Chubby Wifey ice cream

Do you all know about Ben & Jerry's "Suggest A Flavor" on their website?
This is the place, when you think you've got the next newest, baddest, craziest, and best selling ice cream flavor!
My Chubby Wifey flavor is a homage, (or evil twin?) to the Chubby Hubby.
Why should Chubby Hubby have all the fun, all the domination? Right?
I will strongly suggest to Mr. Ben and Mr. Jerry, that they should make this ice cream as the perfect mate to the infamous Chubby Hubby ice cream.

So fingers crossed, let's hope they notice my crazy yet tasty concoction.

On the "Resurrect A Flavor" section, which one would you bring back?
I was amazed at how many flavors have died.
I miss the Mint with Oreo Cookies.
What flavor do you miss?

I made this ice cream eggless, using condensed milk--it's really quite easy since there is no custard making to do.
But if you prefer a custard base, the results would be just as good.
I prefer the quick and easy route when it's 86 degrees and 76% humidity.













Chubby Wifey Ice Cream
print recipe

chocolate ice cream base:
1/2 cup sugar
2 TB double Dutch cocoa powder
small pinch of sea salt
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
2 cups half & half
1 cup heavy cream

peanut butter swirls:
½ cup +/- chunky or smooth peanut butter

cheddar cheese pretzels:
I used about ¾ cup of cheddar filled pretzels (from Combo’s brand)

Cook notes: I added in the peanut butter swirls by hand. If I add them to the ice cream maker while it’s churning, I found they just dissolve. I like to see and taste peanut butter swirls.

In a medium bowl, mix together the sugar, cocoa powder, salt and condensed milk. Mix until lumps from cocoa powder are gone.
Add in the half and half and heavy cream, mix. Cover, and set in fridge to let flavors blend a bit. At least an hour or longer.
Pour mixture into ice cream maker and follow manufactures directions.
The last 2 minutes of churning add in the pretzels.
Do these next steps rather fast:
Pour half of ice cream mixture into large glass or ceramic bowl, drizzle the peanut butter over the ice cream, place remaining ice cream on top. Cover and place in freezer immediately.
Should make a little over a quart.

friday links

Happy Friday!

Time for the weekend.



Remember the skillet chocolate chip cookies I made?
Making cookies via the cast iron is growing in popularity.
Here are a few more creations using the good old cast iron skillet (from thekitchn.com)


Deep Fried Banana Bread (photo from thekitchn.com)

10 foods that help heal your injuries faster

Reuse those old tic tac containers to store spices. Very clever!


Have you tried this raw coconut water?
It's crazy expensive, but really tasty.
Not watered down at all and has a hint of nuttiness to it.
A real treat if you love pure coconut water. I save up just to buy this. It's that good!
Very good for you too.

How to make smoked salmon at home. Excellent tutorial.
Imagine the money you could save making it at home?

Hate soggy bottom fruit crisps?

My friend at SprinkleBakes.com has a wonderful video on how to make coffee caviar at home.
I promise you it's so simple.
Trust me, you'll be doing this in no time.

Superfood: pineapple (yes really)

What are the best flours for which homemade breads?

Google maps tour of famous authors' homes

Marilyn Monroe's unpublished personal poetry

What's up with all that Kinesio Tape on the volleyball players at the Olympics?

The Olympics: Their Golden Years (love this!)



Your Olympic athlete body match quiz.

Use chopsticks as a cooking tool in the kitchen.

Oprah Winfrey's favorite brain foods.

New finds at Trader Joe's:

Good!


Salty, dry sausage is your thing (like me)? Then you'll love this.


Not good at all :-(


Hello!


Dangerously addicting.


These aren't bad. They tend to be a little dry. So I defrost them a bit then fry them in a touch of oil as opposed to baking them. Also, really good in scrambled eggs.

How to make bubble tea at home.

Biographile.com is holding a short memoir contest.
You could win a nice package of Julia Child books.

