Summer Treats

I have, I believe, the largest sweet tooth known to man. I could live off desserts pretty much year round. During the summer though I crave light, fluffy, or cold treats. Recently I have been on an ice cream fix. I got a Cuisinart ice cream maker for the wedding because my mom's friends threw me a bridesmaids luncheon with ice cream sundaes.

My mom has had one of these little machines for years and she has perfected one of the recipes that was in her instruction manual. The original recipe was not in my manual but she gave me the perfected recipe- which is even better! Originally the ice cream was an orange creamsicle flavor. The orange flavor was never strong enough so my mom created a lime flavor instead. It is just the right amount of sweet and tangy. It is a little bit like sherbet and a little like a creamsicle.

Lime Creamsicle Sherbet:

1 1/2 cup concentrate of frozen lime juice (I get the Bacardi Margarita mix in the frozen section)
3 T. sugar
3 cups half n' half
2 t. vanilla

Mix it all together, throw in the machine, 20-30 minutes later you have heaven in a cup!

Growing up my family made homemade vanilla ice cream all the time. We had a very old 80's time machine of an ice cream maker. It wasn't a hand crank machine but it was close! I have not perfected a classic vanilla/chocolate ice cream in this machine yet. My one complaint is that you no longer have to use rock salt in this machine. My favorite part of homemade ice cream was those few bites that had the salty flavor from the rock salt. Nothing better! I wonder if I can made ice cream and just throw in some salt?

This week my mother in law and grandmother in law came to see our new place. I got out of cooking dinner because husband offered to get Chinese but I couldn't just sit back completely so I decided to make a dessert. My mother in law does not like chocolate and husband is picky also so it took me a long time to choose something to make. My mom finally came up with a good plan (she is very handy!).

Strawberry Trifle:

one angel food cake
small container of Cool Whip
large box of vanilla pudding (prepare and set aside)
strawberries (slice, add sugar and set aside to get juicy)

Layer cake, pudding, and strawberries in your trifle bowl. Usually makes about 3 layers. Top with cool whip. Garnish with one pretty strawberry and place strawberry slices around the edge. (I ran out of slices!)

This dessert is great for summer. Amazing light and fluffy because of the angel food cake. It is also easy to throw together because it is only semi-homemade. I even bought the angel food cake from the grocery store. Plus this dessert could feed a small army- I still have left overs!

I admit I am loving us having our own place. I love our place, I love having people over, and I love cooking for others. I have one last machine to break in- the amazing Kitchen Aid mixer. I really need to do some soul searching on what deliciousness should come out of that first! I am thinking something that will come out to be amazing, sweet, and yummy but, sadly, make me jiggly. It's a rule that things that make you jiggly are the best.  I am willing to sacrifice my figure for yumminess, at least until the next diet : )