It's Time for Ice Cream!

Another summer holiday weekend, another post about homemade ice cream. It's becoming a little predictable, no?! But, hey...it's a post! I had really good intentions about hitting you (the 5 readers I have left) with a bunch of posts this weekend. Posts with breakfast ideas for the long weekend, our recent trip to Paris (!) and thoughts about pregnancy as I enter my third (!!!!) trimester.

Well, you know what they say about good intentions.

The truth is, after the craziness of the last month and the craziness that is to come in the next few months, I really needed a break-- a three day weekend with no feelings of obligation. Just rest, relaxation and doing things that I felt like doing. Things like making homemade ice cream.

Previous ice cream posts have focused on seasonal fruit, but this time around we decided to do something different. I was having a hard time making up my mind about what kind of ice cream to make, so I let Jason be in the driver's seat. We perused our ice cream bible, and he picked out a recipe for tin roof ice cream, a traditional custard-based vanilla ice cream with fudge ripple and a chocolate-covered peanut mix in. I was in! We ended up foregoing the chocolate-covered peanuts-- our local grocery store is "temporarily closed" (no word on why or when it will be reopening) and we were surprised to discover that the Trader Joe's near our house does not carry such confections. So we ended up with a fudge ripple ice cream which was just as delicious.

It's going to be a good summer!

Fudge Ripple Ice Cream
Adapted slightly from David Lebovitz

Ingredients
3/4 cup whole milk
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
pinch of salt
1/2 vanilla bean
4 large egg yolks
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
Fudge Ripple (recipe below)

1. Warm the milk, sugar, salt and 1/2 cup of cream in a medium saucepan. Add vanilla bean to hot milk mixture. Remove from heat, cover, and let steep for 30 minutes.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the 4 egg yolks and set aside. Pour remaining cream in a large bowl; place a metal strainer over top of the large bowl and set aside.
3. Rewarm the vanilla mixture. Once warm, slowly add to egg yolks whisking constantly (so as to avoid scrambled eggs). Pour mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom of the pan, until mixture coats back of the spatula or spoon.
4. Pour through the metal strainer into the cream. Remove vanilla bean from the strainer, wipe off any bits of egg, and add back to mixture. Add vanilla extract. Chill over an ice bath. Refrigerate until cold (I let mine stay in there overnight but a few hours will probably do the trick).
5. Freeze in an ice cream freezer. When transferring to another container, alternate layers of fudge ripple and ice cream (don't stir together). Freeze until hard/ready to eat. Enjoy!

Fudge Ripple
From David Lebovitz

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
6 TBL cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1. Whisk together sugar, corn syrup, water and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium and bring to a low boil, whisking often.
2. Boil for 1 minute, remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
3. Let cool. Refrigerate until ready for ice cream. Make sure it is cold when you mix it in to the ice cream.

Shrimp Salad Sandwiches

There is something about shrimp salad that says summer to me. Maybe it is because I associate it with the beach. Although we are still in April, yesterday's 80 degree weather (a far cry from the mid-50s we are expecting today) was the only excuse I needed to whip up an easy and delicious dinner: shrimp salad sandwiches.

Shrimp salad is one of those meals that is both ridiculously easy to make and delicious. It's also perfect for customizing-- want more texture, add more celery (or add in a little red onion). Want less dressing, cut back on the mayo. Next time I might through in some fresh dill for a little bit of extra flavor (although it was pretty good as it was). Seriously, the hardest part is peeling the shrimp.

Shrimp Salad Sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 pound shell-on shrimp
1/3 cup diced celery
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Juice from half a lemon
1 tablespoon (or to taste) Old Bay seasoning OR as much of your favorite hot sauce as you'd like
Salt and pepper to taste
Sub rolls
lettuce

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add shrimp and cook for 5 minutes. Drain and set shrimp aside to cool.
2. Meanwhile, whisk mayo, mustard, vinegar, and lemon juice. Add Old Bay and/or hot sauce until you've got the right amount of kick. Add salt and pepper to taste.
3. When shrimp are cool enough to handle, peel and add to dressing. Add celery and toss until combined. Check one last time for seasonings.
4. Toast sub rolls. Line with lettuce (it helps to keep the dressing from dripping through) and fill with shrimp salad. Serve with veggie chips or your favorite side and enjoy a taste of summer.

Chocolate Yogurt Snack Cakes

We interrupt the baby related posts for an actual recipe! Imagine that :)

I had my eye on a recipe for chocolate yogurt snack cakes from David Lebovitz (by way of SmittenKitchen) for awhile when I decided that last week's book club was the perfect time to try them out. I like chocolate but I am not a huge fan of super chocolatey things, so I was intrigued by these little cakes that promised to be light and airy with just a hint of chocolate.

They did not disappoint. Moist and delicious with a hint of almond, they were not overwhelmingly chocolatey but had that cocoa depth that was just right. They were also pretty easy to make--no mixer required! I went with mini-muffin sized cakes (you could also use regular sized muffins or even put it into a loaf pan) which was perfect for book club and after dinner treats the rest of the week!

(Note: I bet these would be amazing with some strawberries and whipped cream for a springy dessert!)

