ice cream

Fresh Mint and Watermelon Soda Floats.

June 30, 2011 · 146 comments

I’ve been playing single lady since Sunday.

Really… I find this quite lovely.

It means I blast the Jersey Boys soundtrack and watch 6 episodes of Felicity in a row. It means I survive on things for dinner that don’t contain giant slabs of meat. Most importantly, it means that I get the entire bed to myself which makes me consider spending the rest of my life as a spinster with 1000 thread count sheets. Ah… comfy.

It also means I drink things like this that look fancy but aren’t really fancy at all for lunch.

In case you were wondering, lunch is my new favorite meal.

Wowza. It should be yours too.

I know. I KNOW. It probably appears that I’ve lost my marbles. Mint + watermelon + bubbles + ice cream? It just works I tell you. And mint is like… technically a vegetable right?! I mean, what else would it be? So this is really a fruit and veggie milkshake.

I love when life makes sense.

Coming home to this on a hot day… it can’t be beat. You should feed it to your friends after a sweaty day on the beach. Who cares if they aren’t hungry. More importantly… what does it feel like to not be hungry? Your family too, after a sweaty day on the playground. Maybe they’ll even cook for you. Or do chores or something? If you can’t find anything for them to do send them my way. Cleaning gives me the heebie jeebies and this place could use some mopping.

Holy refreshing Batman. Give it a [literal] whirl and you’ll be cooler than the other side of the pillow.

Fresh Mint and Watermelon Soda Floats

serves 2

2 1/2 cups fresh watermelon chunks (large seeds removed, the small white ones are fine)

12-15 fresh mint leaves, coarsely chopped

12 ounces club soda or carbonated water of choice

vanilla ice cream

In a blender, combine the watermelon, mint and water. Blend and pulse quickly, just until watermelon has broken down – this should only take about 30-60 seconds or so. The blending will “de-carbonate” the water a bit, but it should still have some fizz. Pour mixture through a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl, glass or measuring cup in order to remove the seeds. Fill two glasses with vanilla ice cream and pour watermelon soda over top. Garnish with additional fresh mint.

Note: Haven’t tried it yet, but I think that this would also be great with some flavored carbonated waters, such as lime or coconut La Croix.

Slurp.

{ 146 comments }

Bite Size Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches.

February 13, 2010 · 49 comments

Still looking for a special treat for Valentine’s Day weekend?

These adorable, bite-size ice cream sandwiches were super easy and quick to assemble, albeit a bit messy. But that is part of the fun, right?

We like our chocolate chip cookies very thin. In my family, this comes from my dad’s grandmother, who made incredible, thin chocolate chip cookies. At a family reunion a few years ago, we even had a cookie bake-off to see who could make cookies most like my great grandmother.

Luckily, I married someone who also likes his chocolate chip cookies thin. It makes up for the framed picture of Chris Benoit that had to make the trek from his apartment to our new home.

Good thing he likes thin cookies. There isn’t anything else going on in this house that is thin. Apparently he doesn’t like his cookies the same way he likes his women – thick and meaty.

In an effort to be less thick and meaty, I stuffed the inside of the cookies with low-fat frozen yogurt.

While they may not be the prettiest of desserts, they made for a scrumptious, fairly low-calorie treat since the cookies were so light. And since they are bite-size, you can eat more than one without guilt. (Read: you can eat 10.)

Of course, I had to trash one up with some hot pink sprinkles. This girl loves her pink.

Bite-Size Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

20 baked chocolate chip cookies (I used a tablespoon measure when making, to ensure they came out bite-size.)

1 pint of low-fat frozen yogurt

sprinkles for decor

Once cookies are cooled, place in the freezer for 10 minutes. At this time, take the frozen yogurt out to soften. Once the cookies are firm, scoop roughly 2 tablespoons of ice cream on top of one cookie, covering it with another cookie.

Roll in sprinkles if desired. Freeze for 15-20 minutes.

{ 49 comments }

Ice Cream Crepes.

