Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

Now that the whirlwind of packing, moving, working, unpacking, cleaning, etc. is settling down, I'm finally looking to start exploring and finding sights in the current hometown.  Unfortunately, this weekend was not all that great weather wise - high likelihood of awesome thunderstorms all weekend.  Actually, Thursday through Sunday - and one of Thursday evenings storms actually brought hail with it.

Not sure where entirely the idea came from, but strawberry picking seemed like a fun idea since I haven't done it in years.  Not since I was a kid I believe.

After doing some research online, Springdale Farms in Cherry Hill was my place of choice.  All in all, my loot for the day was 6+ pounds of fresh picked straweberries!

The vast majority of those 6+ pounds have been cleaned, diced up and frozen for used in future recipes.

Since A - the greatest BFF ever! - gave me an ice cream maker for my birthday last year, some homemade fresh picked strawberry ice cream seemed like a good first strawberry related concoction.

I didn't want to just do vanilla ice cream with chucks of strawberries.  I search online and found several recipes, but the one I settled on is most similar to the vanilla custard ice cream that was my standard go-to recipe last year.

Adapted from Emile Lagasse's Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe


- 4 cups fresh strawberries, washed, hulled and diced
- 1.5 cups Sugar in the Raw
- 2 cups half and half
- 2 cups heavy cream
- 0.5 vanilla bean, split in half
- 6 egg whites

In a blender, combine the 4 cups strawberries with 0.5 cup of the sugar and processed until smooth.

In a bowl, separate the 6 egg yolks, whisking the yolks together and reserving the egg whites in a separate container (the egg whites, along with some sauteed onion and diced basil, made for some tasty scrambled eggs for breakfast Sunday morning).

In a saucepan, combine the remaining 1 cup sugar, half and half, heavy cream and vanilla bean.

I have found that just cutting a slit in the bean,opening it up and placing it into the mix, combined with the head the mixing action of a metal whisk is enough to not only bring out the flavor from the bean, but release it's specks as well.

Heat the mixture to a simmer.  Add a cup or so of the liquid to the egg yolks, mixing until smooth, and then added it to the saucepan, whisking until well incorporated.  Bring the mixture back to a simmer and cook for 5-6 minutes.

Remove from the heat and let sit for approximately 20 minutes - this allows the vanilla flavor to more fully infuse into the mixture.  Strain the mixture to remove any clumps.

Combine the mixture with the strawberries and sugar, mixing until fully incorporated.

Cool the mixture completely - I tend to make my mix at night and then leave it in the fridge until the next day when I'm ready to make the ice cream.

Process the mixture according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

Last Night's Lesson

Lately I seem to be enjoying playing the how empty can I get my gas tank game.  A couple of times in the Budget truck on the way out here and then last night in my car.

When I left work close to 10:30pm, I was already tired and ready to be home.  So discovering that my gas tank was low - an estimated fuel range of 48 miles remaining - was not at all what I was in the mood for.  With a 20 mile and change drive to get back to the apartment, I knew that I could make it there.  I just preferred to get Millie filled last night so it would be one less thing to worry about this morning.

Prior to coming to NJ I had no clue that I am not allowed to pump my own gas here.  In fact, according to Wikipedia, "All stations in New Jersey and Oregon offer only full service and mini service; attendants are required to pump gas because customers are barred by statutes in both states from pumping their own gas. New Jersey banned self-service gasoline in 1949 after lobbying by service station owners. Proponents of the ban cite safety and jobs as reasons to keep the ban."

Sure this might seem all awesome and great, but apparently not all stations are open 24-hours, and the gas station closest to you house/apartment might be one of those that isn't...  The two attendants did give me somewhat sketchy directions to a 24-hour Wawa that was not quite where I expected it to be based on their directions, but the bottom line was that I found it.  While driving in the dark and trying to find it though, I kinda felt like I was walking that fine line between do I go back to the apartment and get the gas in the morning, or has the driving around I've already done mean that I might not be able to make it there and I'm better off continuing my gas station quest??

In order to avoid this late night stress in the future, I'm going to be more cognizant of how much gas I have remaining in my tank and not let it get so low between fill ups.  Since I apparently do not have the luxury of 24 hour gas stations everywhere that I go now.

Yesterday's Discoveries

Even before moving here, I had been warned about Camden, New Jersey.  As in, drive through it and don't get out of your car.

Wikipedia even says, "Although once a thriving center for manufacturing and industry, Camden is perhaps best known for its struggles with urban dysfunction. "

Despite this warning, it should come as no shock to those who know me that I went there yesterday.  And got out of my car.  The entire purpose of the trip was to acquire and E-ZPass tag so that I don't have to stop every morning to the pay the $4 toll for crossing the Walt Whitman Bridge.  Mostly so that I don't have to stop, which does save a bit of time, but also because there are discounts for high usage.  It's also helpful for me who does not generally have cash on me.

