DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE ICE CREAM

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE ICE CREAM
This is so worth the extra effort to make.  So, so, so good.  At some point I wouldn't mind omit (or keep) the peanut butter and add instead - caramel, coconut, pecans and brownies to be like the german chocolate cake at Cold Stone.  

http://thelifeofafarmerswife.blogspot.com/2011/07/couple-recipes-for-us-pregnant-folks.html

Yum. Yum. Yum.

I've made this twice, and although it takes a little more work than regular homemade ice cream, it's totally worth it!! If you can't wait on the ice cream to freeze, it's really good as pudding! Not that I would know or anything...

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Ice Cream

6-¼ cups Milk
2-½ cups Sugar

3/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1/2 tsp Pinch Of Salt

1/2 cup Cornstarch

1-¼ cups Heavy Cream

2 cups Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

1-¼ cups Smooth Peanut Butter

In a sauce pan over medium heat, stir together 4 cups milk, sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Heat until the milk starts to steam, but before it starts to boil. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining milk and the cornstarch. Stir until no lumps remain. Add the cornstarch mixture to the heated milk and chocolate mixture and bring to a low boil. Boil until thickened. The mixture will have the consistency of chocolate pudding. Remove from the flame.

In a small sauce pan, heat heavy cream. Once boiling, remove from heat and pour over the chocolate chips. Let sit for 1 minute, then stir the cream and chocolate mixture until incorporated. Stir the cream and chocolate mixture into the cooling chocolate ice cream base. Place in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap or a lid, and put in the fridge until cool.

Once cool, follow directions on your ice cream maker to churn ice cream. (Fits well in a gallon freezer). Once the mixture has chilled and thickened in the ice cream maker, slowly drizzle in 1/2 cup of peanut butter. You can heat the peanut butter in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it a bit. Don’t over mix. You want a nice ribbon of peanut butter running through the ice cream. Transfer the ice cream into a freezer safe container and fold in the remaining peanut butter. Cover and freeze until solid.

LEMON-ZUCCHINI LOAF W/GLAZE

I loved all the lemon delishisiness (sp) in this bread.  I could eat the whole loaf by myself :-)  I used 2 real lemons.
http://nancycreative.com/2012/03/25/lemon-zucchini-loaf-with-lemon-glaze/


LEMON-ZUCCHINI LOAF WITH LEMON GLAZE 
by NancyCreative

Makes one 9×5 loaf (used my big bread pan)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (used 1/2 whole wheat pastry)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs (1 flax)
1/2 cup canola oil (try next time with applesauce or greek yogurt)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cup grated zucchini 

Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Grease and flour (I dusted with powdered sugar instead) a 9×5 loaf pan; set aside.

In large bowl, blend flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In medium bowl, beat 2 eggs well, then add canola oil and sugar, and blend well. Then add the buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest and blend everything well. Fold in zucchini and stir until evenly distributed in mixture.

Add this mixture to the dry ingredients in the large bowl and blend everything together, but don’t overmix.

Pour batter into prepared 9×5 loaf pan and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (if your oven tends to run hot, check the loaf after 40 minutes; also, if you make this in an 8×4 loaf pan, your baking time may be a little longer…about 5 to 10 minutes more). Cool in pan 10 minutes, then remove to a wire rack and cool completely. While loaf is cooling, you can make the glaze…

LEMON GLAZE (didn't use all of the glaze - make less next time??)
1 cup powdered sugar
Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 Tablespoons lemon juice)
In small bowl, mix powdered sugar and lemon juice until well blended. Spoon glaze over cooled loaf. Let glaze set, then serve.
I added about 1 tsp of lemon zest too.  

CHEESY BISCUITS

Better than Jim 'N Nick's Cheesy Biscuits

http://www.plainchicken.com/2010/06/better-than-jim-n-nicks-cheesy-biscuits.html

These are yummy and super easy to make.  

1 1/2 cups Bisquick

3/4 cup buttermilk

3 Tbps sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 425.  Stir together all ingredients just until combined.  Scoop into a mini muffin pan coated with cooking spray.  Bake 12-15 minutes, until golden.  **I used a medium cookie scoop and got 20 muffins**

CHEDDAR BAY BISCUITS

Got this recipe from Valley View RS newsletter.  We loved them.  Would make good muffins too.

BISCUITS:

mix in food processor:

2 1/2 cups Bisquick

4 T cold butter

Add: (but don't overmix)

1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

3/4 cup milk

1/4 tsp garlic powder

Drop 1/4 cup portions of dough onto lightly greased cookie sheet.  Bake 11-13 minutes.  Once they are cooked brush on butter glaze and top with a little bit of Kosher salt.

BUTTER GLAZE:

melt 3 T butter and add 1/2 tsp garlic powder and 3/4 tsp dried parsley flakes.

CHEDDAR SCALLION BISCUITS

Dan & Judi gave us a Tillamook cookbook.  These are found on pg 44.  We all really liked them.