January 4, 2010 · 57 comments

Please update your google readers!! http://feeds.feedburner.com/howsweeteats/smSp

After laying on the couch for 7 hours on New Year’s Eve, I threw on some of my classiest XXL sweat pants, a dirty sweatshirt from the 70′s, put my hair up on top of my head, and with no makeup on went to my aunt and uncle’s house to ring in the new year.

I think my husband loves having such a fashionable, lady-like wife.

Once we had sufficiently stuffed ourselves with appetizers that had sat out for 3 hours, my aunt brought out this amazing dessert.

Our friend Barb had made these incredible ice cream crepes. She is incredible, almost single-handedly planning my wedding and making it an amazing, memorable day.

I’m sure it was just as memorable for her, since she spent the majority of the evening in the restroom with Mother Lovett who needed help with her girdle.

These ice cream crepes were honestly one of the best desserts I’ve ever had. I think my husband agreed, because he had 6 of them. I’m so glad I’m not alone in my gluttonous adventures.

The crepes were very simple and fresh tasting – perfect after all of the heavy holiday food.

This was the first time I had 1.) eaten crepes and 2.) made crepes.

I was so intimidated by them before, but now I am obsessed. I think a ‘how to make crepes’ post is in the very near future.

Have you ever made them? Love.

The ice cream crepes are so easy: take a fresh, cooled crepe and lay it on a plate.

Scoop some ice cream in the center.

I used triple vanilla ice cream – it had vanilla bean, french vanilla, and regular vanilla. Who knew they were all different? If you are a foodie, you know.

The toppings come next.

If there was ever a dessert to make the Heavens open, this is it. Just look at this. It may just be the dessert that would make me give up all other desserts.

I doubt it, but it really is phenomenal.

Ice Cream Crepes

12-14 fresh crepes (recipe coming soon)

1/2 gallon on vanilla ice cream

2 cups freshly pureed strawberries

raspberries + blueberries to top.

Scoop ice cream into center of crepe. Roll crepe like a burrito, and place in a large baking dish. Place in the freezer to harden.

Once hard, remove crepes and shape them if needed. Sometime the ice cream needs to be pushed around to look pretty. Let sit out for 5 minutes to soften a bit.

Top with pureed strawberries, fresh raspberries and blueberries.

I am not even a huge fan of ice cream, and these are just simply incredible. They can also be made more figure-friendly: substitute frozen yogurt for the ice cream. It’s a perfect light dessert for the new year!

See that ice cream oozing out? Pure heaven.

Please make these today. They will make you a better person.

{ 57 comments }

Oreos and Ice Cream.

This dessert goes way, WAY back. I can remember my mom making this when I was probably only 7-8 years old. She used to make it for her card club that met on Friday nights. Honestly, they never played cards. They ate, drank, BS-ed, then had dessert. And I always wanted to be included. We haven’t had it in years, so last weekend I decided I would try to re-create it. It does take some time, as each layer needs to be frozen prior to the next layer being added. So start the day before or a couple hours ahead of time. It all begins with some oreos and butter. I actually used Original, and not Double Stuffed. I just bought a package of the Double Stuffed to stuff my face with and see if I could double my jean size. It’s working. I used my food processor – not my beloved mini – but the normal size. Let’s add some milk and eat this oreo cereal. Or just [...]

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Million Dollar Ice Cream.

Does this look like anything special to you? Nope? Me either. What about this? Didn’t think so. On our honeymoon, my new hubby and I paid FIFTY dollars for this ice cream. I KNOW! What were we thinking? Well, we went to Vegas (which we LOVED), and this ice cream came from Caesar’s. Have ya’ll been there? If not, there are ‘gelato’ (and I use that term loosely, because I have had real gelato) kiosks inside Caesars Palace. When you walk by, they literally GET IN YOUR FACE trying to give you samples. It tastes good, but not AMAZING. What gets you is the presentation of the ice cream. It has all kinds of yummy things on top – fresh fruit, candy bars, coconut, etc. It looks like this: After days of samples and harassment, we finally gave in. We knew it would be expensive – we thought maybe a bit more than Cold Stone. [...]

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