Since I was in a hurry to leave yesterday in time to get to the E-ZPass Customer Service Center, I forgot to grab my USB charger cord for my iPhone.  It wasn't a problem in terms of the charge left on my phone.  I however had not yet taken the time to research what could potentially be "good" radio stations (good being relative to personal tastes of course), and had been playing music off of my iPhone playlist while in the car.

For some reason I tend to find it interesting to see what the difference is in radio stations that have the same number.  I think that the biggest difference in genre was 97.1.  I was actually pleasantly surprised to determine that between the local 93.3, 102.1  and 106.1 that I could pretty much find


DFW:
93.3 - i93
97.1 - The Eagle
102.1 - The Edge
106.1 - Kiss FM


Philly
93.3 - Everything that Rocks
97.1 - Christian Music Radio
102.1 - Q102: All the Hits
106.1 - Mix

Memorial Day Cook-In

Not that I have a grill at home, but being back in an apartment means no grilling, and thus no cook-outs, so K and I had a Memorial Day cook-in.

I was able to take some time to scope out a Whole Foods this weekend - which I was very excited to do seeing as the closest grocery store to the apartments is a Super Wal-Mart, and the grocery store snob in me doesn't consider that to be a real grocery store.

I had intended to pick up some fresh fruit to go with dinner, but the fresh corn on the cob caught my eye and won.  The sweet potatoes for the fries were another impulse buy, but seeing as fries and burger go so well together.  :)

I paired my go-to recipe for black bean burgers with my first every attempt at homemade hamburger buns.  Since the black bean burger patties tend to cook better when they are thinner, they tend to be a bit big, so the larger, flatter homemade buns worked perfectly in my opinion.

My potato salad is actually my mom's potato salad (minus a few tweaks that perhaps do make it my own) and there really isn't a recipe for it.  It is made by look and taste.  One of these days I may attempt to create a recipe for it, by in the meantime, you will just have come over when I make some and enjoy it that way.  :)

Quinoa and Black Beans

- 1 tablespoon butter

- 1 onion, diced  

- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and diced  

- 3/4 cup uncooked quinoa  

- 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth  

- 1 teaspoon ground cumin  

- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper  

- salt and pepper to taste  

- 1 cup frozen corn kernels  

- 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained

Heat the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until lightly browned. 

Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with vegetable broth. Season with cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Bring the mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes.

Stir frozen corn into the saucepan, and continue to simmer about 5 minutes until heated through. Mix in the black beans.  Serve warm.  I topped mine with a little bit of cheese.

Dinner Concoction

The initial inspiration for last night's dinner was my desire to use up the abundance of citrus fruit I had in my fridge.  It's kinda odd for me to have a stockpile of citrus fruit - in this case clementines and key limes - given that while I like the flavor, I despise the pithy crap that comes with them.

So, I started off by juicing the clementines and key limes to make some sauce to go with some chicken.  Here is what I put together in the sauce:

- 1.25 cups citrus juice
- 0.25 cup maple syrup
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 0.50 cup red onion, minced
- 0.25 cup fresh ginger root, minced
- salt
- corn starch
- cold water

I combined the juice, syrup, onion, garlic and ginger in a sauce pan, along with a pinch of fresh ground sea salt.  I brought everything to a boil over medium heat.  Once the garlic, onion and ginger were tender, I thickened the sauce using some corn starch mixed with cold water.

I combined a bundle of soba noodles and udon noodles and cooked both according to the package directions.  After draining them, I added a couple of tablespoons of butter to the still hot noodles, and then added in carrot and celery slivers (from two peeled carrots, and two celery stalks, created using a citrus zester).  When I make this again, I want to substitute some bean sprouts for the celery.  I also added some toasted sesame seeds to the pasta and veggie mix.

I had cooked about a pound diced of chicken breast in a skillet, using some butter in the pan instead of oil and adding some salt and pepper for taste.  Once cooked through, I added the chicken to the sauce, and then served the chicken over the pasta and veggies, with some additional sesame seeds for garnish.

So, this started out as using up some stuff from the fridge, but was good enough that I totally want to make it again sometime!  :)

Super Storm 2011

A little belated, but here are some pics that I took last Friday before heading to work:

Plus, once the clouds cleared in the afternoon, there was a pretty awesome sunset:

Vegetarian Black Bean Soup

Since Texas has been in the grips of a lovely winter storm - I think they called it Super Storm 2011 on the radio this morning - I was looking to make a nice hearty soup for dinner last night.  This is what I made up:

3 + 2 15-oz cans organic black beans drained and rinsed, separated
2 cartons Pacific organic vegetable broth
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 red onions, diced
1 celery heart, diced
4 carrots, diced (I left the skin on)
6 garlic cloves, diced
2 12-oz bags frozen corn
lime juice
salt
pepper
chili powder
cumin
cayenne pepper
cheddar cheese
chives

Add the diced pepper, onion, celery, carrots and garlic to a large stock pot, along with 3 of the cans of black beans.  Add in the vegetable broth.  Make sure that all of the veggies are sufficiently covered and free to move in the broth, adding water if necessary.