Chocolate Yogurt Snack Cakes
Adapted (barely) from David Lebovitz and SmittenKitchen

Ingredients:
7 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain, whole fat yogurt
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt (if you use regular table salt, cut it down to 1/4 teaspoon)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a mini-muffin tin, making sure you also grease the top.
2. Place chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of the vegetable oil in a heatproof bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, and then microwave again in 15 second increments until chocolate is melted and smooth.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the remaining vegetable oil, yogurt, sugar, eggs, and extracts (vanilla and almond).
4. In a large bowl, mix together remaining ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt). Add yogurt mixture and stir lightly. Add melted chocolate and mix until just combined.
5. Scoop batter into muffin tins (I had a little extra left over and put into a small baking dish for a brownie-like treat). Bake for about 12-15 minutes until just done and toothpick comes out clean.
6. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes or so and then remove from the pan (if you let them cool too long in the pan, they become harder to get out--trust me!)

More Exciting News

Well, apparently my maternal instincts are still under development because I was 100% wrong about the sex of our child. We are having a girl!

First, I have to say the 20 week scan was pretty crazy-- heart, brain, kidneys, bones...you get to see it all. So I was already a little overwhelmed when half way through our ultrasound technician said (in a sing song voice) "I know what you're having!" Followed a few seconds later with "it's a girl!"

My first reaction was "It's a GIRL?! Are you sure??" And then I immediately started crying. Silent, happy tears, but tears nonetheless. I am pretty sure I would have cried regardless- hearing whether the baby was a boy or girl just made it all very real for the first time.

Jason's first reaction was "you were WRONG!" I think he was more excited about the fact that he was right and I was wrong than the news itself.

I am still a little in disbelief.

But we have a picture to prove it. Let's just say our little girl was not at all being modest and our technician printed out a picture with an arrow pointing to her lady parts to prove that she is not, in fact, a he.

Pretty exciting stuff!

Place Your Bets

Tomorrow is the big day! Time for our 20 week scan and, hopefully, an opportunity to see our little cantaloupe (according to thebump which seems WAY too big...I might have to go with BabyCenter's banana for this week) and find out of it is a he or a she.

Even since before we started considering whether or not to have a baby, I knew that I wanted to find out ahead of time whether we would be having a boy or girl. It's not hard to understand why. I am a planner by nature and the thought of not knowing something so huge ahead of time is pretty hard for me to fathom. I also get a kick of knowing things as soon as I can. I like spoilers. I have a hard time not skipping ahead to the end of the book so I can see what happens. I was the kid that actively sought out my Christmas presents because I just couldn't wait until Christmas Day to find out what was going to be in those pretty packages. And, for me, knowing ahead of time doesn't ruin the surprise; in some ways it actually increases my enjoyment of them. So not finding out was never really an option....

Which is why it would be so totally ironic if our little banana-cantaloupe decided to be a little prude and hide his/her goods from us.

But I am going to spend too much time thinking about that. Instead, I am going to indulge in my need to figure things out ahead of time and make a prediction about whether our future baby is a boy or a girl. Ready?

I think we are having a boy!

Here are my mostly unscientific reasons:
1. As everyone knows from biology class, sex is determined by the father's, um, genetic material. And there is a paucity of females born into the paternal side of Jason's family. Jason has a brother. His father has two brothers. His grandfather may have had a sister. But other than that-- no girls. So clearly we are having a boy.

2.  We have pretty much settled on a girl's name that we both like but are having less luck coming up with a boy's name that we like and can agree upon. Obviously that means we are having a boy.

3. Pretty much everyone I know that has had a baby in the last year or is having one in the next 3-5 months is having a girl. Which means we are definitely having a boy.

4. The Chinese gender predictor has predicted we are having a boy...need I say more.

5. And, finally, for reasons I can't explain....I just really and truly think we are having a boy.

Jason, on the other hand, thinks we are having a girl.

One of us is right! But who will it be....find out tomorrow :)

Surprise!

So I've been keeping something from you all for the last several months and I think I am finally ready to share it...

Are you ready?!

Jason and I are having a baby! That's right...come late August we will be plunging head first into parenthood with a little one along for the (wild) ride.

Although I am already 19 weeks (wow!) along, we are really still breaking the news to those around us. Here are the top few questions I seem to get whenever someone new finds out our good news:

1. Are you excited?

Uh, yes. We are excited. And nervous. And overwhelmed. And about everything else you can imagine a newly expectant parent to be.

2. How are you feeling?

Pretty good! I have been pretty lucky so far (knock on wood). No morning sickness. I was pretty exhausted during the first trimester (as in passed out on the couch/went to bed between 8:30-9 most nights--yet another reason this blog has been a little sparse as of late) but that has improved significantly in the last couple weeks.

3. Do you know if it's a boy or a girl yet?

Nope--as evident in the fact that we often refer to the future baby as whatever fruit or vegetable it is closest in size to in a given week). But we are definitely planning to find out ahead of time-- hopefully this coming week when I go in for my 20 week ultrasound! I. Can't. Wait.

