Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Chocolate Pudding Ice Cream

I experimented tonight, and it turned out so good I had to come share it.

I've made several different frozen goodies since I got my ice cream attachment for my mixer, but I've never tried to make chocolate.  Most of the recipes I had seen called for more work than I was willing to do without advance planning.  Or they called for an overnight chill.  Actually I would like to see what this recipe would do with an overnight chill, but I was in too big of a hurry tonight.



Chocolate Pudding Ice Cream

3c milk (I used 2% - would be fun to experiment with whipping cream, but this way was cheaper and on hand.)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c instant chocolate pudding mix
1/2 c cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk all ingredient vigorously until well combined.  This took a little bit longer than I thought and seemed like it would never combine, but it did.  Place in refrigerator until ready to use.  I think mine was in there for about 30 minutes.  Follow instructions for your ice cream maker.




We think it turned out great.  Still waiting on Jonathan's verdict - he is gone for the night, so it will be a surprise for him when he gets home.  He has been wanting me to try to make some chocolate, so it will be fun to see if he likes it.

To me it tastes a lot like fudge bar, but it has the consistency of a frosty.  This is where I wonder if a longer chill would make it thicker - or maybe I was a little impatient stopping the mixer... :)  There was a thicker consistency on the edges of the bowl, it was more like harder ice cream, but really, we don't care much about the consistency - although it did thaw fairly fast.

And it would probably taste amazing with some add ins - maybe some nuts, marshmallow creme....  craisins??  Love all the possibilities.

(Oh, and we definitely have some spring fever around here.  We even grilled out side for our supper, it was like a preview of summer.)

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Best Sound

The best sound an expecting mother can hear, is the strong beating of a heartbeat from a little doppler machine(?) held on her abdomen.

Oh, yes, I almost forgot, we are expecting!  If you know any of our story, as far as having kids goes, you know that this is extremely fast for us.  We have come to expect a year - year and a half wait to get that positive pregnancy test.  This time though, God had different plans for us.

We were completely shocked.  We knew it could happen, but neither of us expected it to happen so soon.  This time it took about 3 months.  Crazy.  It was the best Christmas gift, to find out we were expecting our 4th child.

But back to the sound.  I had my first OB appointment Tuesday.  It is a longer appointment.  Lots of questions.  But at the very end, you get to hear that heartbeat.  With each child, that sound has made it all the more real.  I'm 12 weeks along, I've been feeling terrible, but other than that, there really isn't much to show that there is a little one coming in several months.  No protruding belly, no felt kicks, and for the Dr I see, no ultrasound pictures to gaze at.

So I cherish that whoosh whoosh.

Oh and for the record.  She said the heartrate was in the 160s.  Both boys were consistently in the 130s, Katherine's was always higher than 140...  What does that mean??  Well, scientifically, absolutely nothing.


I'm not quite sure what to do with this blog.  I enjoy coming and writing every so often, but I don't have much to write about these days.  I'm hoping to have more to say once we get to spring and gardening, maybe some crafting again.  Maybe I'll share some of the things I've been doing with the kids....

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Strange January

One of the actual wintery January mornings.


January was a very strange month around here.

It is supposed to be winter.  It is supposed to be snowing with temperatures below 40.  Yesterday the thermometer hit 59...  A couple days before it snowed.  A few days before that... it was up in the 50s.  It's been back and forth all month.

I like all seasons.  Especially the colder ones, so I'm really missing winter.

On top of that, maybe because of that (no clue), we've all been fighting sickness around here.  Katherine has had a runny nose almost all month. She had a double ear infection at the beginning of the month, a fever somewhere in the middle, and is just now starting to completely come out of it.  The boys both had fevers at the beginning of this week.  I've had a touch of cold for a little over a week.  Jonathan is the same.  Although, he also had some wisdom teeth pulled last week, so he's been dealing with that too.
Goofballs

What I haven't done is craft or try any new recipes.  I'm hoping to do some of it very soon.  I had a list a year ago of things I wanted to get done sewing wise.  I think I might have done one of those projects.  Hopefully this year!

Hoping for a snowy and healthy February.