Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

Tuesday, August 27, 2013
We are big fans of Strawberry Homemade Ice Cream and I have never had one easier made with easy to find ingredients in your local supermarkets.


The creamy texture tastes better than any gourmet branded ice cream on the market because it has the freshest seasonal fruits and heavy cream with a hint of vanilla.


This basic frozen ice cream can be made by stirring in a freezer container however for the very best results and experience we use an electric ice cream maker.


You can even make other flavors using another fruit you prefer we will suggests other especially if you have a food allergies to strawberries so you can substitute another fruit using this simple recipe.


Everyone enjoys homemade ice cream all year long and there is nothing hard about making ice cream from scratch.


I just love simple easy recipes like this one it takes churning to the freezer in around 3 hours.


For all our suggestions and flavors, just scroll down to the printable recipe card for this super easy recipe.


strawberry ice cream homemade



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Grandma's Quick Cake Recipe With Fruit Topping

Sunday, August 25, 2013
A versatile cake you can make in no time with very few ingredients. Dress it up with fresh or canned fruits and you'll have a dessert that is elegant to serve to for any occasion! I just love the taste of a heavy scratch cake. My grandmother always whipped up these cakes in no time, just the smell alone while they were cooking is amazing especially on a colder day in the fall. If you want to make something special today this is the cake to try. It's heavier in texture and always tasted better with fresh fruits.



                   Cool the cake before using any fruit topping. Refrigerate the cake after serving.
This makes a great strawberry shortcake dessert. Just add fresh strawberries sweetened with sugar and top with sweetened whipped cream. Then for a quicker idea add canned pie fillings like apple, blueberry or cherry, add to the top garnished with whipped cream.


1 - 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick which is 1/2 cup butter softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees





Cream the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy.  I beat this for at least 4 minutes using a heavy duty mixer, one of the most important steps (she did this by hand for at least 7 to 8 minutes. Add the eggs, milk, vanilla and salt. Mix 2 more minute until well blended on medium speed. Carefully and slowly beat in the flour and baking powder mixing until will blended and smooth. Around 1 minute. Pour into greased 8 or 9 inch square or round pan also floured pan. Bake at 350 degree until middle comes out clean with a toothpick around 25 to 35 minutes.

Note for topping:
2 tablespoons flour or cornstarch
2 tablespoon butter
sugar to taste
pinch of cinnamon
2 cans of fruit with juice or use 3 cups mixed fresh fruits using 1 cup pureed with 1 cup apple juice (shown are boysenberries and blueberries around 2 cups of juice)
Sauté the flour and butter on medium heat in a pan till smooth. Add 1 cup of the juice from the can or use a fruit juice of your choice, plus any sugar to taste to the flour mixture. Bring to a boil and cook until thickened around 4 to 5 minutes. Place fruit on top of the cake and pour the hot juice over the cake. Refrigerate until cooled off. Serve with whipped cream of ice cream on the side.

+claudia lamascolo  author
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Soft Coconut Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sunday, August 18, 2013
Here is a great soft Coconut Pudding  Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe that I personally am over the moon with! It's simple has a secret ingredient and the texture and taste of absolutely fabulous for all  soft chocolate chip and coconut cookie lovers. These stay fresh, soft as promised and do not harden. I just love the flavors in these and they are truly addicting.

coconut instant pudding mix in a chocolate chip cookie dough on a cookie sheet ready to bake easy recipe that taste like a famous chocolate covered coconut bar


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Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream Recipe

Saturday, August 17, 2013
Homemade Pistachio Ice with Pistachio's and Chocolate Chunks is probably my favorite ice cream of all time for a combination of perfect flavors for my taste! I really love to top it off with hot fudge, whipped cream and a cherry! I just didn't want to cover up the creamy photo with all those trimmings! If you want to treat yourself make it homemade and don't pay for that expensive small container of ice cream in the supermarket, make it yourself it's worth the 25 minutes in your ice cream maker. This is now my second time making ice cream homemade,

I will never buy it again.





