Sage Ice Cream

What do you cook when a friend gives you a large bunch of fresh sage which she grew in her Louisiana garden? Why, let’s make “Sage Ice Cream.” The unexpected gift of fresh sage sent me scurrying for recipes since I wanted to use the sage while it was still fresh. Several years ago, we ate lunch at a trendy restaurant/bar in the Warehouse District of New Orleans. The dessert consisted of Sage Ice Cream and Pumpkin Empanadas. I have long since forgotten the name of the restaurant, but not the dessert. Both the ice cream and empanadas were unique and memorable. I recalled the delicious sage ice cream and decided to make my own. To accompany my ice cream, I quickly baked some tasty sugar cookies using Bisquick (since I am on a Bisquick “kick”). Enjoy!

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Simply Blueberry Lemon Gelato

I love to make homemade ice cream, especially in the summertime and so I have concocted up a new combination of flavors — blueberry and lemon — in this no-cook ice cream.. You just can’t beat the flavor and texture of homemade ice cream compared to commercial ones. And, dreaming up ice cream flavors is a great way for me to be creative. Plus, you can make much healthier versions. This silky, smooth blueberry-lemon gelato is a great way to end August.

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Aspen’s Lime Gelato with Agave

This week I made the best homemade ice cream that I have ever cooked. “Lime Gelato with Agave” is a cool, tart and soothing frozen ice cream. It is the perfect dessert for these hot summer days. Recently, I sampled a version of Lime Gelato at the Saturday Farmer’s Market on a trip to Aspen, Colorado. The lime flavor was intense and agave added an interesting sweetness. Although gelato frozen desserts are considered to be Italian in origin and really have no unique relationship to Colorado, the farmer’s market vendor was a family-owned Colorado purveyor, using local ingredients and recipes. After returning home from my Aspen trip, I decided to attempt to make my own Lime Gelato. And success!. It was delicious!

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Let’s Make Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Floats

What is this? These are an old-fashioned ice cream floats which I have named, “Green Swamp Floats.” We are getting to the end of summer — Labor Day is coming up. Let’s celebrate by making “Old-Fashioned Ice Cream Floats.” Sipping an ice cream float in the afternoon used to be a summertime treat when I was growing up. It satisfied one’s sweet tooth and quenched the thirst on those hot summer days. And an ice cream float was so, so easy to make — really just two ingredients — coke and ice cream. When company came for an extended visit, these were sure to be on the agenda. So let’s make a traditional ice cream float using Barq’s Root Beer and also some surprises.

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Moose Tracks-Inspired Vanilla Ice Cream with Fudge Swirl

I discovered a different brand of ice cream recently while visiting in Houston — Moose Tracks Ice Cream. With such a unique and novel name, it catches your attention. Of course, I had to try a scoop of Denali’s® “Extreme Maximum Fudge Moose Tracks” Ice Cream. The ice cream was pretty good. Being curious, I wanted to learn why I’ve been missing this brand of ice cream all these years. And I am making my own Moose Tracks-inspired version of their original flavor, “Vanilla Ice Cream with Fudge Swirl and Peanut Butter Cups.”

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Brown Sugar & Walnut Dairy-Free “Ice Cream” a.k.a. Frozen Dessert Delight

Summer and early autumn means that it is time for homemade ice cream. However, if you are lactose-intolerant, then eating lots of ice cream may result in an uncomfortable digestive reaction. Since we’ve started drinking almond milk at our house, I decided to see if I could make a dairy-free and lactose-free “ice cream” variation. I used almond milk, brown sugar and walnuts in the recipe and amaretto liqueur for flavor. To make a “smooth texture” I added xanathan gum. The recipe doesn’t contain eggs making this recipe good one for a vegan diet. For a finishing touch, I topped the frozen dessert with my “Fresh Cherry Topping” and some of the topping even got mixed in with the frozen dessert for a swirled effect. Well, surprise, it turned out to be quite delicious. Let’s enjoy this concoction.

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Cane Syrup Ice Cream with Candied Pecans

Do you ever purchase an ingredient, forget that it is somewhere on your pantry shelves and purchase it again? This is how I wound up with three bottles of Steen’s Cane Syrup. What can a person do with three bottles of molasses-flavored syrup? I made ice cream — a great summertime dessert. Yum. And I added candied pecans using pecans left over from last winter’s holiday baking. This is a low-fat ice cream; my recipe uses whole milk rather than heavy whipping cream. Lite and delicious. Continue reading

Dark Chocolate Custard Ice Cream with Salted Caramel Pieces

It is summertime and a person can never eat too much ice cream. Here’s a recipe I found while sorting my recipe file box; it is from an old Bon Appetit magazine. It’s a custard-type ice cream made with egg yolks and dark chocolate squares. The ice cream is incredibly smooth and rich. For fun, I served the ice cream with chopped Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel slivers and homemade waffle cone pieces.

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Easy Cook: Homemade Instant Peach Ice Cream

I confess that I have many favorite homemade ice cream flavors; my most favorite flavor is peach ice cream. The summertime with ripe, juicy peaches is the perfect time to make this ice cream. Here is a recipe for peach ice cream that literally takes less than 10 minutes to mix up. You just need 4 ingredients, a wire whip and an ice cream churner. How simple can that be? And this ice creams is smooth and really quite delicious. It is much lower in fat and calories than commercial ice cream. You will surely impress family and friends.

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Let’s Make Persimmon Ice Cream (with Frangelico liqueur)

Burr!  It’s cold outside tonight; but never too cold for homemade ice cream.  What a cliche. Really, nothing compares to homemade ice cream, although some of the ice cream chain stores come close. And where could you ever find persimmon ice cream?

persimmon ice cream - IMG_0723_1

When my father and father-in-law happened to be in town at the same time, they would always disappear together to locate the best ice cream store. Our family loves ice cream, and we made many favors of homemade ice cream when I was growing up.

I’ve continued to experiment with different types of ice cream over the years. Traditionally ice cream is rich in cream–making it a high fat, high calorie dessert. I have made several variations which are low in fat and taste surprisingly good. Persimmon Ice Cream is one such example.

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