Homemade Ice Cream

I have now made 2 batches of ice cream for the party on sunday. My mom asked if I was serving everyone lactose free ice cream and I told her no. But if no one knew it had rice milk in it, you would never know the difference. My brother always gives me funny looks when I mention rice milk, its not all that bad. Anyway...onto the recipe! Lori also shared this recipe, its from Emeril. I adapted it a bit with less sugar as K said it was too sweet. Hopefully our birthday guesses will love it too!

Homemade Ice Cream

4 cups half and half(or 2 cups cream/2 cups milk)

1/2 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

Place ingredients in a bowl and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Place in ice cream maker and run according to manufacturer's instructions. I ran mine for about 30-40 mins. About 15-20 mins you can add in any mix ins you wish. Once done, pour into a freezer safe bowl and freeze until ready to use!

-I made peanut butter cup, where I used the basic recipe and added in chopped peanut butter cups.

-I also made a mint chocolate chip, with a 1/2 tsp peppermint extract instead of the vanilla and add in 1/2-3/4 cup chopped chocolate(I used some dark chocolate). You can also use mini chocolate chips.

Lactose Free Ice Cream

This coming Sunday we are finally celebrating Q's first birthday. I decided I was going to make ice cream, but felt bad as I think he might be lactose intolerant. They do make rice milk ice cream and lactose free ice cream, but I wasn't going to pay $4+ for a pint of ice cream. So I decided to make my own. My friend Lori, from Teacher Turned Mommy shared a regular ice cream recipe with me so I switched out the milk with rice and lactose free milk.

Lactose Free Ice Cream
2 cups original rice milk
2 cups lactose free milk
3/4 cup sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla

Pour milks into bowl, add in vanilla and sugar. Whisk until sugar is dissolved. Pour into ice cream maker and churn according to machine's directions. I let mine go about 45 mins and added in some chopped dark chocolate after 20 mins. Pour ice cream into freezer container and freeze until solid.

**I couldn't help it...we all tried it while it was churning. It was delicious! Q loved it! A told me it was too cold and K thought it was too sweet. I may play around with the sugar a bit, but the dark chocolate did cut some of the sweetness. I only added the chocolate because I know Q won't eat it all and well vanilla is just boring! This does freeze VERY hard, so you may want to take it out before you need it. My brother and Q had to wait for everyone else to eat it before they could have theirs! My brother said it "wasn't bad" but what does he know anyway (and yes he isn't supposed to have lactose)!!

Peach Buttermilk Ice Cream

I was reading a new blog this weekend called, Mennonite Girls Can Cook. One of the recipes that caught my eye was Peach Buttermilk Ice Cream. I had all the ingredients on hand so I decided to give it a try. My ice cream maker is something that doesn't get used a lot and I then went on to decide that I'm making homemade ice cream for Q's first birthday, whenever my husband's schedule allows us to celebrate it!

Peach Buttermilk Ice Cream- shared from Mennonite Girls Can Cook
2 cups of buttermilk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup scant sugar
1 lb frozen peaches
1 tsp vanilla extract

Place peaches in blender and blend into chunks. Mix together sugars, extract, and buttermilk. Add in peaches and pour into ice cream maker. Press start and let run until a soft ice cream forms. Pour into a bowl and freeze.

**This was probably another one my mom gave me funny looks for...but surprisingly we liked it again! I really liked the tang that the buttermilk offered. We did decide it was almost to sweet so if and when I make it again I'll cut down the sugar. You can also use any kind of fruit you would like. Fresh fruit can also be easily used.