Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Summer is the perfect time to make homemade ice cream and who says you have to stop at vanilla? 

The recipe is simple, but patience is needed because once you make the mix you still have a long way to go before you can actually eat the ice cream. 

Ingredients
3 cups half and half
1 cup heavy cream
8 large egg yolks
9 ounces sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons peppermint extract
green food coloring
1 cup mini chocolate morsels

Place half and half and heavy cream in a medium sauce pan over medium heat.  Bring to a simmer and remove from heat.  Whisk the egg yolks until they lighten in color.  Gradually add sugar and whisk to combine. Gradually add the cream mixture to the eggs until 1/3 has been added.  Pour in the rest and return the mixture to the saucepan and place over low heat.  Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the spoon.  Pour mixture into a container and allow to sit for 30 minutes.  Add food coloring until you reach your desired color.  Add peppermint extract. Place in the refrigerator for 2 hours or more (the longer you leave it in the refrigerator the faster it will freeze in the ice cream machine).  Pour into the ice cream machine and follow manufacturer’s instructions.  Add the mini chocolate chips towards the end of the mixing time.

Next I plan to tackle strawberry or chocolate ice cream!  Sorry, Ben, no plain vanilla for you!

Cheeseburgers

Everyone should know how to prepare and grill cheeseburgers.  It's the American way!  If you're one of the many people whose cheeseburgers always shrink to half of their size or if you can't seem to find the right seasonings, maybe this post can help you.

The key to making cheeseburgers the correct size is to pat them out as much as possible before grilling.  This doesn't mean that you need to make your hamburger patty resemble a pancake.  It just means that since the burger shrinks when it's on the grill you have make it a little bigger than you usually would.

As far as seasonings go, I use the following:
Worchestershire sauce
salt
pepper
Italian seasoning

Once you have the hamburger patties made sprinkle the seasonings on both sides.  I usually do a couple of shakes of each (I know, I'm so precise).  I used less than half of the Italian seasoning for 5 cheeseburgers, so be careful with that stuff because a little goes a long way.  Grill for 4-5 minutes on each side and you're done!

Candy Sushi

Last weekend my sister and I made candy sushi (with the help of Ben, of course).  I think this dessert was more fun to make than actually eat.  Don't get me wrong, I love sugar, but this has a lot of candy!  Check out her blog for step-by-step instructions (if it's not up yet check back in a few days!).

We used gummy worms, fruit by the foot, gummy bears, and Swedish fish for the filling.  And homemade rice krispy treats served as the rice and fruit roll-ups served as the seaweed.

Don't you think this dessert would be fun to have for a kid's party or some sort of themed party?  I do!

Duck and Mushroom Soup

I know what y'all are thinking, "Duck soup? In June? Have you lost your mind?".  And my answer to that is no I have not, however, Ben HAS!  Last Sunday Ben decided, months and months after hunting season, that he needed to use those ducks for something.  And what does he decide to make on a day where the temp is 95 degrees and climbing?  SOUP!  So while I'm posting about making soup in mid-June, just file this recipe away until a cold winter weekend in December.

The dish is one of Arkansas' own - of which I am very proud!  Watch the video below for complete instructions and ingredients.

The soup was delicious and I can't wait to have some this winter!

Sunflower Cupcakes

As I mentioned last week, we went to Memphis to celebrate Memorial Day.  It was so much fun!  One of my bffs, Courtney, flew in from Florida with her boyfriend.  It was like a mini-reunion (reunited and it feels so good!).  Anyways, Katie (creator of the adorable halloween cupcakes and my 24th birthday cake) made the cutest sunflower cupcakes!  She used Wilton's small leaf tip (#67) to create the sunflower petals. 

Tip: We noticed that the tip really wasn't wide enough to let the icing through, so Katie had to pry it open just a little.

Katie used Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate Cake recipe for the cupcakes, and her grandmother's buttercream icing recipe!  Yum Yum!

After letting the cupcakes cool, ice a small circle in the middle of the cupcake (see above picture)

Dip the cupcake in chocolate sprinkles.

Start icing small petals around the rim, then ice another ring of petals moving inward. (make sense?)

*Sorry the pictures are not great.  My camera was acting funny.