Happy Birthday Steven!

I can't wait to spend all day with you just having fun! Hope you have a fantastic 30th Birthday! I love you!

Happy Fourth of July!

We hope everyone enjoys all the festivities today! Don't forget to take a moment and remember those that are fighting for our freedom.

Churn, Churn, Churn

When we went to register for gifts for our wedding last fall, I intentionally left one thing off the list ... an ice cream maker! I was convinced we'd never use it, and I didn't see the point in watching it collect dust.

Well we opened our gifts on Sunday, and lo and behold, someone shopped off the registry and bought us an ice cream maker. They also included a very sweet note explaining the gift. While I won't share the complete note, the couple who gave it told us that they found it to be a great tool in marriage. They told us that whenever we hit a rough patch or an argument to just whip up a batch of ice cream, and, without fail, our argument would churn away with the ice cream. They also reminded us that it was for the good times as well, and a great way to celebrate.

And were they ever right. We used it for the first time last night, and I made up a batch of banana ice cream tonight to take over to John and Donna's for our little 4th of July celebration, and believe it or not, it really does bring out the kid in everyone! Steven and I had a blast making (and tasting) our new favorite dessert!

Tonight's recipe is from the Spork or Foon blog (and she adapted it from Pink Bites)

No-cook Banana Ice Cream Recipe: Adapted from PinkBites.com

makes 1 quart

You will need:

2 cups of half and half

1 can of sweetened condensed milk

1 cup of heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 very ripe bananas

2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice

Mix together the first four ingredients until combined, making sure the condensed milk is well blended with the other liquids. Chill until cold.

Pour mixture into an ice cream maker and freeze accordingly.

Mash the bananas with the lemon juice and add to the ice cream maker 2 minutes before it's finished. Transfer ice cream to a freezer safe container, cover and freeze for at least 3 hours.

I have a 4 qt ice cream maker and I doubled the recipe, it might be a little more than 5 people need, but it filled the ice cream maker perfectly!

Give it a try and let me know what you think!