A View from the Lakes

Mint Ice Cream

2009-05-27T22:10:00.004-05:00

Okay, I have the official report back from the fresh mint ice cream.

Yum!!!

It was really really good. And not green at all. Imagine that! :)

It ended up with a really nice subtle real mint taste.

Brenna didn't care for the amount of mint that was in it, but Gavin loved it. Here he is eating both his bowl and her bowl.

Fresh Mint Ice Cream
- makes about 1 quart (1 liter) -

Ingredients
1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

Pinch of salt

2 cups lightly packed fresh mint leaves

5 large egg yolks

chocolate chips; optional(I used 1/2 cup, but next time I would use more. Maybe 3/4 of a cup? and honestly something not quite as bulky as chocolate chips would be better...like chocolate shavings...)

1. Warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream, and salt in a small saucepan. Add the mint leaves and stir until they're immersed in the liquid. Cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

2. Strain the mint-infused mixture through a mesh strainer into a medium saucepan. Press on the mint leaves to extract as much of the flavor as possible, then discard the mint leaves. Pour the remaining 1 cup heavy cream into a large bowl and set the strainer on top.

3. Rewarm the mint-infused mixture. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm mint liquid into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

4. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. Stir until cool over an ice bath.

5. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. Add the chocolate chips per manufacturer's instructions.

CSA, 5/26

2009-05-27T20:58:00.006-05:00

GREEN! That is what our CSA share looked like this week. We got buttercrunch lettuce, rainbow chard, scallions, broccoli and mint.

I was intrigued with the mint and it really got my creative juices flowing. I am not a tea drinker and wasn't really interested in cooking lamb. So after some searching, I decided upon ice cream! How can you go wrong?? So I making some fresh mint chocolate chip ice cream as we speak. I will report back on the progress! After cooking it down it had a lovely subtle mint flavor so I think it will be good.

I looked up some recipes for the chard but decided to just incorporate with the buttercrunch for my salads this week. The broccoli I will just serve with dinner some night.

The scallions were a bit of a stumper too. If you know anything about me, you know that I detest onions with a white hot passion. So I probably will not use the white parts of the scallion, unless I throw them in a stir fry or something where I can cook them down. I decided to make some cheddar garlic biscuits and incoporate the green part of the scallions. So I will be doing that sometime this week.

CSA!

2009-05-12T21:32:00.006-05:00

Our CSA started up again last week! It is great to have wonderful produce in the house again.

This week we got red sail lettuce, rhubarb and a whole chicken.

I made this rhubarb bread pudding from a cookbook that I had gotten for my 30th birthday from my good friends Loretta and Audry.

It was delish!

And topped with a little fresh whipped cream. Seriously, do you know how much better fresh whipped cream is than cool whip? And it is not hard to make at all.

Rhubarb bread pudding

8 slices of toasted bread (I used whole wheat)
2 cups milk
2 tb butter
3/4 cup honey (I didn't have honey, so I used 1 cup sugar. If you use sugar instead of honey, you need a little bit more than how much honey the recipe calls for)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups diced rhubarb
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Topping

2tb brown sugar
2tb instant oatmeal
1/4tsp cinnamon
1/8tsp nutmeg

Cut toast into cubes. Place in a medium sized bowl. Heat up milk (do not boil). Take off heat once it is hot and add butter, sugar and vanilla. Stir. Pour milk mixture over bread and allow to sit for 15 min. Preheat oven to 325. Add eggs, rhubarb, cinnamon, and salt to bread mixture and stir carefully until well blended. Pour into greased 2 qt casserole. Mix topping ingrediants and sprinkle evenly over top. Bake, uncovered for 45-50 min or until firm.

2009-04-25T20:52:00.002-05:00

I have not been updating my blog as I have been sharing most of our pictures on facebook. I have not decided yet if I will blog when the CSA starts back up, or if I will be updating on facebook.

If you have facebook and we are not friends yet, send me a message!

If you are not on facebook, you need to get a page today! It is a great way to keep up with everyone!

The CSA starts up again soon, and I will decide then if I will blog here about that or on facebook.

