RAW Coffee Ice Cream

In a small dish, add enough boiling water (no more than 2 TBSP) to dissolve the sugar:

3/4 cup Organic Sugar

2-3 TBSP Instant Espresso Powder

Stir frequently until all dissolved.

Put in Blender:

2 cups Raw Cream

2 cups Rw Whole Milk

6 Egg Yolks

1 Tsp Vanilla

Pinch of Celtic Sea Salt

Coffee Sugar Mixture

Blend for about 1 minute, place in fridge (covered) overnight (or several hours at least) to chill.  Freeze according to your manufacturer's directions.

*Variation:  When almost frozen, add 3 TBSP (or so) Organic RAW Cacao Nibs & stir in well.  

Or add 2 TBSP of Kahlua Liquor! YUM!

My other thought was to Shave really good quality chocolate into it.  I don't like big chunks of chocolate in ice cream, I like something that will just dissolve on my tongue.... but I haven't tried it yet, so be sure to let me know if you do!

RAW Peach Ice Cream

peel & chop up about 8 peaches

put about 1/3 of the peaches in the blender with:

about 1.5 cup cream

about 1.5 cup milk

about 3-4 big blobs honey - best guess?  about 3/4 cup? maybe a bit more...taste it!

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 Tsp Almond Extract

6 egg yolks

Blend it all up to dissolve the honey.  Taste, make sure it's sweet enough & tasty.  Don't be grossed out about the raw egg, it's Yolk only & in any case we know our eggs are happy & healthy.   RAW eggs won't hurt you!

I read that the freezing process actually reduces the sweetness, so make a bit more sweet than you actually like...

Freeze according to your manufacturer's directions.  I have the Kitchen Aid Ice Cream attachment & so far I am thrilled with it!  Couldn't be easier & now that I have a biger freezer, it has a constant home on the top shelf (easy access for me to use frequently!)

;) YUM

FRUIT glorious FRUIT!

Ok, I just want so show you my produce box from last Saturday (isn't it gorgeous?!) and in the cooler are the Raw Milks, Cream & the grass fed meat (this week I ordered Tri-Tip & Skirt Steak), YUM!  We also could add on Organic Blueberries for $4 (9oz.), pretty good price, right?

so thru our CSA we've been able to add-on special orders like a huge box of peaches or cherries...SO exciting, right?

 

Here's a few snaps of me processing some of these gems:

I made several things so far, stay tuned for recipes! (Aren't I a tease?)  XOXO

Co-op & New Garden Blog

I am going to begin posting my "garden posts" over to the garden co-op blog, Partners in Dirt.  I hope you'll follow along as we blog about how we formed the co-op, who's involved & how we grow it (pun intended) into a bigger, better thing altogether!  Our dream is one day start a Community Garden....

Join me there! ;)

New Toys!!

Ok, I'm just bursting to share & who better to share these things with than YOU?   I've been so busy that I am SO far behind on my blogging!  

Last weekend I got a used Chest Freezer off Craiglist for agood price, it's almost liek new & works great!  It's about 4 ft wide, I think it's about 14 cubic ft...?  Anyhoo, it works GREAT!  I was so excited to transfer everything to it from my small stand up freezer & the tiny one in the house!  It looked very nice & organized for about 5 minutes! Naw, just kidding, it's still looking pretty good, I just REALLY need to get a 'working inventory list' going & stick with it so I always know what's in it!  See in the top left corner?  That's the Kitchen Aid ice cream maker attachment I just got last week (WHAT???  I had a gift card!)  So far I've tried an all RAW creamy Peach Ice Cream, Peach Sorbet & Strawberry Sorbet, I love that I can use honey in them!  Now I just need a source for raw goat's milk & I can give Laloo's a run for their money!  EIGHT DOLLARS a pint at Whole Foods (and ya can't get it anywhere else locally!) I don't think so! 

On Wednesday I received my Kitchen Mill!  I already used it! ;)

On Friday I noticed sprouts in my garden that I just seeded in the last 2 weeks!  YIPEE!

Today I received my dehyrator!   You can buy from Excalibur directly, I got a Refurbished model, because they come with a 10 yr warranty & the lower price on it allowed me to get the bigger, better model.  It has 9 trays!   I also got some of those Paraflexx sheets for it, so I will working on some Fruit leathers & stuff like that! 

I knew it was coming so I had wheat berries ready for it!

The Garden Update

Goodness how things have changed!  I planted tomatoes before the trip, and while I was away, Tami & Terrie (good garden fairies) came over & planted some cucumber & other seedlings in that same box. (See above)  So that was fun to come home to! ;)

Since being home, I've been VERY busy trying implement the rest of the plan.   I had to fill & seed the Right box & we are still working on the watering & timer set up...for now we have to do it manually each evening...ugh...

Today I working on building mounds in front of the smaller boxes along my wall.   It was a beautiful morning!  But man was I sweaty!  The idea is that lots more things can be grown outside the boxes too!  So I built some tiers, so we'll have lots of 'edge space' for things like strawberries...and then taller things like onion & chives will be behind them - cool huh!?

 

This is the left box, when it was first built & Joe attached it to the wall!  Then he lined it with landscaping paper so my precious dirt (hey, I had to PAY for it!) wouldn't sneak out the cracks...

The same Left box after being filled with dirt & grapes!

Today, after I made the tiered mounds... I'll be planting onion, chives & strawberries on them!  Oh, and notice the beautiful trellis?  My wonderful Joe borrowed a friend's truck to bring those home from work where he discovered them in the dumpster!  FREE!

Isn't that AWESOME???

Ok, one more brag about my JoeBacon, he is going to let me (that sounds so wrong somehow!  I bring home the bacon too, you know! ;)  But we are trying to be more careful about where our money goes & get a handle on our debt, etc... so in light of that) he is OK with me spending money on: an electric grain mill & a super cool dehrydrator!!  I know, you're all got them already, but this is HUGE for me!  I'm so excited!  I was gonna say nanny nanny boo boo, but being the mature grown up woman that I am, I will graciously accept your congratulations.

** grin **

Vacation Part 2

Ok, so this one is LONG overdue, my apologies!  I ended up not having internet access the rest of the trip and arrived home to find ours wasn't working EITHER!  Argghh!  Miss me? ;)

After Sedona, we rushed to Orange County to attend my dearest Great Uncle Bruno's memorial service, which was lovely & sad & sweet - all the things it should be...

This was the Piper that played at the Service.  He was great!

So in between family gatherings over those few days, we managed to squeeze in some Disney magic, which was surprisingly a LOT of fun!

 No kiddo, but my folks came with us one day too, so that was fun!