Chocolate Mint Ice Cream and other Magic Dairy Novelties

A post about food!  Can you believe it?  'Bout time, I know.  Sometimes my life IS ice cream and sunshine and flowers and puppies and babies and ...eh.

Those of you who are my fellows in cynicism will revel in this first comment.  I hate the "Bluebell Ice Cream" ads on the radio.  They have changed into a less sappy version lately, but from 2005~2008ish the radio ad was:

I remember our old country home 
Clean fresh air and the flowers growing 
In the fields, along the path, beside our swimming hole 

Momma hollering through the screen 
Would you kids like some homemade ice cream? 
That was such a simpler time and place 
Blue Bell tastes just like the good old days 


This ad makes.my.skin.crawl.  Long story short, I'm glad it is no longer aired.  HATE IT!  And yet, last night I made some d*mn homemade ice cream in the ice cream maker that was a wedding gift: and it still tasted good.  I had gone to the St. Phillips Market with friend ET and her daughter on Sunday.  Side note: doesn't it seem that farmers' markets have the highest concentration of dred-lock-sporting-white-people ANYWHERE?!  What's the deal? (say it in a Jerry Seinfeld voice!)  We got beef bones for stock (what a frappin' bargain), coffee, lavender lemonade, Emu oil stick, spinach, onions, carrots and some CHOCOLATE MINT.  Yes really.  I got it from this stand:


Sleeping Frog Farms


Side note: I am on their CSA waiting list and I will die if I don't get to enroll!  Ok, so it couldn't have been later than 10:15 and the pickin's were slim.  These guys are popular!  The dark, beautifully gathered chocolate mint twinkled at me in the low-angled sunlight.  I knew I could do something with it.  First though: ice cream!  The good kind with a lot of milk fat and sugar!  The kind baby G will love also!  Bingo.  


After processing my finds at home that afternoon, I decided to modify this recipe from Epicurious:


"Fresh Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream"


But I changed it:
2c whole milk (yeah yeah!!!)
1c whipping cream (yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwhhhhhhhhhhhhh)
chocolate mint leaves from the 5 stalks in the bunch
1/2 c egg beaters (b/c it's pasteurized)
3/4 c confectioners sugar


I put all those ingredients in the blender and tasted.  This beauty did not need any more sugar.  Did not need any vanilla extract.  Did not need the chocolate/cacao addition.  I would not adulterate it with green food coloring.  I knew if it tasted this good in the blender then it would be dynamite frozen!  


Later that night after I put baby G to sleep, I got the pre-frozen ice-cream-maker-bucket out and let the Cuisinart do its work!  25 minutes later I was enjoying a bowl-full of magic with some chocolate fudge squares I had made earlier.  And a glass of champagne :)  I'll need to post the recipe I used; shared by my mom,  b/c I call the fudge "Darker than my Soul Fudge".  It has 9oz of cocoa powder in it.  Not kidding.  Back to that in a later post.


So anyway this ice cream is amazing.  Next I will try the recipe with the basil I bought at TJs.  This may show up at wine club ladies- consider yourselves warned and wear elastic pants!  Also at TJs now is this AMAZING blue cheese hybrid.  I think it's blended with Jack and it comes in melt-able slices.  I think it's 8 slices for $3.50  I think it's called blue granite b/c that's what it looks like.  Whatev.  There's an ad on the radio for it now, which is obviously how I heard about it, and decided baby G and I needed.to.try.it!  Yesterday she had 2 slices.  I melted it onto Portabello Mushroom Raviolis for her lunch tomorrow and as a post-dinner, post-ice cream snack (thankfully we are not lactose intolerant) we shared a piece tonight.  


I think this cheese is magic.  With only one bite down the hatch, both baby G and I were dancing to the radio and laughing at ourselves.  Shakin' our hineys in the kitchen.  Clapping for each other.  Sharing hearty guffaws and belly-laughs.  She was giving me bear hugs and huge toothy grins.  I was melting.  She was melt-able.  My daughter is amazing and this cheese is amazing!  I think it might just cure what ails you!  For a moment I remembered what it felt like to be a carefree child again. 


I am not posting pix b/c my camera is on the out and out and the available lighting does not do these treats justice.  I don't think any pictures could, in fact!  How can you photograph magic?  In conclusion, for tonight, my life CAN be summarized as ice cream and a sunset and 2 puppies and one baby and *cheese* !