Dreaming of a simple way

Vanilla Ice Cream

I recently made vanilla ice cream and it was delicious!!  I wanted to share my recipe with you.   You can now find all my ice cream recipes (eggless recipes and non dairy too) and ice cream making directions here:  http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/makinghomemadeicecream.htm    If I have more recipes to post I will be adding them to that page.   

Vanilla Ice Cream

6 eggs
3 cups cane juice crystals
2 T vanilla (only the real stuff)
2 c. whole cream
Whole Goat Milk, as much as needed to fill ice cream maker container (whole cow milk will work too.. :)
1 T arrowroot powder (helps make the ice cream smooth.. but this is optional if you don’t have any) 

In a big mixer (like a Kitchen Aid or Bosch) mix together (with the wire whip) the eggs and cane juice crystals until light and lemony colored. Add vanilla and mix again. Add cream and arrowroot powder (if using). When all of this has mixed together completely pour it into your 1 gallon ice cream maker container. Add whole milk until you reach the "fill line" on your ice cream maker container.  Follow the instructions that came with your ice cream maker or click on the above link for general instructions.

Bulk Taco Seasoning Mix

We are having taco salad for dinner tonight.  I always cook up my hamburger and add taco seasonings to it before adding it to my salad.  I realized this morning I was out of taco seasoning and it was time to make more.  This is another product that I make myself now.  We are not real big fans of the taste of the taco seasonings I use to buy from my health food co-op and I wonder about MSG in it as well (the grocery store stuff definitely is full of yucky things typically).  I recently was reading an article (wish I could remember where now.. maybe Dr. Mercola? If I find it I will give the link).  It said that if a product lists “spices” in their ingredient list and they purchase bulk mixed spices from a supplier that adds MSG to their spice mix then the company that uses the spice mix does not have to claim that it contains MSG. So basically something can say it is MSG free but still may contain MSG if they have the word "spices" listed in the ingredients.  If you have MSG sensitivities like my hubby does or you just want to avoid it for health reasons …  read your labels carefully!   

Taco mix is so easy to make. It takes less than 15 minutes to make up a batch, the recipe doubles easily.  I usually make a double batch but today I did not have enough dried onion, so I settled for a single batch.   

Bulk Taco Seasoning Mix

¾ c dried onions
½ c chili powder
¼ c salt
3T garlic powder
3T cornstarch
3T ground cumin
1T to 3T cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like it) 

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well.  Store in plastic or glass container with a lid. 

It takes approx. 3T of this mix to equal one packet that you would buy in the store.   

This recipe makes about 2 cups.  I store it in a canning jar in my cupboard.

This Weeks Menu

Our 25th wedding anniversary!! 

Tobin works so no holiday bbq for us.. already had it!

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Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream

 We made chocolate ice cream this week and it was delicious!! I promised to post the recipe so here it is!  This is a variation of my Strawberry Ice Cream recipe (recipe link at the bottom of this post).  As I try out new flavors I will post them here.. 

Chocolate Ice Cream
Makes 1 gallon  

6 eggs
3 cups cane juice crystals
¾ c cocoa powder
1 T vanilla  (only the real stuff)
2 c. whole cream
Whole Goat Milk, as much as needed to fill ice cream maker container (whole cow milk will work too..  :)
1 T arrowroot powder (helps make the ice cream smooth.. but this is optional if you don’t have any) 

In a big mixer (like a Kitchen Aid or Bosch) mix together (with the wire whip) the eggs and cane juice crystals until light and lemony colored.  Add cocoa powder and vanilla mix again.  Add cream and arrowroot powder (if using).  When all of this has mixed together completely pour it into your 1 gallon ice cream maker container.  Add whole milk until you reach the “fill line” on your ice cream maker container.  Follow the instructions that came with your ice cream maker or you can read here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/strawberryicecream.htm  for basic instructions (the directions are for strawberry ice cream, but the basic “how tos” will work for any flavor). 

Saturday on the Homestead

Today has been a fairly quiet day.  The weather turned cool and wet so I have had a break from watering and weeding the garden.  I am sure the next dry day I can get in the garden I am going to find that the weeds have grown twice as fast as the veggies! LOL..  I also need to get the unplanted area rototilled this next week.   