I just like this picture

2009-02-07T21:13:00.002-06:00

This was a cat at the christmas tree farm we visited in December.

Just because she is so darn cute

2009-02-07T21:07:00.001-06:00

Our farm!!

2009-02-03T21:43:00.003-06:00

http://www.emporiagazette.com/news/2009/feb/02/organic_and_local/ (cut and paste)

Article in the Emporia Gazette about our CSA. We can not WAIT to get fresh produce again! Really missing it.

Rock Chalk

2009-02-03T21:27:00.007-06:00

My parents took the kiddos up to a KU game in December and they had so much fun!

Brenna's cheerleading outfit had gotten a bit small, so grandpa took her to buy a new one before the game!

And just in case you forgot...

By the way, Brenna has turned to the dark side and is now rooting for K-State. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers as we deal with this very diffcult time.

:)

Cookie decorating

2009-01-13T21:31:00.010-06:00

Brenna and I decorated cookies this year for Santa and just had so much fun.

Here is a pic of my "Brown Eyed Girl" (which by the way Brenna thinks that song says, "Brenna Girl" which I just love!)

Getting our supplies ready! Alot of our toppings came from cooking kits that Grandma Bev had given the kids.

Aren't her little fingers adorable?

Santa was in for a sugar rush that night!

Put on your yarmulke, here comes Chanukah

2009-01-08T21:29:00.013-06:00

Zack had great grandparents who were Jews from Poland who came to the US as young adults. I love learning about other cultures and family history so it has been a real blessing that we get to learn more about the Jewish culture with my in laws. My mother in law does a great job of incorporating some traditions throughout the year for some of the Jewish holidays. I love the kids getting to participate in something unique about their ancestory.

Here is Brenna helping me make a honey cake. This recipe is from Zack's great grandma. I believe it is traditional for Rosh Hashana, but is eaten at other holidays as well.

Grandma Bev roasting the chickens

Latkes. Yum. Latkes are potato pancakes.

Cooked apples. Double yum.

A chanukah feast my friends. Delicious. This is challa (jewish bread, pronounced hallah), roasted chicken, sweet glazed carrots, latkes and cooked apples.

Here are the kids enjoying the meal. You can tell that Gavin is really enjoying it by the mess that he has all over his face!

Bev helping the kids light the candles. It was the first night. There is a prayer that is said while lighting the candles and Bev has the kids repeat after her. Isn't this a great tradition for the kids to take part in? It is something I think they will have many memories of as they get older.

Trying to say the prayer in Hebrew!

This is a youtube video of another kid learning the prayer! I thought this was pretty cute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qf6JQdO8PE

Grandma Shirley. Her parents were the immigrants from Poland.

It is also traditional to play dreidel at Chanukah but Gavin forgot to bring his! I had bought him one last year that he got to paint on. We will have to remember for next year.

Union Station

2009-01-07T21:21:00.006-06:00

My mom and dad took the kids up to KC for a fun day a few weeks ago.

Seeing the minature train

Having fun at the Lincoln exhibit

Such a beautiful building!

2nd grade music program

2009-01-06T22:10:00.006-06:00

Gavin had his 2nd grade music program in December.

Playing the xylophone.

Grandma Bev

Grandma Shirley

One of his good buddies

Another good buddy

Rebels!

2009-01-06T22:00:00.003-06:00

I found Gavin sleeping with a flag from Ireland the other day. This flag is for the Cork Rebels, the home team of our dear friends. He shows his allegiance proudly!

The new kitty

2009-01-06T21:57:00.001-06:00

This is Bev and Gene's new kitty. She is very cute!

Sunset

2009-01-06T21:54:00.001-06:00

We are blessed by living at the edge of town and have had some gorgeous evening skies in the last few weeks! This is not a good picture, but it at least captures a bit of what we saw one evening.

Aunt Sumre

2009-01-06T21:47:00.003-06:00

Brenna loves her Aunt Sumre!

She is loved.

Friends

2009-01-06T21:44:00.001-06:00

Gavin and his friend Odie at the Lakes.

They are good buds.

I didn't forget the blog!

