nathan is currently helping me make one for Ben (he doens't know he's getting one too). Ben is really into horses this year so Nathanael suggested we do one out of horse pictures for Ben. I will post pictures of it and the other gifts Cam and I make for the kids this year when they are done.