Monday, July 26, 2004
OK, the second version of the blueberry ice cream worked:
Blueberry Ice Cream
Makes 1.5 pints (3 cups)
You need to have a chilled cylinder for a small hand-cranked ice-cream maker such as Donvier or Nordic Ware, ready ahead of time.
In a bowl, place about 1-1/4 cups blueberries and 1/4 cup water. Nuke for 2 minutes, stirring once. Drain off water.
Combine stewed blueberries and 1/4 cup fruit juice - grape, cranberry, mixed berry, something in the dark red to purple fruit family. I use cranberry-mixed berry. In a food processor or blender, puree the berries; they don't have to be completely liquified, small bits of blueberry are still fine.
Pour this into a measuring cup; it should be about 1 cup. (If it's slightly less, don't worry. If it's less than 3/4 cup, then add more juice to get near a cup of mix.) Chill it for about 45 minutes, until it is no warmer than room temperature, and it can be a little cooler.
In a bowl, combine the blueberry mixture, 1/3 cup of sugar, and 1 cup of evaporated milk. Stir till thoroughly blended. Stir in 1/4 cup small pecan pieces ("broken" or "chopped fine" or "pieces").
Pour entire mixture into the ice cream maker, and follow manufacturer's directions for stirring. Mine say "Turn handle twice a minute for 20 minutes" but different ones vary. The result will be soft ice cream. Put the ice cream into a bowl and freeze it, to harden it to the point where it can be scooped. This should be somewhere between an hour and 2 hours. It will not be as hard as commercial ice cream but it will be hard enough to form shaped scoops in a bowl; it won't be "soft" any more.
This makes about 6 servings.
FAQ:
You only have about 2-1/2 cups ingredients there. Why don't you have 3 cups of ingredients?
Because when you stir ice cream, you are stirring air into it, and it gains volume - that is part of the process. When finished, you will have ice cream up to the top of the cylinder. If you were to pour 3 whole cups of ingredients in, you would not be able to thoroughly mix and chill the mixture, because it would start expanding over the top of the cylinder.
Can I add other ingredients?
You can substitute other add-ins for the pecans; do not exceed 1/4 cup, though. Miniature chocolate chips work well, or other nuts instead of pecans. You can also add a bit more sugar, if the first time you try this it's not sweet enough for you. However, don't exceed 1/2 cup of sugar, or you'll have too large a batch for the small ice cream maker.
What if I have a larger ice cream maker?
You can double or triple this recipe, except for the juice. Keep the amount of juice at 1/4 cup, and double (or triple) all the other ingredients. Doubling the recipe will make about 3 pints (6 cups) of ice cream, which is a quart and a half; if you have a half-gallon ice cream maker, this amount should work. Tripling the recipe will produce a little over 4 pints, which is a little over half a gallon, so it won't work in a half-gallon maker but will work fine in a 3-quart or larger maker. Above tripling, the proportions of things start changing; if you want to make more than triple the amount, you'll need a different recipe and a different kind of ice cream maker.
Blueberry Ice Cream
Makes 1.5 pints (3 cups)
You need to have a chilled cylinder for a small hand-cranked ice-cream maker such as Donvier or Nordic Ware, ready ahead of time.
In a bowl, place about 1-1/4 cups blueberries and 1/4 cup water. Nuke for 2 minutes, stirring once. Drain off water.
Combine stewed blueberries and 1/4 cup fruit juice - grape, cranberry, mixed berry, something in the dark red to purple fruit family. I use cranberry-mixed berry. In a food processor or blender, puree the berries; they don't have to be completely liquified, small bits of blueberry are still fine.
Pour this into a measuring cup; it should be about 1 cup. (If it's slightly less, don't worry. If it's less than 3/4 cup, then add more juice to get near a cup of mix.) Chill it for about 45 minutes, until it is no warmer than room temperature, and it can be a little cooler.
In a bowl, combine the blueberry mixture, 1/3 cup of sugar, and 1 cup of evaporated milk. Stir till thoroughly blended. Stir in 1/4 cup small pecan pieces ("broken" or "chopped fine" or "pieces").