2009-01-06T21:43:00.002-06:00

Sorry for my delay in blogging. My laptop has been out of commission and I just got it back today!

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on!

Christmas Traditions

2008-12-04T22:13:00.005-06:00

Grandma Bev has helped carry on a great tradition in our family of making Gingerbread houses with the kids. The kids absolutely adore it. Bev makes this from *scratch* as well!

Here is Grandma Bev mixing up different colors of frostings.

The kids had all different kinds of candies and things to use to decorate their houses.

Brenna decorating her house.

The finished projects.

Pear Bread

2008-12-04T22:06:00.004-06:00

I had several pears from the farm to use up, so I did some searching for recipes. I found a great recipe for pear bread.

It turned out very good and the kids loved it. Very much like a zucchini bread, dense and moist.

The kids seriously went crazy over it. The recipe made two loaves so I froze one. We ended up thawing it and eating it the next week!

Here is my little ballerina enjoying her favorite thing that week!

Pear Bread

3 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups peeled, cored and finely chopped pears
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup chopped walnuts (I didn't add)

DIRECTIONS
In a mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla; mix well. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt; stir into the egg mixture just until moistened. Toss pears with lemon juice. Stir pears and walnuts into batter (batter will be thick). Spoon into two greased 9-in. x 5-in. x 3-in. loaf pans. Bake at 350 degrees F for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

I haven't been to the eye doctor in 10 years....

2008-12-04T21:58:00.002-06:00

And when I do, she tells me to wear glasses!

Apparently I have astigmatisim and am far sighted. These are my new frames!

Chef Gavin

2008-12-04T21:51:00.003-06:00

Gavin is always wanting to create new recipes. Tonight he was banging around in the kitchen trying to create something new. I went in and he had mixed together all kinds of things and was trying to make a cake. He had a bowl full of milk, sugar, honey, baking cocoa, cinnamon, nutmeg...etc etc.

So he comes in and wants to bake this concoction. I asked if he had added flour? No. Eggs? No. Baking powder? No. So I went in. I dumped enough flour in the milk mixture to make it as thick as cake batter. Next I told Gavin to get eggs. "How many?" I don't know, lets try one. (I really just didn't want to waste any more eggs on this experiment). Next I sprinkled in some baking powder. We ended up putting them in ramekins and baked them at 350 for 20 min or so.

They actually worked!!! And tasted pretty good! We had leftover whipped cream, so we put some of that on the top. Gavin of course was over the moon!

Christmas Parade

2008-12-04T21:39:00.005-06:00

Brenna got to be in the Christmas Parade this year which was fun. Her preschool had a float. Since daddy signed her up, daddy got to ride!

Here is Gavin under a quilt staying warm before it started!

Here is Sumre. Cory and her shut down the bar to come over and watch. It is so nice having her home!! I picked this particular shot because it looks like everything is on fire. I got a new camera and was trying to use the night vision! Still learning obviously....

Daddy and Brenna going by....

And Santa of course!

Thanksgiving

2008-12-04T21:29:00.004-06:00

Isn't Thanksgiving a great holiday? We had a great "Thanksgiving Week" this year. Thursday was dinner with Zack's extended family. Friday was with my family and Sunday was with Zack's immediate family. It was great.

Gavin enjoying the new Ipod that Aunt Megan got him and loaded for him!

Cute Brenna.....

Chicken Tacos

2008-11-18T20:26:00.003-06:00

This is a GREAT recipe. If you haven't made this, you really need to try it! It is super easy and very delicious.

Today, Zack and I were both very tired. I emailed him from work and told him to start some chicken tacos when he went home for lunch so that we could have a nice hot easy dinner as soon as we walked in the door. We like it, the kids like it, it is just a great recipe. Try it out and let me know what you think!

Chicken Tacos

1 package of chicken breasts
1 packet of taco seasoning
16 oz of salsa
tortillas and taco stuff

Put chicken in a large crockpot. Put taco seasoning and salsa on top. Cook on low all day, or high for half a day. (I have used frozen chicken on low all day and it worked fine) Shred with two forks. Put into warm tortillas with your favorite taco toppings. Yum yum yum!