Friday, January 21, 2011

Easy Berry Ice Cream

Easy Berry Ice Cream
You Can Cook by Annabel Karmel
Ingredients:
1 lbs Strawberries
8 oz Rasberries
8 oz Blackberries
1 cup Superfine Sugar
3/4 cup Heavy Cream
1 to 3 Tbsp Confectioner's Sugar
Directions:
1. Wash your fruit, pick out any bits of stalk, and hull the strawberries.
2. Put fuit and superfine sugar in a pan, cover, and cook slowly for 5 to 10 minutes.
3. When the berries let out their juices, turn up the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Let the fuit cook. then blend it until it's smooth.
5. Pour the blended fruit through a strainer to remove the seeds.
6. Pour the strained fruit into ice-cube trays and freeze until solid.
7. Put the cream in a bowl and whip it until it forms soft peaks when you lift the whisk.
8. Let the frozen berries thaw for 5 minutes, then roughly chop in a food processor. Add the cream.
9. Whizz to combine. Add confectioner's sugar to taste. Serve now (it is very soft), or freeze for an hour before serving.


Sorry for the horrible picture, I had to use my crappy cell phone
camera since I left my Canon Rebel in another area of the house.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Indoor Camping

Growing up in Mesa, Arizona where the average winter temperature is 41 degrees, I despise South Central Pennsylvania winters; I HATE being cold and trying to dress a 14 month old for the snow is like fitting a square peg into a round hole (11 Step Program for those thinking of having kids- Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems. 1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh. 2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out. Time allowed for this - all morning)! I’ll admit I like one measurable, sleddable, snowman building snow a year but after that I’m ready for warmer weather…well, we’ve had snow and I’m ready for spring, kiss the cabin fever goodbye and send my kids outside into the wide open.

To change up the indoor play routine I dug out and dusted off my old 2 man tent from my collage days, set it up and the kiddos and I had an indoor camping experience. We piled pillows, blankets and sleeping bags into the tent, we read books and for lunch I served a camping style lunch of hotdogs, trail mix, fruit and macaroni and cheese.

Since warmer weather doesn’t appear to be in the forecast, another winter wonderland front is scheduled to arrive tonight, the boys and I are off for a little change of scenery at the Hands on House.




Sunday, January 9, 2011

After the Holidays

After 25 Days of Christmas Projects I needed a break from organized/planned projects, while taking a break we’ve been


playing with our Christmas toys.



Reading books we received for Christmas.



Enjoying the popcorn popper pop-pop (grandpa) gave us on New Year's Day.



Learning to climb step ladders..oy!




Playing, eating and learning to walk in snow.






And we made Cake Pops

I’ve been reading a lot about Cake Pops on food blogs and on Family Fun, I decided to check the book out of the library. The recipe was super simple, with just a little bit of help from myself, Benjamin was able to make all the Cake Pops himself.