Pour entire mixture into the ice cream maker, and follow manufacturer's directions for stirring. Mine say "Turn handle twice a minute for 20 minutes" but different ones vary. The result will be soft ice cream. Put the ice cream into a bowl and freeze it, to harden it to the point where it can be scooped. This should be somewhere between an hour and 2 hours. It will not be as hard as commercial ice cream but it will be hard enough to form shaped scoops in a bowl; it won't be "soft" any more.
This makes about 6 servings.
FAQ:
You only have about 2-1/2 cups ingredients there. Why don't you have 3 cups of ingredients?
Because when you stir ice cream, you are stirring air into it, and it gains volume - that is part of the process. When finished, you will have ice cream up to the top of the cylinder. If you were to pour 3 whole cups of ingredients in, you would not be able to thoroughly mix and chill the mixture, because it would start expanding over the top of the cylinder.
Can I add other ingredients?
You can substitute other add-ins for the pecans; do not exceed 1/4 cup, though. Miniature chocolate chips work well, or other nuts instead of pecans. You can also add a bit more sugar, if the first time you try this it's not sweet enough for you. However, don't exceed 1/2 cup of sugar, or you'll have too large a batch for the small ice cream maker.
What if I have a larger ice cream maker?
You can double or triple this recipe, except for the juice. Keep the amount of juice at 1/4 cup, and double (or triple) all the other ingredients. Doubling the recipe will make about 3 pints (6 cups) of ice cream, which is a quart and a half; if you have a half-gallon ice cream maker, this amount should work. Tripling the recipe will produce a little over 4 pints, which is a little over half a gallon, so it won't work in a half-gallon maker but will work fine in a 3-quart or larger maker. Above tripling, the proportions of things start changing; if you want to make more than triple the amount, you'll need a different recipe and a different kind of ice cream maker.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
I am making blueberry ice cream even as we speak. With my old Donvier manual ice cream maker - you remember, the ones that you chill the cylinder ahead of time and then turn the little handle a couple of times a minute for 20 minutes? I'll let you know how it comes out - I'm not sure I got the proportions right. That is, I cut a much larger recipe down to one pint, but I'm not sure some of those things should be cut exactly in proportion to size. We shall see.
More precisely, it's ice-evaporated-skimmed-milk, rather than ice cream. Which does make a major difference in the fat content, and the sodium content as well. The sodium content in dairy products can vary wildly. I was looking at cans of evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and filled evaporated milk, and noting a huge difference. Most of the sweetened condensed milks are 45 mg sodium per 2-tablespoon serving, of which there are about 10 to a can. Which means if you make a pint of ice cream using one can, it's got about 450 mg of sodium in it. That's a lot if you eat it all yourself - please be responsible and share your ice cream! Evaporated milk, on the other hand, has only 30 mg sodium per 2 tablespoons - no idea why the difference; if anything, I would think the addition of sugar to the sweetened milk would make it lower in sodium overall, but that's not the case. With evaporated milk, add your own sugar to the mix.
While I don't know yet how this blueberry ice cream will turn out, here's a recipe that's worked for me for years. This is for about a pint and a half.
Banana Ice Cream
1 ripe banana- doesn't have to be brown, just reasonably soft enough to mash
1 can evaporated milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice, or the equivalent in bottled lemon juice
1/4 tsp grated lemon peel (dried is OK)
1/8 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/8 cup small pecan pieces (chips/crushed/chopped fine)
Mash the banana (hi, potassium!), then blend everything except the chocolate chips in a food processor or blender. Doesn't have to be completely liquified, just reasonably pureed. Chill mixture for half an hour in the refrigerator. Then, if you don't have two cups yet, add milk or cream to get up to 2 cups of mix. (Use skim milk for lowest fat; use heavy cream for creamiest taste, or whatever point in between on the milk-cream spectrum suits your diet. I use 2% milk.) Then add the chocolate and nuts. Pour into the ice cream maker and follow the directions that come with it. This makes a little under a pint and a half. If you have a larger ice cream maker, say one that makes two quarts (half a gallon) at a time, double everything EXCEPT the lemon juice and lemon peel.
