It’s National Ice Cream Month

and we are celebrating the homemade way

Happy Wednesday to you, readers and I hope you are enjoying the same wonderful heat reprieve that I am. I mean…it’s mid-July and the high is 85?

Where are we, on the moon?

Anyway, before I get down to risky business today, I want to address some of the questions I have been getting since starting my blog.

First: Am I really a doctor?

Answer: I might need you to define “doctor.” By doctor, if you mean do I have my medical degree from WebMD, then yes, yes I am. My grandmother, Bitsy, also believed you could cure “anything that ailed you” with apple cider vinegar, and well, it must have worked.

Because she lived to be 90 on peanut butter and apple cider vinegar, so you could say the medical degree gene is definitely in my DNA.

Second:    Do I cook and eat dessert every day?

Answer: Of course not, if I did, I wouldn’t be able to maintain my svelte and trim figure (insert eye roll here). But no, I cook, especially sweets, in moderation.

Third: How often will I be posting on alphabetmom.com?

Answer:  Right now, two-three times a week, as close to a M-W-F sequence as I can maintain. I’m not sure anyone would want to hear from me more than that!

I hope that clears up some of the same burning questions you might be having. Be sure to email me at [email protected] if your inquiring minds want to know.

So, where are at today on the blog? Celebrating National Ice Cream month, of course.

I’m going to start with this pic because I want to ease ya’ll into today’s post.

I mean, if I’m going to be making homemade ice cream, I’ve got to ease you real slow into this one, right?

Because if you are like I used to be, a homemade ice cream freezer was, in a word…intimidating.

But the days of losing sleep over whether you can make homemade ice cream or not is behind you!

Help is on the way!

I remember when my grandmother used to hand crank it with an old fashioned homemade ice cream machine.

Well, that’s not true, but I saw them do it on T.V., like on Gunsmoke or something, and it looked real cool the way they did it.

But my parents owned an electric one and in the old days, when I was a kid, and I mean the GOOD ole’ days when my parent’s friends would get together every weekend and play cards and the kids had to stay outside and play, they would make homemade ice cream.

Mr. Herman Lenard used to make strawberry and Mrs. Mary Lou Rutledge used to make peach…glory days.

I’ve made Butterfinger before and let me tell you, it will make your tongue slap the roof out of your  mouth, to quote my dad the great philosopher.

But today, well, today we are sticking with plain ole’ vanilla.

Why? Because it only has five ingredients and it is truly super easy.

So here’s what happened. At the beginning of the summer, my son, also known as Baby Jesus (where’s Robert Scott? I don’t know, somewhere walking on water) was running an errand to Sam’s Club for his employer.

He came home that afternoon and said “Mom, they have homemade ice cream freezers at Sam’s and I think you should get us one.”

Sure, son, in all my free time, I’ll do just that.

But, I took him up on the offer and $49 later, the Foust family had a new appliance.

I began to research my recipes, because we have had machines through the years, and came across one in a recipe book from my childhood church.

Incidentally, this is the same church I grew up in and the same cookbook I taught myself to cook out of.

In fact, I’ve been reading through it and let me tell you right now, I won’t have one, not one reader if I start making some of those recipes for you.

Why?

Because nearly every single one starts with CRISCO (yes, I realize when it’s in all caps I’m screaming, because, who in the cat hair cooks with that much LARD these days?)

Do they still make CRISCO? Yes, of course they do, I’m just teasing. I use it in my pound cake, a super- secret family recipe that I will share with you soon.

Because it’s the best (don’t you love how I label all my recipes “the best?”) you’ve ever had.

Where was I? Oh, I brought home a new ice cream freezer and began my intense research.

This couldn’t be just an ordinary ice cream recipe, right?

And what I developed (in my super-secret kitchen laboratory) is quite possibly the best homemade ice cream recipe you will ever taste.

You ready? Because what else would you do when it’s a raining outside, dreary weather kind of day except make ice cream?

My husband wishes I would clean out the garage, but I’m too busy and important to do that, so I opted to make ice cream instead.

I usually put a beach towel under it as well, just because I am very tidy and OCD and for no other reason.

Now, if this doesn’t have enough calories, let’s just go to the secret weapon…fill the two empty condensed milk cans with whipping cream and add that to your mixture.

You heard it here, first.

Mix all the ingredients with your mixer (Lisa Tolbird, I hope your boys have bought you one by now, and Larry Blake if you are reading this post, for the love of real butter would you buy your mom a Kitchen Aid? She is handicapped out there on Cooter Bonnett Road and lets me know it in her emails).

Easy. Right?

Let’s recap…mix five ingredients and pour them into your canister with whole milk and you are ready to freeze.

Now, I make mine outside on the patio but the machines these days aren’t like the ones in the old days. Those machines sounded like a Boeing 747 was coming over the top of your house.

But if you prefer to make it inside, the machines these days just purr…like a cute a little kitten, which I don’t have.

We are a dog family.

Meet Annie Lou Foust, my sous chef.

Anyway, on the patio, secure your canister into the machine and turn it on. It will start turning right away.

Next, add a layer of ice and continue this process until you reach the top!

Recap: Mix five ingredients and pour into the ice cream canister with milk. Secure canister in the machine and alternate layers of rock salt and ice until you reach the top.

What’s hard about that?

End result?

THIS is everything.

Question: Have you had my homemade ice cream masterpieces and if so, leave a comment. If not, tell me your favorite flavors and I’ll experiment and get back to you!