Homemade Pistachio Ice Cream with Chocolate Chunks:

1 cup whole milk or half and half well chilled
2 cups heavy cream
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2  teaspoons almond extract or Amaretto is only Adults eat this
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup shelled pistachio's white ones not red
1 cup chocolate chunks or chopped ( a premium brand good grade chocolate like Lindt)

In a medium bowl whisk together the sugar and milk blending around 3 minutes until the sugar is dissolved.  Stir in the flavoring and heavy cream. For best result place in a freezer container and freeze for 3 hours before adding to machine.  Pour into the ice cream maker and churn for around 25 to 30 minutes. Ice cream is soft. Add the nuts and chocolate to stir in 5 minutes before your ice cream is done, I turn on the timer. Pour into an air tight container with a plastic film cover or an ice cream container with an air tight cover on top and place into the freezer until ready to use. Take it out 10 minutes before serving.



+claudia lamascolo       Author
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Fresh Rainier and Black Cherry Berry Pie Recipe

Friday, August 16, 2013

Almost sinful looking? Yes this is the pie that made everyone ask for second! It screams summer freshness. I  added rainier, black cherries and blueberries to this gorgeous pie and look at the colors how pretty is this? The best part is the flavor combinations! The crust was homemade but your can use store bought no problem!





Crust:
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups shortening
4 1/2 tablespoons ice water
Cut shortening into flour and salt with two forks. Add shortening then ice water to form a ball.
Roll out on floured board two 9 inch crust and line pie plate with one and lattice for the top.

Cherry Berry Filling:
1 cup Blueberries (of course you can use all cherries if you like!)
3 cups Rainier cherries pitted
1 cup Black cherries pitted
1 cup water more if gets too thick
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 cup sugar
pinch of cinnamon or more to taste I use around 1/2 teaspoon because we love it!

2 uncooked prepared pie shells deep dish,  store bought or homemade recipe above

Garish:
milk
sugar
butter

Add cherries to a medium pot, heat until some of the juice boils away around two minutes or so. Remove from heat. Add the cornstarch in the water, add the sugar into hot cherries and mix. Return to stove top until thickened stir often.  If mixture is too thick add a little more water. Fold in the blueberries. Stir in pinch of cinnamon or more if you like.

Pour into a prepared pie shell. Make a lattice top cutting strips out of the second pie crust. Brush with milk and sugar. Dot with butter.  Bake at 400 degree oven until browned and bubbling around 55 minutes.

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Home Grown Pineapple Plants for your Home

Wednesday, August 14, 2013


OK, I know your asking why on a food blog would she be posting something on a pineapple plant. Well it's food, looks beautiful when it grows and I happen to be so proud of this one! I've done this for years and I wanted to share this house plant you all can have with just a cut off of the top of a fresh pineapple. I have more than four tops now in dirt of pineapple growing right now. That is what inspired me to show you my plant and tell you how simple it is to do! My Mom showed me how to do this when she moved down to Florida back in the 1990's sometime. They remind me of pine cones growing up North.

To this day I still love the look of this and amazed how easy the plant is to grow, they grow bigger in a big pot with dirt or you will have baby pineapples in a smaller one.

Still sweet and delicious!

Pineapple plants are a symbol of hospitality. I had read they are edible and never knew it so they would always be for show (smile). Maybe my readers know more tips? Would love to hear the experts out there on this wondrous beautiful pineapple plants home grown! You will get only one pineapple per plant. If the top comes off easily when plucked it's ripe. They need to ripen on the plant not in the home so make sure you don't pick it too soon! If it gets all yellow it will be the sweetest pineapple on the plant you ever ate. If you live in Florida you can plant directly in the dirt heavily watered will make a bigger pineapple also try using a little bit of Epsom salt in the dirt every three weeks to grow bigger pineapples! Enjoy!