I was able to check several things off my to-do list today.  I packed orders, paid a bill online, started a batch of beef stock, caught up on my Quicken, made dinner and packed hubby’s lunch and got him out the door to work, did some laundry, and did a little writing.  Emily and Leanne were working today so it was just me and the younger kids.  I had them clean their rooms; they were a bit of a mess to say the least.  Now I am getting a little computer time and listening to Tim McGraw.   

Emily had mid-terms this week from her online college courses.  She had the tests proctored by the library so it was very convenient. But it was a bit of a stressful week for her and for mom too..  it always seems when my kids stress so do I!    

Tomorrow is Father’s Day and we are making chocolate ice cream and some oatmeal cookies for dad.. he will like that  .    Dinner will be chicken alfredo and a salad and maybe some dinner rolls.   

Now it is time to look to my week ahead and see what needs to be done.  The kids have their year end homeschool testing (CAT testing, officially).   Sierra is the only one left with school work to finish up but she should be done soon.  Jacob is glad to be done with his school work because he has several summer jobs lined up with the neighbors.  They appreciate a young man who knows how to work to help them with chores around their homesteads and he appreciates being able to make some money .  

Tobin will be finishing up with Emily’s car maintenance this week; he is going to be replacing something that has to do with the steering.  He has replaced shocks, struts, brakes, and more (not being a mechanic myself I can’t remember all he has done.. but it has been a lot!).  The car should be set for another several thousand miles. Then he needs to work on his Jetta.  We still have wood to get in and house projects that need to be done so he is feeling a bit stressed by all that needs to be done before the summer is over.. and it just officially is starting!  

Well that is all from my homestead.  Hope you having a great weekend on your homesteads.. 

The Cost of Making Ice Cream

I had a comment on my last blog post on making ice cream and how expensive it is.  Perhaps some of it has to do with the ingredients you choose to use and the type of ice cream you make.  I think it is also important to note that the recipe makes a whole gallon of ice cream and that would be like buying 2 typical containers from the grocery store.  Ice cream is one of those foods that are so full of garbage ingredients and chemicals it is not funny.  It is hard to find really good quality ice cream.  I was even looking the other day at the ice cream my food co-op sells and was disappointed to see that it contained natural flavors (another name for MSG) and gums to help make it smooth.  And the cost was ridiculous.  So this morning I roughly calculated the cost in making a gallon of homemade strawberry ice cream with better quality ingredients.  I personally think that even if you used less than excellent ingredients (like sugar instead of cane juice crystals) you could cut the cost that I came to AND still have a much better quality product than what is typically in the grocery store.  In any case..  here is my breakdown of costs ..   

Eggs: $1.37 – right now I don’t have my own chicken eggs.  I buy free range, organic eggs from my food co-op for $2.75 a dozen.

Milk:  .50 cents -  I buy whole milk (rbst free) from Costco (about $4 for 2 gallons) normally (when I don’t have enough goat milk or it is not milk season.)  Since you pour the milk into the ice cream maker when you have added everything else I don’t have an exact measurement..  I am guessing maybe 2 to 4 cups of milk.  So I rounded the price up for 4 cups.  

Cane Juice Crystals: $1.44 

Cream: $1.25  (I buy cream in 2qt containers from Costco – it is rbst free and not organic, organic would bring the price up) 

Strawberries: $2.50 (I bought 4lbs for $4.99 from Costco and used about half of them.  I rounded up for this cost analysis) 

My estimated cost using the above ingredients for one gallon of ice cream is:

$7.06 

I think this is not a bad price to pay for the quality of ingredients put into it.  The best ice cream (ingredient wise) I can find in the grocery store is Haagen Daz.  They are over $4.00 per pint making the cost of a gallon $32.00..  haa.. haaa..  