4. Are you showing yet?

A little bit. I went out and bought my first real maternity clothes today (more on that later). Until now, I'd been relying on low-rise jeans and the Be-Band but last week marked the end of any pants I own actually buttoning so I thought it was time to suck it up and get some new threads. I am in that unfortunate middle stage of not looking like my normal self but also not looking pregnant either-- most people who don't know probably think I've put on a few pounds. I'm hoping the "I'm not fat, I'm pregnant" stage will pass by pretty soon.

5. Is this blog going to become one of those annoying pregnancy/baby/mom blogs?

Ok, I just made that one up--no one's actually asked that. Nevertheless, I promise not to let this become a permanent baby blog. But given that this whole having a baby thing is on my mind quite a bit of late, it is likely that it will be referred to from time to time :) I am hoping, though, that the recent increase in energy will give rise to more cooking. And more home improvement projects to share. In the meantime, I hope you will stick around for the ride!!

Goodbye Winter (Minestrone), Hello Spring (Almond Cake)

Tired of oatmeal cookies? I bet. Given how long it's been since my last post, I thought I would treat you to not one, but TWO new recipes!!

First up is one I teased awhile back--winter minestrone soup. Now, I know what you are thinking. Soup?! Why in the world would be interested in soup now that spring/summer has sprung?! If where you live is anything like the DC area, it has been nothing but 60s-70s, even 80s, for the last couple of weeks. Despite the fact that we uncovered our patio furniture and spent way too much money at Home Depot yesterday buying planters (and plants) for our front stoop, part of me still thinks that some crazy snow storm is right around the corner. So, you never know....this soup could still come in handy! If you find yourself in the mood for soup one more time this season, this recipe for winter minestrone is a good one to go out on. Easy to make, hearty, and flavorful it is a great all around soup.

Winter Minestrone
Adapted slightly from Giada deLaurentiis

Ingredients:
2 TBL olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3 carrots, peeled and chopped
3 celery stalks, chopped
3-4 slices of bacon, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ bag (or more) of baby spinach
1 large russet potato, diced
1 (14.5 oz) can of diced tomatoes in juice (I used the garlic, basil kind)
2 fresh rosemary sprigs
1 (15 oz) can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
32 oz low sodium beef broth

1.Heat oil in large pot. Add onion, carrots, celery, bacon, and garlic. Saute until the onion is translucent about 7-10 minutes.
2.Add baby spinach and potato; cook, stirring frequently for about 2 minutes.
3.Add tomatoes and their juices and rosemary sprigs, cook for about 5 minutes until the tomatoes start to break down. Add beef broth and simmer until potato pieces are tender (about 20 minutes)
4.Add beans and cook for 10 more minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Remove rosemary stems (needles will have fallen off). Serve with some crusty bread and enjoy!


Now that we've got winter out of our system, let's turn to spring! Last weekend we celebrated my 31st (eek!) birthday by having a few friends over for drinks and dessert. I made my espresso brownies (a tried and true favorite) as well as a new recipe for almond cake with raspberry-apricot jam. I am a big fan of almond flavored desserts in general and when I found this one on David Lebovitz's blog a few weeks ago, I knew I had to give it a try. It was pretty easy--particularly if you have a food processor you can use to break up the almond paste that is the backbone of the recipe. Although you could serve the cake straight from the pan, I decided to give one of David's serving suggestions a try by splitting the cake horizontally into two layers and smearing raspberry-apricot jam on each. I then reassembled the layers and sprinkled toasted almonds and powdered sugar on top. It was insanely good and would have looked just as pretty if I had only split the cake evenly. That's what I get for trying to free-hand it!

Almond Cake with Raspberry-Apricot Jam
Recipe pretty much verbatim from David Lebovitz's blog

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups sugar
8 ounces almond paste
3/4, plus 1/4 cup flour
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
6 large eggs, at room temperature
1 jar of raspberry-apricot jam
1/2 cup of sliced almonds
Powdered sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Grease a 9- or 10-inch cake or spring form pan with butter, dust it with flour and tap out any excess.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, grind the sugar, almond paste, and 1/4 cup of flour until the almond paste is finely ground and the mixture resembles sand.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the remaining 3/4 cup of flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Once the almond paste is completely broken up, add the cubes of butter and the vanilla and almond extracts, then process until the batter is very smooth.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, processing a bit before the next addition.
6. Add half the flour mixture and pulse the machine a few times, then add the rest, pulsing the machine until the drying ingredients are just incorporated, but do not overmix.
7. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake the cake for 60-65 minutes, or until the top is deep brown and feels set when you press in the center.
8. Remove the cake from the oven and run a sharp or serrated knife around the perimeter, loosing the cake from the sides of the pan. Let the cake cool completely in the pan.
9. While the cake is cooling, toast the almonds in a 325 oven for about 5-10 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Set aside.
10. When cake is cool, remove from pan. Split the cake horizontally using a long serrated knife (for tips on how to do this evenly see: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/baking/documents/CakeDecoCh2.pdf). Spread half of the raspberry-apricot jam on the bottom layer of the cake. Top with the remaining layer and spread remaining jam evenly over the top. Sprinkle almonds over the top of the cake and dust with powdered sugar. Serve.