Cooking Bonanaza Day!!

[RUSTYSMOM]

:D What a great day I had. I spent the morning with my boys, DH and good friend at a zoo and the afternoon cooking while the kids napped. Here is what I made:

Thai Chicken Stew (actaully Thai Pork Stew but I subbed chicken). I threw thsi in teh crock pot thsi morning. this is intended for roll ups for lunch thsi week. It came out delicious. This was from Sept 99.

For dinner tonight I made Balsamic Vinegar Chicken with Almond Peppers. I forgot how much I love this disk - it was excellent. This was a Back to teh Best in the June 2000 issue.

I served this with Herbed Basmati Rice from Complete CL.

For desesrt I made Brown Sugar Peach Pie with Coconut Streusel. It was excellent. I made this a couple of times last summer and could not wait for peaches to be in season to make it again. This was from July 2000.

I hate to admit I also made Ginger Snap Cookie Ice Cream. I made the Rich Vanilla from The Ultimate Ice Cream Book and added crushed ginger snap cookes at the end. I am so pleased I have finally figured out how to reduce the fat and still make decadent tasting ice cream!!! I am happy to post this recipe if anyone wants it.

In an effort to use up some of my squash surpluss I also made Squash Rice Casserole from Nov 00. This will be a good side later this week for dinner.

What a day....

[munchies]

Wow -- what a busy day in the kitchen! Thanks for the reviews.

Could you please post the vanilla ice cream recipe?

[Holly in KC]

Thanks for all the reviews! I think I remember the peach streusal from last year... but never made it. I'll have to give it a try next weekend.

And the ginger snap ice cream... Puhleeease post! I'm drooling on my keyboard.

Thanks!!

[RUSTYSMOM]

I will post the Vanilla Ice Cream recipe tonight when I get home. It was sooooo good!!!

[RUSTYSMOM]

Here is the Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe. I added a few (6) crushed gingersnaps at the end. It was excellent.

2/3 C sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbspn flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 2/3 C milk ( I used FF Half & Half)
1 C Heavy Cream (I used 1/4 c FF 1/2 & 1/2 and 3/4 c Heavy Cream)
2 tspn Vanilla Extract

In Medium Mixing bowl, beat the sugar into the eggs until thickened and pale yellow. Beat in Flour & Salt and set aside.

Bring the milk (fat free 1/2 & 1/2) to a simmer in a heavy med saucepan. Slowly beat the hot milk into the egg mixture. Pour the entire mixture back into the pan and place over low heat. Stir constantly with a whisk or spoon until the custard thickens slightly. Be careful not to let the mixture boil or the eggs will scramble. Remove from the heat and pour the hot custard through a strainer into a large, clean bowl. Cover and refridgerate until cold, or overnight.

Stir the chilled custard, then freeze in 1 or 2 batches (1 was fine for my cuisinart ice cream maker) according to your ice cream makers manufacturers directions. When finished the ice cream will be soft but ready to eat. For firmer ice cream freeze for at least 2 hours.

ENJOY!

[Holly in KC]

I've never been successful at reducing the fat in ice cream - I'm going to give your suggestions a try. Thanks so much for posting the recipe and your low fat variations (I never would have thought about using FF 1/2 & 1/2 - very creative!).

Thanks again!

[RUSTYSMOM]

Holly - let me know how it works out for you. We are hooked!! I am trying to decide what flavor to experiment with this weekend!

[Robyncz]

Was going to make the strawberry buttermilk gelato from last month, but my market was out of buttermilk!!!! I remembered that someone had posted an ice cream recipe that used fat-free half and half so I picked some up. Got home to find I also needed heavy cream--which I didn't have. I tried the recipe anyway, using a total of 2 cups of FF half and half and 2/3 cup of 2% milk. It turned out GREAT!!! The creamiest "low fat" ice cream I've ever made. I added pureed fresh strawberries during the last 10 minutes of freezing.

Thanks, Rustysmom!!!!