Chocolate Custard Ice Cream - Sis 2

Do you love ice cream?  Especially during the sweltering, hot summer?  It has been a sweltering hot summer.  So I decided to make some Chocolate Ice Cream to cool us off.

Chocolate Custard Ice Cream

3 cups Sugar
1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
8 cups of milk
6 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups heavy whipping cream

In a heavy saucepan combine sugar, flour, cocoa and salt.  Then add the milk.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly so the milk does not burn on the bottom.  Keep stirring and cook for about 8 more min after it boils, or until it thickens up a bit.  Remove from heat, and cool slightly.

Beat egg yolks.  Then whisk a small amount of the chocolate mixture  into the egg yolks to temper them.  Add the egg yolks to the rest of the chocolate mixture and cook over low heat until the mixture coats the back of a metal spoon.  Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla.  Next, pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl and then put the bowl into a bowl with ice water  to cool the mixture off quickly.   After it cools for ten minutes in the ice water, remove.  Cover the top of the custard with saran wrap, pushing it down onto the top of the custard, so it does not form a skin.  Refrigerate for several hours. 

When ready to freeze, stir in the cream.  Then freeze in ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer's directions.

Note:  This ice cream is very rich!!

To make rocky road: just add 2 cups mini marshmallows, 1 1/2 cups mini chocolate chips, and 1 cup chopped almonds after churning in the ice cream freezer.

Cashew Chicken Stir-fry

Here is a new recipe I made up tonight.  It turned out very good.  My husband loved it, and even my kids liked it. 

Cashew Chicken Stir- fry

1 lrg chicken breast, cut in small pieces
salt, pepper, garlic powder
3 heads of broccoli, cut into bite sized pieces
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced
1  cup beef  broth
1 tsp corn starch
1/2 cup salted, roasted cashews

Generously sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic powder over raw chicken.  Heat frying pan with 1 tbsp oil over Medium High Heat.  Cook chicken pieces in the pan until they are just done.  Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.  Add 2 tbsps oil, and the broccoli to the pan.  Sprinkle the sugar and salt over the brocolli and stir once.  Then add the mushrooms.  Stir fry the  vegetables until the broccoli is tender/crisp and the mushrooms are tender.  Add the beef broth and bring to a boil.  Sprinkle the corn starch over the cooked chicken and mix it together, then add the chicken back into the frying pan.  Cook the mixture long enough for the sauce to tighten a little bit.  Remove from heat and add the cashews.  Serve over rice, immediately.

Change Your Attitude - Sis 2

I spent the past weekend in Las Vegas, and let me just tell you, I'm so happy I don't live there.   Now, that I got that out of the way, I went to Las Vegas to go to a seminar with my husband.  The seminar  was called "Mastery Mindset" with Paul Finck, who is a life coach.  Some of the information I thought was good, and some of it not as good.  But he did talk about one thing that I thought was very good and applicable to me.  He said, "Just decide to change your attitude and do it."
Now, this was nothing new to me.  I have heard it many times in the past.  One time inparticular I remember.   When I was in sixth grade I remember one of my teachers putting a slide on a projector.  Unfortunately, I do not remember everything the slide said, but it was a quote about changing our attitude.  It really had an effect on me, becuase I still remember seeing the slide on the projector screen on the wall.  I remember writing the whole quote down and thinking about how I really am in control of my attitude and I can decide whether I am happy or not.  This is the first time I remember realizing that I really was in control of my attitude.  Now this may seem weird to you, that I had not realized this before.  I might have been taught it before, but this was the first time I think it really sunk in. 
Bu,t then life happens, and I a somewhat of a pessismistic person and sometimes I need to be reminded of the fact that I can change my attitude by simply deciding to do it.
Now, try an experiment with me. Just SMILE! How does it make you feel? Does it make you feel bad or do you suddenly feel uplifted, or happy, just from smiling?
Let's  remember that we can change our attitude about things in our life.  We can decide to be happy and find the good things in life. 

German Pancakes

I had not made German Pancakes for years, but then one day I was looking through my cookbooks trying to find something to make for dinner and I found a recipe for German Pancakes.  As I remember I didn't make the pancakes for dinner, but I made them the next morning for breakfast.  My kids LOVED them.  My six year old especially  loves them, and asks for them about once a week now.
If you are wondering what German Pancakes are; they are made from an egg based batter, poured into a 9x13 pan and baked in the oven.  They come out fluffy, puffy and golden brown.

I also have a recipe for maple syrup.  I bought some pure maple syrup from Costco one time, but my kids wouldn't eat it and my husband did not like it either.  So I just make this fake maple syrup.  It is very easy to make, my kids like it, and it doesn't have High Fructose Corn Syrup in it like all the syrups you buy at the store.  It does have lots of sugar though.

Here is the recipe.  I have changed the recipe a bit, from the one I found, but I got the original recipe from a cook book by Nancy Kimmerle.

German Pancakes

3 Tbsp Butter
6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 400.  Put butter in a 9x13 pan, while the oven is heating up put the pan in the oven to melt the butter.   Put the rest of the ingredients in a blender and blend well.  Scrape the sides of the blender with a rubber spatula and then blend again for 2 min.  Pour the batter into the 9x13 pan and bake for 25 min or until golden brown on top and sides.  Serve with syrup.


Fake Maple Syrup

3 cups sugar
2 cups water
1 1/2 tsp mapleine  (This is imitation maple flavoring)
1/2 tsp butter flavoring  (You can find this and the mapleine by the extracts at a grocery store.)

Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring just to a boil over med heat.  Remove from heat and then use on pancakes.  This makes a lot of syrup, so I put it in a store bought syrup bottle and store it in the fridge.

Teacher Gifts - Sis 1

My little Monkey graduated from Kindergarten today. Sniffle. It's a good thing I was playing the piano for two reasons. 1) I had seen the whole program lots of times and 2) I couldn't even see Monkey most of the time. Otherwise, I'm sure I would have had a mascara mess.

Our family has been going to the best school in Tooele for 5 years, and this is our last. I do have fond memories of the school the kids will be going to next year, but we will miss Northlake (the people there, really) SO much. I have volunteered quite a bit at the school, more in the past than recently, because of Bear, but I am always in awe of the wonderful teachers my children have had.

There's really nothing that would come close to thanking teachers for all of the work, inspiration, and dedication they put in and sometimes the heartache that they go through, but I'm sure they knew that when they started on the teaching path.

So, here's the insignificant little gift that I chose to give to our teachers this year.

School Supplies Bracelets

Materials needed:
#6 recycleable plastic*
permanent markers of many colors
scissors
hole punch
beads
string and findings

Here are the patterns I had my kids trace and color. Feel free to use them (Click and drag onto your desktop or right click and save as). Before shrinking, they were each up to 2 inches in the longest direction.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees Farenheit. Trace and color (or draw your own) school supplies on #6 plastic. Cut out each shape as smoothly as possible. Punch a hole in each. (You will never be able to punch a hole once it's shrunken.)

Spread the shapes on a cookie sheet or pan, making sure none of the shapes touch each other. We baked our shapes one child's set at a time, so that they wouldn't get mixed together. Place pan in the oven and turn on the light. After about 5 minutes, check to see if the shapes have shrunken. If not, just wait longer. If they're curling a lot, they're in the process of shrinking. Once the shapes are mostly flat, remove them from the oven. If you want to flatten them NOW is the time.

When cooled enough, remove from pan and string, along with other beads to make a bracelet.

* #6 plastic is polystyrene, which is the same material styrofoam is made from. I collect the lids from any trips we make to Costa Vida or Cafe Rio (always get a to-go lid) and the lids of disposable casserole pans from the dollar store. You can still use the pan when you're taking dinner to someone. Just cover it with tinfoil and keep the lid for your projects. Some deli containers and plastic cups are also #6 plastic. Look for the recycle triangle with a 6 or PS underneath. Don't use any other number. It won't work. Just wash your used plastic by hand, dry it, and store it for later. The vertical sides can be used for fun things, too, but it's much easier to trace pictures if you have already cut them off.

Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients:
1 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Heat on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the chocolate is all melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour into 1/2 pint jars, if using as a gift. You could make cutesy lids, too. I didn't.

Reheat in the microwave and serve on ice cream. (Or, you can get a clean spoon and sneak a bite right from the container in the fridge, like I usually do.)

Chicken Caprese Pasta

A couple of weeks ago I had knee surgery.   So, my good friend brought me dinner.   It was a very yummy dinner with a baked pasta, garlic bread, fruit salad and a yummy cookie for dessert.  I asked my friend for the recipe for the pasta, but I'm a little too impatient.  My kids love garlic bread and really wanted to have it tonight, so I decided to try to make the pasta.  It turned out pretty good.

Chicken Caprese Pasta

1/2 pound pasta
5 chicken tenders
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
5 roma tomatoes, chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/4 tsp garlic powder, divided
1 cup mayo
1 1/4 cups mozarella cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chicken stock

Bring a pot of water to a boil, add some salt and the pasta.  Boil pasta until al dente, and then drain and rinse with cold water.   Heat a frying pan and 2 Tbsp oil.  Sprinkle the chicken generously with salt, pepper and garlic powder, and cook the chicken in the frying pan.  In a small mixing bowl mix the tomatoes, basil, olive oil, salt and pepper and 1/2 tsp garlic powder, and just let it sit.
Mix the mayo, 3/4 tsp garlic powder, chicken stock, 1 cup mozarella and 3/4 cup parmesan together.  Then mix the sauce, pasta, chicken and peppers together.  Put into a 9x13x2 baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining parmesan and mozarella cheeses.  Bake at 350 for 30 min.  Serve with the basil, tomato mixture on top.
Enjoy.

Super Easy Cream Cheese Pie - Sis 1

I would like to have graham crackers on hand at all times, but whenever I have them, DH does stupid things with them like breaking up an entire sleeve at a time and eating them in a bowl with milk. So, I came up with my own graham cracker crust alternative. The filling is great, too!

Super Easy Cream Cheese Pie

Crust:
1/3 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup roasted almonds, blended*
1/2 cup whole wheat flour

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 1/2 cups lowfat vanilla yogurt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Farenheit. Mix crust ingredients in a small bowl and press into a greased 9-inch pie plate. Bake about 12 minutes, or until slightly browned. Allow to cool completely.

With a hand mixer, blend together cream cheese and powdered sugar. It is very important that you do this step first. If you add the yogurt before mixing the cream cheese with the powdered sugar, you will never get all of the lumps out. Add yogurt and beat on high speed until stiff peaks form. Pour into pie crust and chill at least 2 hours. Top with fruit pie filling of your choice.

*Place roasted almonds in your blender and pulse until they resemble coarse flour. If your almonds are unsalted, add a couple of pinches of salt to the crust.