Surviving At Home

Yes, that was my mantra as a child! Ice cream is still my favorite summer treat and with the temps climbing into the 90s this week what better way to stay cool than to talk ice cream.

A few years ago we received a Cuisinart ice cream maker for our anniversary and we’ve discovered that it’s a super way to get our girls into the kitchen to help. Anything having to do with dessert and our girls want to be front and center so as not to miss a thing! They can each take turns pouring the ingredients and the recipes that came with the machine are super easy with minimal ingredients. The only downfall is that we ALL love ice cream so one batch is very quickly devoured by the four of us.

Here’s our favorite, kid-friendly recipe from Cuisinart:

Chocolate Fudgsicle Ice Cream
Makes 8 1/2-cup servings

7 cups whole milk & 1 4-oz package chocolate instant pudding

Place ingredients in a mixing bowl and combine until well-blended. Pour into freezer bowl, turn machine on, and mix until mixture thickens, about 15-20 minutes. Serve immediately or transfer to an air-tight container and store in freezer.

And you’re certainly not limited to making the recipes in the maker’s instruction manual. Do a quick google search and you’ll discover over 2 million websites with ice cream recipes!

If you own a maker but have lost your instruction booklet, check out MakeIceCream.com  They have downloadable instructions for a variety of ice cream makers.

I also just discovered that you don’t need a maker in order to make all-natural, homemade ice cream. Check out Cooks.com  for complete instructions. 

If all of this is overwhelming and requires too many ingredients or steps, simply pull out your favorite juice drink, an ice cube tray, and some toothpicks. Fill the tray with juice, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for about 5 minutes. Your toddler will love poking the toothpicks through the plastic into the little juice pops. Once the tray is completely frozen pull out a mini pop and enjoy. This trick involves a lot less time and a lot less mess for your toddler.

Another reason why I have ice cream on the brain is because a local bakery which also makes ice cream is holding a make-your-own-flavor contest and the deadline is Saturday. The winning recipe gets a pint of ice cream every week for a YEAR!! There’s nothing better than FREE homemade ice cream!!

So far I’ve concocted a Pina Colada flavor, Banana Split, and something called The Kitchen Sink. That one has every single favorite topping mixed into it but the number of ingredients is getting a little out of control.  A contest like this is a great way to get the family involved in developing a recipe together (can you say Team Work?) as well as milking the kids’ creative and competitive spirit to develop their own individual recipes.

Have fun being creative in the kitchen with your kids!

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