Good Read Finds (just click on image for info):






When listening to your body doesn't work. Part 1 and Part 2

Are we programmed to be happy?

Have a wonderful weekend!

cape cod whale watching

I've found there is a positive side to heat waves. Let me re-phrase that: there is a positive side to "humidity" driven heat waves. If you take some money, buy a ticket to go on a whale watch, they take you out to the middle of the ocean where there is very little heat AND a nice ocean breeze.

There are a lot of whale watching charters here on cape cod. We went with Hyannis Whale Watch out of Hyannis. It was a nice clean ship, and thankfully it was NOT that crowded. We took the 8am ride (got in line at 7am) on a wednesday. I thought it would be packed like sardines because of all the clammer and uproar of the great white sighting in Truro. Everyone and his brother coming to the cape to rent boats to go out and see the great white.



Since we were one of the first on line, getting the best seat in the house wasn't a problem.


Not giving up this spot.


Since there are no propellers, the boat can easily turn around in five feet of water. Definitely enjoyable to watch that.


Heading out of little harbor in west barnstable.




One of the best parts of any fishing/whale adventure is the trip out there.




We pass the outer banks of Sandy Neck (sandwich, ma).




We sail out for about 45 minutes until we hit this. And the sun was out. AND, there was no more heat wave way out here. This is where we sit and wait, quietly. I don't mind, I could do this part all day.


Then out of the blue a resounding POOF of air a whale appears. The captain slowly inches boat closer.


And just like that they go back under. This when you need one of those high tech camera's to get all the quick shots. The whales go back down and feed, and hopefully resurface about 5-10 minutes later.






And this why I wanted the spot I wanted--you get lucky and get a shot like this with your rinky dink camera. Isn't that just awesome? You should have heard the noise they made coming up out of the water. Scares the crap out of you.




The announcer on the whale watch has names for some of the whales. How do they identify them? By the markings on the backs of their tails--the amount of white, design, etc....


After all that excitement it got quite, so the captain drove out towards provincetown, to another whale sighting spot.


A single female, about 30 feet long.




She resurfaced 10 minutes later, way out there.


Three new ones took her place.




Then it was time to head home.

Hyannis whale watch was a great cruise. Very informative staff. Even the announcer walks around, on the way home, and answers all your questions as well as looks at your photos with you to help you identify what whales you saw. The captain didn't keep us in one spot for too long if we didn't see whales--which is good. We moved around a lot. Definitely saw a good amount of whales.
Very clean ship, comfy seats inside and out.
Pricey though, as the tickets are $47.00 and the parking is $15.00. I had no idea you had to pay for parking.
If you do go, make sure to take the early morning one, as on the way home back into the dock we saw the 1pm line and it was already booked. (early mornings on a weekday are far less crowded in the summer).

Also, congrats to the winner of the "Thoroughly Modern Milkshake" #14 Ariel and #21 Esi. Please email me your shipping address!

peach shortcake w/ buttermilk biscuits and white chocolate-whipped cream

My great grandmother Mimi, one of the relatives I was very close to, most drawn to because of her cooking and baking skills. She had this knack of baking with grace, ease and wonderment--all the while chatting away, explaining to me the smallest details of everything from pie crusts to getting all the air out of the freshly canned bread & butter pickles. She lived in the lower part of Washington state. In a small, very rural town. How rural? Well, there was no mail delivery, only a post office. The local pharmacist still served soda jerks on the marble bar. The soda fountain stools were bright red and they rotated; I always chose the broken stool as it would still turn, but turn unevenly--giving the best ride. Most of the roads in town were not yet paved and some even had tumbleweeds!
I would visit Mimi almost every summer. She was one of those people who made you cookies, cleaned and ironed fresh sheets for your bed AND sewed you brand new clothes all before you came for a visit. Then during the visit she would spend all of her time with you reading, baking, showing you how to chop wood, explaining various insects to you and telling you the best way to plants tomatoes. She wanted to teach me everything. I did my best to listen and absorb, but gardening was not my thing. I paid attention to baking though.
Mimi was an avid baker. What impresses me most about her was the fact that she didn't have a stove stove. She had a fire burning antique stove; those old fashioned kinds. I didn't think anything of it as a kid, but looking back I think how hard it must have been to bake cookies? Getting the right temp even for cakes?
Every morning she'd be up by 5am, taking from her pile of chopped wood out back, stuffing them into the four burners along with sticks and paper, lighting it, getting a good fire going, stoking it with some more wood, then placing the metal covers back on. From there she'd heat up her water for coffee and heat up the giant old cast iron pans for bacon and eggs. Amazing.

