Ice Cream Time

It's hot here in Columbus. It just rained, but instead of cooling things down, it just made it more humid and stickier. Summer is here, and of course that gets me thinking about ice cream. I worked at Casper's Ice Cream in Cache Valley for two years, and am now studying ice cream here at Ohio State. Some would call me something of an ice cream expert. Anyway, that reputation has grown here in our ward in Ohio, and a couple of weeks ago I was asked to show the scout aged boys how to make homemade ice cream. It forced me to finally put my ice cream formulation into a recipe format. I thought it would be a good idea to share it, so everybody can give it a try. It was developed for a five quart ice cream maker:

Professional Vanilla Ice Cream:

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Powdered Milk
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/4oz Unflavored gelatin
3 Cups Milk
1 quart heavy whipping cream
1/3 cups corn syrup
1 egg yolk
2tsp Vanilla

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate pot add milk and cream (do not heat). Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients making sure powdered milk does not clump. Once dry ingredients are added, turn on heat. Add corn syrup and egg yolk while heating and stirring. Stir mix constantly until temperature reaches 175˚F (Almost to boiling, but do not let boil). Quickly remove from heat and place pot in tub (sink) of ice water. Stir until mix reaches below 50˚F (slightly cool to touch). Place mix in ice cream maker container, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

The next day: Add vanilla to mix. Place container in ice cream maker. Layer two inches of ice then a layer of rock salt until ice reaches the top of the container. Freeze until paddle slows down. (The harder you freeze the mix in the ice cream maker the better texture you will have). Harden ice cream in freezer overnight.

Makes approximately 1 gallon of ice cream.


Simplified Vanilla Ice Cream:

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Powdered Milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 Cups Milk
1 quart heavy whipping cream
2tsp Vanilla

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. In a separate bowl add milk and cream. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, making sure powdered milk does not clump. Add vanilla. Place in ice cream maker container. Layer two inches of ice then a layer of rock salt until ice reaches the top of the container. Freeze until paddle slows down. (The harder you freeze the mix in the ice cream maker the better texture you will have). Harden in freezer overnight.

Makes approximately 1 gallon of ice cream.


To make different flavors I just mostly experiment. I can give these tips however:
Added flavoring extracts should be about two teaspoons.
To make a flavor base (actual fruit, etc.) add some light corn syrup and blend. Flavor bases can be added before heating or after (depending on microbial risk). A good rule of thumb is about 10% of the mix.
To test if there is enough flavoring in the mix, it should be slightly stronger than what you want in your final ice cream. This is because the freezing process adds air and dilutes the flavor.
A base that I like to use is 1/3 cup cream cheese mixed in well with 2/3 cup corn syrup.
Freeze the ice cream as hard as possible before adding inclusions (cookies, candies, whole pieces of anything), then stir in the inclusions to the ice cream.

I hope you enjoy your ice cream this hot summer. Go ahead and call or e-mail me if you have any ice cream questions. It's fun for me to share my ice cream knowledge.

Show Down with the Lactation Consultant and More!

Sorry if this post provides "Too Much Information" but it has been a huge accomplishment for us so I had to write about it. A couple weeks ago I was pretty much ready to give up on breastfeeding. Emma was refusing to nurse (at all) and it was getting really ridiculous. We decided to go to the lactation consultant one last time and see if there were any more tricks up her sleeve. I went in with the attitude that it was hopeless and that the lactation consultant wouldn't be able to help us at all. After an hour of screaming her head off, Chris Harter, the lactation consultant, won the showdown, and Emma's stubborn streak was broken. Chris said we just needed to show Emma some "tough love". We thought we were doing a good job of letting her fuss before giving her a bottle, but it wasn't good enough because Emma has a mind of her own. Ever since that day Emma has been nursing like a champ and it really seems like a miracle. I never expected to be at this point. Hurray!!!! for Emma.

So we were without Mike this past weekend. He had a conference in California and was gone for 3 days. We sure missed him, but luckily Emma was pretty good for me so that was a blessing. Mike had another interview and this time it was for a cheese company in Colorado. It would be great to be closer to home, but we'll see. Everyone wants to hire someone right away and Mike won't be finished until December.

So I did some retakes of Emma in her blessing dress and they turned out so cute that I had to share. She is finally starting to smile, but it is hard to catch her in the act.



This one is my favorite

A Week With Grandma

So we had a nice week with Mike's mom. She came in last Thursday and left today. I can't believe it has already been a week. It seems like she just got here. Unfortunatley she had a mishap with her luggage and so her first couple of days were spent tracking her luggage down. Luckily she was able to find it and all is well. Emma sure loves her Grandma Sharp. We had a nice time just visiting, playing games and watching movies. Hopefully she was able to have a nice break and just take it easy. Last night she was kind enough to watch Emma so that Mike and I could go to the temple. We had a nice time at the temple and then we went out for "Cold Stone" icecream. Ohhhhhh Yummy!!!! I don't know how much fun Grandma Ann had because Emma has gotten pretty Colicy. She was patient with the crying though. That's what Grandma's are for. While she was here we went to a conservatory where they release butterflies. It was really fun to see and they were beautiful. It ended uo being a great week with Grandma Ann and we can"t wait to see everyone else in under a month. Yeah!!!