Breyers is another ice cream with pretty good ingredients and they don’t even sell half gallon containers any more..  they have been downsized.  I think I paid about $2.80 awhile back for 1 1/2 quarts (but I have seen the price over $3 per 1 1/2 quarts). At the price I paid that would make it about $7.50 for a gallon (if my math is off it is because I have only had one cup of coffee this morning and my brain is still foggy! LOL)..   

The cost for a 1/2 gallon of organic ice cream from my food co-op comes to a whopping $11.63!!  making it over $23 for a gallon.   

Another thought I had on the price is that this price includes strawberries.  If you were to make vanilla or chocolate ice cream the cost of vanilla extract and/or cocoa powder would be less than the cost for strawberries. So the type of ice cream you choose to make can also influence the price.   

In the big scheme of it all I had not really considered that homemade ice cream was a huge expense, especially for the quality of food my family gets for the money. I do know that it is also not the most frugal of all desserts either, but still sits somewhere around reasonable in my thoughts and sure makes for a great family treat once in awhile.  

Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry season is in full swing here in the PNW.  I have been buying them every week now and the kids eat them as fast as I buy them!    I have been making a lot of strawberry shortcake.  But the other day a friend of mine was making ice cream and that gave me some inspiration to make some for my family.  I remembered that one of the treats we love is strawberry ice cream and that was something I had not made yet during this wonderful strawberry season.  I made some on Tuesday.  It was delicious!  I pureed the strawberries and found that it was more enjoyable to eat than when I have just chopped them up. 

If you would like my recipe and detailed instructions on making ice cream you can find that here: http://www.thefamilyhomestead.com/strawberryicecream.htm

I have a pretty basic 4qt ice cream maker made by Rival.  I have had it now for several years and made a whole lot of ice cream with it.  This basically is the ice cream maker I have (my bucket is round, an older model I guess! ):     

Rival 8804-BL 4-Quart Oval Ice Cream Bucket, Blue

They are not very expensive and will give a family a lot of gallons of delicious ice cream and a lot of fun making it as well!!     

Now onto chocolate ice cream this weekend..  I will keep you posted on that one too… 

Summer Fun......... well to some!!!

Here is what I spent all of last week doing. The * means I am DONE... the others., well I am waiting on hubby for some help :-)  I didn't expect it to take a whole week to do what I got done but for me I guess this is a wonderful accomplishment. It feels good to be able to do for myself and my family again. Thank you Lord for the strength and healing you have given me.

Kitchen ~
*Do dishes ~ match lids w/ bowls
*organize cabinets
*clean out silverware drawer
*fix door on corner cabinet
 organize hutch
*clean out microwave
*clean out microwave cabinet
 wash windows
*paint pantry doors
 put up splash guards (trash area, under *window, above stove)
 fix cabinet facings (wall paper)
 weather strip backdoor
 block hole in lower cabinet
*clean walls by trash bin
*organize pantry
*deep clean stove
*deep clean fridge
 re-pot herbs
 put up plant shelves
 make new trash bin (triangle)
*dust everything on dish ledge**   

THEN... sometime this summer........

sand, paint and pollyeurathane kitchen table
stablize table legs and chairs.
recover chairs

 Now this week ......

Livingroom ~

Before I can even begin the actual livingroom I have to..... Go through all items taken from Josh's room and throw away broken toys, reorganize his bookshelf,  go through papers and clothes and everything else that we brought out of there. *MAKE A TRIP TO GOOD WILL*

THEN......
clean off homeschool shelf ~ go through all books and post those for sale or giveaway
organize entertainment center ~ dust and place angels from mama on there.
organize movies and CD's ~ go through all tapes, cd's, and dvd's. post for sale or giveaway
reduce amount of bookshelves ~ try to downsize so we can remove two bookshelves.
repaint wall behind couch
organize hutch with mirror
wash windows
hang curtains or valances
hang pictures
fix black mirror
paint wall by homeschool shelf
paint front door inside and out

Sure doesn't look like a lot but LET ME TELL YA!!!!!   Well, wish me luck and check back to see the progress.

A Simple Woman's Daybook

For Today

Monday June 15, 2009

Please stop by to visit Peggy  to peek into the lives of other "Simple Women," and to read the guidelines for creating your own Daybook