Here's What I Did:



You will need

Good grade potting soil

A deep flower pot around medium sized pot

Fresh Pineapple slicing off and cutting the leafy top crown part off

It is recommended to let the crown sit in water until it sprouts roots. I don't do that.

I pour soil half way into the pot. Add the leafy green crown top. Fill to the top with more soil. Give it a little water. That's it. This plant requires virtually no maintenance. It will grow indoors and I leave it out year long in Florida or you can all summer long in colder area's.

This plant is 7 months old in the photo.



Hope you have fun with this. Patience is what you need. The ends may start to brown, it's not dying. Leave it alone.



I leave mine outside even in rain and cooler weather up to (50 degrees) nothing lower.
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Grilled Turkey Bacon Bleu Burger

Sunday, August 11, 2013
When your trying to cut the fat it's difficult to get the flavor that will still satisfy that meat craving when substituting turkey. I finally made a turkey burger I was proud to post and would make again! This one is bursting with flavor and I would certainly make this again. The calories and fat are half of what you would have with a regular beef burger, what a bonus lower in Cholesterol!

I will leave that up to you to decide  whether turkey works for you and your family. It's a really  great alternative during that diet time for a healthier less fat meal.








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Eggless Cookie Dough Ice Cream Recipe Video

Saturday, August 10, 2013









                 YOUTUBE VIDEO OF EGGLESS COOKIE DOUGH RECIPE









Make this eggless cookie dough while your ice cream is churning:

 Eggless Cookie Dough Recipe

1/2 cup butter softened
1/4 sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Mix all together and put in the freezer 1/2 hour while making the ice cream.



Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe:

1 cup whole milk well chilled
3/4 cup sugar
Beat together with a hand mixer or a whisk for 2 minutes until sugar is dissolved.
Add 2 cups well chilled heavy cream and then add 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla.

Pour into ice cream maker and allow to churn for 25 minutes or until creamy consistency. Add the cookie dough in small chunks in the last 5 minutes little pieces of delicious cookie dough ( premade from above) make this a rich delectable ice cream.

Pour into a container and freezer for 2 hours or more until set before serving.


 Well, everyone in the family has a favorite right?  I always ask what flavor should I make next. So far we have had Peanut Butter CupBanana Split and now my husband suggested his favorite of course, Cookie Dough Ice Cream however mine is eggless. I always worry about bacteria setting in and food born illnesses, so I am very careful. This was the perfect solution.
No worries at all and still absolutely perfect.

Hope you love this one as much as we did!


Here are some other ice cream flavors I recently made:

Banana Split Ice Cream
Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream
Italian Lemon Ice Recipe
Watermelon Adult Sorbet




+claudia lamascolo  Author
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Italian Cannoli Filled Cupcakes

Tuesday, August 6, 2013
One of our very favorite cupcake Italian desserts is this Cannoli Filled Cupcake!

This is an easy version of the popular Original Italian Cannoli Pastries with a crispy outer shelled filled with that creamy ricotta filling but all in the middle of a delicious cupcake!

I can't tell you how many times these were requested to make for a wedding, baby shower, birthday or family get-together, and super fast and simple to make in no time.

Although we make these cupcakes from scratch if you're not fond of baking go ahead and use your favorite cake mix for making the cupcakes.

Our family is all big fans of this Italian filling and you may also like to try our Cannoli Dip, and Cannoli Ice Cream so the flavors and creamy dessert are always first on the list to make hosting a party of any kind.

If you have the time, scroll through the tips and suggestions, we have a video to enjoy watching and a printable recipe card at the end of our blog post.


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Banana Split Ice Cream Recipe

Sunday, August 4, 2013
Since I purchased and ice cream maker I can't find another dessert I love more. I know the ingredients are wholesome and much better for you, ( although fattening), however after looking at the ingredients in the store with many high fructose and can't pronounce ingredients, I'm sold that this is healthier no matter how fattening it is. With moderation you can enjoy the wonderful rich taste of a wonderful confection this gives. The ice cream is smooth, rich and full of flavor. The fruit accents it perfectly!

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