A Very Special Day

So yesterday was a very special day for our family. Not only was it our 2 year anniversary, but Emma was also blessed. It was so amazing to see how far we have come in the past two years and our life seemed to come full circle. Emma's blessing was beautiful and she was promised some wonderful blessings from her Father in Heaven. Mike's mom was coming out this way to do a presentation at a home schooling conference and we were lucky enough to have her stop by Ohio for about a week. It has been nice having her here and she was able to be there for Emma's blessing. We sure missed having the rest of our family there, but it turned out to be a very nice day. Emma was also very lucky to have her Grandma Pierce make her blessing dress. She will have it as a very special keepsake. I think my mom did a wonderful job. The dress was so beautiful.

Last night Mike and I were looking through our journals and reading some entries from when we were dating and first married. It is amazing to see what we have learned in the past two years and how the Lord has truly had his hand in our lives. We know we have been blessed and are so grateful.

Emma at 6 weeks

So yesterday we took Emma to the doctor for her routine checkup. She is now 6 weeks old and we were anxious to see how much weight she has gained. When she was born she weighed 5lbs 2 oz. and now she weighs 7 lbs 12 oz. She is getting so big. I can't believe she is almost 8 lbs now. The doctor said she is looking great and is really strong. I can't wait for her to start smiling at us and being more active. I can't complain too much about her activity level, a couple nights ago she slept for 6 hours straight. I was a little nervous when I woke up and realized that she hadn't woken up yet, but she was just sound asleep. I guess she needed her beauty rest.

I thought this picture with Gracie and Emma was pretty funny. My mom would freak out, but Grace has been so good with Emma. She usually just ignores her, and is really patient with her crying. We are really lucky in that department. Also, Mike wanted me to stop putting so many pictures of him on here so there is a picture of she and I so that you can see she spends some time with her mom as well.:)

Happy Mother's Day!

So Happy Mother's Day to all of you mothers out there and all of you women who are nurturers to others around you. It was an interesting first mothers day for me. First off, Mike was so sweet and mulched our flower bed and bought me a hanging flower pot. He also made me a delicious cake. Thanks hun. My brother Daniel also stopped by on his way back home from taking a load to Pennsylvania. It was so good to see him, and it will be wonderful to see the rest of our families in a little over a month. Yeah!!! I can't believe it has been a year already, good thing times moves quickly.
We ended up taking Emma to the full block of church and I was a little overwhelmed at first. She ended up sleeping the whole time which was a blessing, but I think I just really stressed out trying to prepare for what "could" happen while at church. She isn't nursing very well, and yet I felt bad just bringing a bottle. I also tried to plan her eating and sleeping schedule so that it would work out perfectly. As usual it isn't as easy as I think it is going to be to make Emma work around US.:) Luckily everything turned out just fine, but poor Mike had to deal with my crazy meltdown. I definitely have such a new perspective on parents and especially mothers with a lot of kids at church. I know I don't fully understand yet just having one child and an infant at that, but to try and get your whole family ready to go, fulfill your callings and keep your kid happy and not running around is quite the feet. I am amazed at all of you wonderful mothers who can manage it.

I had to post some pictures of Emma with her Dad. I know I have posted a lot of the two of them, Mike is just her favorite person to be with and she loves to cuddle with him. I have some competition in that department now.:) So although I am finding out ways to adjust to this new little addition we are just loving having her in our home, she brings us such joy.

A Few Tidbits

So I don't have anything specific to post about except that Emma is now over a month old. I can't believe how fast time has gone. Luckily she is also getting bigger, and starting to change in little ways. It will be interesting to see what she is like in another months time. We are sure enjoying her. She has finally gotten onto somewhat of a better sleeping schedule. It makes it a lot nicer in the night time. I wanted to post these cute pics of her. One is for my mom who made the cute sweater and hat, another for my Aunt Nona who sent us some pretty cute outfits and wanted to see her in one, and the other is for my sister Jackie who purchased the lovely bouncer that Emma has currently been sleeping in this week. We have had a cold going around our house the past couple of weeks and Emma unfortunately caught it. She has been so congested that we decided that she would be able to breathe a little better if she slept a little bit more upright instead of just flat on her back, hence the bouncer. It has been great because it plays music and vibrates and so it really helps Emma fall asleep, so thanks Jack. Other than that our week has been same old, same old. We are really looking forward to Momma Sharp coming out in a couple of weeks. It will be great to spend some time with her, and she might even be willing to babysit so we can go out for our 2 year anniversary. Wow time sure flies.