The summers up by her would be hot, desert like hot, and on those days we would gather up the picnic baskets, filled with meats, cheeses, and just from the oven peanut butter cookies--head up to the local river to swim and eat. On our way home we'd stop for fresh peaches, as well as aplets and cotlets
The peaches. Man, I remember those peaches, they were like candy, so sweet, so juicy and what I remember most, they were HUGE. Sure I was a kid and everything is bigger as a kid, but even watching my Mimi eating a peach, it looked giant in her hands. We'd take home peaches for shortcake. Her shortcake biscuits were so good. They always fell apart in your hands because they were so light and airy. Her biscuits were made with lard and a touch of bacon grease. I remember watching her use buttermilk too, thinking how gross it was because it was so thick and chunky. Always asking her why is she using sour milk? She always reply with "it makes the biscuit tasty!" And when she said that I knew to pay the chunky, sour milk no mind, to just wait for the finished biscuit--it'll be fine.

The real show stealer of this recipe is the white chocolate infused whipped cream. Frankly my husband said that you could just serve the whipped cream on its own and call it dessert. He's right. This is a super tasty treat-- Decadent for sure. We indulge in this a couple times during the summer. Would go wonderfully with strawberry shortcake, blueberry, cherry...oh the possibilities are endless.











peach shortcake with white chocolate-whipped cream
print recipe

for the buttermilk biscuits:
Use whatever recipe you like best.

I love this one from epicurious.com AND
I love this one from pinchmysalt.com

for the peaches:
6 large peaches, ripe
3-5 TB sugar (use as much sugar as you like; I used about 4 TB)
½ ts vanilla extract (optional)
juice of one lemon

white chocolate sauce:
¾ cup white chocolate chips
2 TB heavy cream

white chocolate-whipped cream:
½ cup heavy cream
1 TB crème fraiche, room temp
1 TB confectioners sugar
the melted white chocolate sauce from above

Cook notes:
Place the bowl and beaters you will use for the whipped cream in the freezer.
Once your white chocolate sauce is melted and done, you will have to work fast to get the whipped cream done, as we don’t want the white chocolate sauce to harden.

for the peaches:
peel the skin off the peaches and do a rough chop. Place in small saucepan with the juice of one lemon, the sugar and the vanilla. Cook over low-medium heat until peaches are nice and soft (about 15-20 minutes). Stirring constantly.
Remove from heat, taste test and see if it’s sweet enough for you. Set aside.

For the white chocolate sauce:
In a small saucepan, over LOW heat, melt the white chocolate chips with the heavy cream. Stirring constantly. Do not walk away, just keep stirring. White chocolate chips have a tendency to melt then harden fast; just keep stirring, scraping the bottom of the saucepan. You will end up with a nice thick white chocolate ganache.

For the white chocolate-whipped cream:
Now working fast, take your bowl and beaters out of the freezer. Pour in the heavy cream, add in the confectioners sugar and the crème fraiche. Beat until “just” whipped. Then slowly, with beaters running, add in the white chocolate sauce in drizzles, not one lump sum, but drizzle the white chocolate sauce while the beaters are running. Stop when you have “almost” stiff peaks. Don’t overbeat.
This will not be a light airy whipped cream because of the heavy melted chocolate. If you want to be fancy, pipe the finished whipped cream in a pastry bag and pipe over the shortcakes.