More precisely, it's ice-evaporated-skimmed-milk, rather than ice cream. Which does make a major difference in the fat content, and the sodium content as well. The sodium content in dairy products can vary wildly. I was looking at cans of evaporated milk, sweetened condensed milk, and filled evaporated milk, and noting a huge difference. Most of the sweetened condensed milks are 45 mg sodium per 2-tablespoon serving, of which there are about 10 to a can. Which means if you make a pint of ice cream using one can, it's got about 450 mg of sodium in it. That's a lot if you eat it all yourself - please be responsible and share your ice cream! Evaporated milk, on the other hand, has only 30 mg sodium per 2 tablespoons - no idea why the difference; if anything, I would think the addition of sugar to the sweetened milk would make it lower in sodium overall, but that's not the case. With evaporated milk, add your own sugar to the mix.
While I don't know yet how this blueberry ice cream will turn out, here's a recipe that's worked for me for years. This is for about a pint and a half.
Banana Ice Cream
1 ripe banana- doesn't have to be brown, just reasonably soft enough to mash
1 can evaporated milk
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice, or the equivalent in bottled lemon juice
1/4 tsp grated lemon peel (dried is OK)
1/8 cup miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/8 cup small pecan pieces (chips/crushed/chopped fine)
Mash the banana (hi, potassium!), then blend everything except the chocolate chips in a food processor or blender. Doesn't have to be completely liquified, just reasonably pureed. Chill mixture for half an hour in the refrigerator. Then, if you don't have two cups yet, add milk or cream to get up to 2 cups of mix. (Use skim milk for lowest fat; use heavy cream for creamiest taste, or whatever point in between on the milk-cream spectrum suits your diet. I use 2% milk.) Then add the chocolate and nuts. Pour into the ice cream maker and follow the directions that come with it. This makes a little under a pint and a half. If you have a larger ice cream maker, say one that makes two quarts (half a gallon) at a time, double everything EXCEPT the lemon juice and lemon peel.
Friday, July 09, 2004
I will be AFK until Monday evening the 12th. Travelling.
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
Some suggestions wanted. I want to make up a bunch of bracelets so that I have some "stock." But it's difficult to put the alert tags on before I have the info that goes on them. So I've been putting "See Wallet Card." I am considering having the following "in stock" :
Coumadin
Pacemaker
Heart Patient
ICD/Pacemaker
and a few miscellaneous ones:
Diabetes
Penecillin Allergy
Does that sound like enough to meet most needs? The "heart patient" one is less generic than See Wallet Card, but still general enough that a lot of people could use it even though it's not more personalized.
Colors I'm preparing:
Brown/gold
Red/gold
Green/gold
Green/silver
Purple/silver
Black/silver
I made one blue one, but the blue beads were really bad; I will have to find a better source of varied blue beads before I do that again. Blue, like green, should probably be on both silver and gold.
I sold the blue one already, and a red one. I have got to get pictures up so people can really get interested!
Coumadin
Pacemaker
Heart Patient
ICD/Pacemaker
and a few miscellaneous ones:
Diabetes
Penecillin Allergy
Does that sound like enough to meet most needs? The "heart patient" one is less generic than See Wallet Card, but still general enough that a lot of people could use it even though it's not more personalized.
Colors I'm preparing:
Brown/gold
Red/gold
Green/gold
Green/silver
Purple/silver
Black/silver
I made one blue one, but the blue beads were really bad; I will have to find a better source of varied blue beads before I do that again. Blue, like green, should probably be on both silver and gold.
I sold the blue one already, and a red one. I have got to get pictures up so people can really get interested!
Friday, July 02, 2004
All right! My medical alert bracelets for sale are up and running! I will have pictures posted shortly. Meantime, if you're interested in a lightweight yet strong bracelet with lots of glass beads, a plastic bead alert tag, and a free wallet card, e-mail me!