2 1/2 cups flour
1 T sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt (didn't add that much)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cayenne powder (didn't add)
---
1 stick unsalted butter, chilled, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
1/2 cup medium cheddar cheese, plus 3 T divided (I used monterey jack because that is what we had)
1 cup buttermilk
2 T heavy cream

Preheat oven to 400.  Whisk together first 6 ingredients in a large bowl.  Add the butter and work with your fingertips until the mixture resembles cornmeal  (used pastry blender).  Mix in the green onions and the 1/2 cup cheese.  Stir in the buttermilk and mix lightly , just until a loose dough forms.

Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead lightly.  Roll out the dough to 3/4 inch thickness.  Cut with a 2" biscuit cutter (used a glass).

Place biscuits on ungreased baking sheet.  Brush the tops with cream and top each biscuit with a pinch of Cheddar.  Bake for 15 minutes or until the tops are golden-brown.

CARAMEL GRAPES

crunchy green grapes, dip them in caramels melted with a little cream, then dip them in finely chopped, salted peanuts. So addicting. Like little tiny caramel apples....but better..

Homemade Dulce de Leche would be so good with this - see Best Bites pg. 135 (autumn).

PROTEIN RANCH

PROTEIN RANCH
This actually taste pretty close to ranch.  The kids didn't like it as well and I didn't like it the older it got, but did the first couple of days.  I liked how it was blended so Scott doesn't know it is cottage cheese (heehee).  Saw it on Pinterest.
http://fabulouspinterestfinds.blogspot.com/2012/02/protien-ranch.html

1 Cup Cottage Cheese (Watch your label, sometimes low fat doesn't mean low calories and the regular cottage cheese is only a few cal. more)
3-4 tsp. Buttermilk Ranch Dressing mix (I used the DIP - did 1 T next time use less)
1/4 C. water (or milk if you prefer: Milk will add more calories) add more water if the consistency is too thick for your liking.

Add ingredients to blender and blend until smooth. (About 3 min.) Enjoy! 

OREO NO BAKE

These are incredibly easy and very good!  I didn't use the parchment or wax paper and it worked fine.

http://picky-palate.com/2011/03/17/no-bake-chewy-cookies-and-cream-bars/

Ingredients:

• One 16 oz package of Oreo Cookies
• 5 cups large marshmallows
• 4 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1. Butter an 8X8 inch baking pan. Line the baking pan with parchment paper letting the paper extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. Butter paper; set pan aside.
2. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse Oreos  until ground.
3. In a large, microwave safe bowl, melt butter and marshmallows in the microwave until puffed, about 1½ – 2 minutes. Stir in ground Oreo Cookies until combined. Transfer to prepared baking pan. Using a piece of wax paper, press mixture evenly into prepared pan.
4. Let set up for at least 10 minutes. Cut into bars and serve.

Yields: 16 bars

STRAWBERRY TOPPING

STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM TOPPING
http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2012/07/10/homemade-strawberry-ice-cream-topping/
This is so easy and yummy!  Goes very good over waffles or pancakes as well.  I only had frozen (1#) strawberries.  I thawed them and pulsed them a couple of times in the food processor.  We didn't add the 1/3 cup sugar since the strawberries already had sugar in them.  Worked great!

Yield: About 2 cups

Prep Time: 5 minutes | Cook Time: 5 minutes

1 pint fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled and coarsely chopped
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.  Set aside about 1/3 of the chopped strawberries.

2. Combine the remaining strawberries and sugar in a 2-quart saucepan over medium-high heat.  Bring the mixture to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and stir in the reserved strawberries and vanilla extract. Allow the sauce to cool to room temperature before using. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container or jar in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks.

(Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com)

ZUCCHINI FRITTERS

ZUCCHINI FRITTERS
http://realmomkitchen.com/7872/zucchini-fritters/
These weren't like my favorite, but good. I liked how you bake them in the oven. They turned out more crispy than we I pan fry them.  I think next time I will substitute the flour/cornmeal with crackers.  Also might add some flax meal.  Abagail liked them with ketchup.  We had them with waffles - kinda  funny choice for a dinner, but they went well together and it was an easy summer dinner.  We had leftover strawberry syrup (homemade) to go on the waffles.  Yum!

Zucchini Fritters

• 2 cups grated zucchini squash
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cornmeal
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove of garlic, finely minced
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• Kosher salt and black pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Place zucchini inside a tea towel or flour sack towel and squeeze out excess moisture.
3. In a bowl, add zucchini and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Add the remaining ingredients.  The mixture with be sticky and thick. Continue to stir, it will thin down.  You want it to look like a thick cake batter.
4. On a parchment lined baking sheet, divide batter into 6 mounds on the parchment using a spoon or ice cream scoop. Then flatten each mound with a spoon or your hand to form 4 inch rounds.
5. Bake for 15 minutes or so, until the fritters are deep golden brown on the bottom. Then turn to broil and place on the second highest rack in your oven.  Broil on high for a few minutes, you want to crisp them up but watch carefully so they won’t burn. Serve with rach dressing or marinara.  Makes 6 fritters.