Season to taste using the salt, pepper, lime juice, chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper.

Once the veggies are tender, puree everything in the pot using a hand blender.  Add in the frozen corn and remain 2 cans of black beans.  Simmer until warm.

Serve, with some cheddar cheese and chives for garnish.

Still Cold

I thought that one of the advantages of living in Texas was it being warmer here than up in Michigan?

Winter Storm

Above is the sight that greeted me when I opened my garage door this morning.  It was by no means an unexpected sight given the rain during the night and the dropping temperatures.  Not to mention the weather forecasts from the past few days.

While there was a little bit of snow there, it is really just a sheet of ice.  And a sheet of ice is what covered all roads I drove on.  Kinda hoping that I won't have any problems getting back in the garage tonight too since there is a bit of an incline to the driveway...

I'm also kinda enjoying the fact that the weather here is a lot like the weather up in good ol' C-town:

Every local news source was saying to stay home unless you ABSOULUTLY have to go out, but I've never been good at following recommendations like that.  Plus, I was on a mission this morning.

Tomorrow will be four months since I adopted Jas, Ozzie and Ty.  Ozzie was neutered pretty much immediately after I got him, but Jas was a little too small for the vet's liking and Ty was still way to young.  Unfortunately, shortly after Ozzie's surgery, it was determined that Ty had ringworm and had been kind enough to share it with not only Jas and Ozzie, but myself as well.

This meant that for the next two months they were sequestered in my bathroom since there are easy to clean surfaces in there and the bedding, food bowls, all surfaces, etc. had to be cleaned at least once a week to help prevent reinfection. But with growing kitties who will at some point have all of the necessary parts to make more kitties, there has kinda been a race to get them cleared or their ringworm. 

Visually they all look great.  Ty has hair and whiskers again.  But the latest fungal culture was positive.

Unfortunately, Ty has been getting to close to getting frisky with Jas for my comfort in the past few days.  After consulting with the vet yesterday, he felt that while not ideal to put a cat through a stressful situation while trying to get them over ringworm, that getting Ty neutered would be minimally invasive and not very stressful - especially when compared to spaying Jas.

Since everything does to shut down here with significantly less snow and ice that we received today, I made sure to check my phone for any calls from the vet before heading out.

The cops were out in force keeping an eye on things this morning and thankfully most people are much better at following directions than me, so there was very little traffic.

Ty and I finally got to the vet - him protesting the entire way there, even after burying himself in the towel in the crate - only to find the vet in the drive salting everything and saying that they are closed today since most of his staff did not make it in.  He did offer to keep Ty though and try and get to his surgery today and if not today, then tomorrow. 

So I began the next leg of my trek, and it wasn't too long after I got to work, that I got a call saying that Ty's surgery went great and that the vet was heading home, but that he was taking Ty with him and that I could pick him up from his house.  All if this being just a small portion of why I think this vet practice is amazing!

Of course, now I am still in kind of a limbo area.  It's all well and good that both boys are neutered now but all three have been lose in the house and unsupervised during the day, and that while Jas has done a fabulous job of fending off Ty's advances in my presence, that that doesn't necessarily mean much.  As far as I can tell, she hasn't gone into heat since I've had her.  I did look up what the pregnancy signs in cats are just so I know what I'm looking out for, but there is no way to make a good determination prior to three weeks. 

In doing this research, I came across this rather graphic page that discusses the moral and ethical implications of spaying a pregrant female cat.  Really hoping that I don't have to fully process that possibilty.

Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake

I had some zucchini and yellow squash that I wanted to use up and felt like baking.  I also wanted to do something a little different than standard zucchini bread.  My search lead to the recipe below, which might just become a go-to recipe when I want some nice moist chocolate cake.  Also, I think that the cake tasted even better after sitting for a day, as opposed to fresh out of the oven.

Adapted from Fabulous Foods

3 cups shredded zucchini (DO NOT pat dry!)

* I used a combination of zucchini and yellow squash

¾ cup cocoa

1-²/₃ cup flour

2 cups organic cane sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

3 eggs

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 350^oF.  Coat a 9-inch bundt pan with cooking spray and dust lightly with 2-tablespoons of the cocoa powder.  Shred zucchini and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine cocoa, flour, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, baking powder and soda and salt.

In a small bow, combine eggs oil and vanilla.

Add egg mixture to dry ingredients and beat vigorously by hand until well blended (mixture will be very stiff and dry).

Stir in shredded zucchini until well blended, pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50 – 55 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool in pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely.