White Chocolate Lime Ice Cream: Recipe

I made ice cream.

A few nights ago, I woke up mid-dream when Dana climbed into our bed after a nightmare. I should probably not admit this on the world wide web, but I was dreaming about making lime ice cream with white chocolate.

And so I did. And it's really lovely. It's creamy and limey and sweet, and it's flecked with bright green bits of lime zest.

Both girls think it tastes like lime sherbet, and they are so right. I used white chocolate chips that I pulsed in the food processor, and I am not sure they add anything flavor-wise. In my dream, I was adding a stream of white chocolate syrup as the ice cream churned. In reality, I didn't want to completely mix in the white chocolate-I wanted bursts of it here and there. And I wasn't sure how to pull that off with syrup. Then again, it didn't really work with the chips either. Oh well. The ice cream is still pretty awesome.

White Chocolate Lime Ice Cream

1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
1 1/4 cups milk (I had 1% in the fridge)
1 1/4 cups half and half
1/2 cup lime juice (juice of 3 limes)
zest of 2 limes
1 cup white chocolate chips, roughly chopped

Mix sugar, cream, milk and half and half in a bowl. Let it sit while you deal with the limes. This will give the sugar a chance to dissolve.

Remove the zest from 2 limes and mince it very finely. You should have about 2 teaspoons of zest. Add this to the cream and sugar mixture resting in the bowl.

Half the limes and juice them (I needed 3 limes to get 1/2 cup). You may use bottled lime juice if you prefer, but since you need the zest anyway, why not use fresh? Add the lime juice to the sugar and cream mixture and stir until all of the sugar is incorporated. Pour into your ice cream machine and process according to the directions.

Once my ice cream was done churning, I transferred it to a freezer-safe container and stirred in the white chocolate chips. Then I froze it overnight.

I like the idea of pink lemonade ice cream, so I may try that next, subbing lemon juice and zest for the lime, and adding strawberry puree. Sounds refreshing and summery. Yum!

S'Mores

I found this recipe a couple of weeks ago and couldn't stop thinking about it. I finally made it last Sunday to bring to our weekly family bbq.

Yum-all those marshmallows!

It's just a s'more in a pan. Really easy and really yummy. The only change I made was to use 8 chocolate bars instead of the 7 called for.

It's better than a campfire s'more because the chocolate is actually soft. That is the one downfall of a campfire s'more: hard chocolate.

Vegetarian Burrito Filling

My sewing machine is broken again. Or still. I am not sure. I have never used the manual buttonhole feature before, so maybe it never worked. I will never know for sure.

At any rate, it is back with the repairman, who is not sure he can fix it. The machine does the zigzag stitch just like it should, but in buttonhole mode it does straight stitch. If you can con it into zigzagging, it refuses to do the sides in a narrow stitch and the bar tack in a wide stitch like it is supposed to. He said something about never seeing a problem quite like this before. I am just trying not to think about it. Now is not the time to buy a new sewing machine, particularly when I am dying for a serger.

Anyhoo, my friend Tracy is kind enough to let me stop by later this week to sew some buttonholes and then play (Dana and her son play together), so I will at least be able to put Nora in the dress for the wedding, as planned. But I am not sure Dana will get her dress in time for Saturday. We'll just see how the week goes.

So I thought I would post a recipe. I make this about once a week, as everyone loves it at this house. And that is such a rarity that I have to keep it in high rotation. It's a vegetarian burrito filling. We think it is great!

Burrito Filling (aka beans and rice)

1/2 cup brown rice
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tomato, diced
3 green onions, sliced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 can black or pinto beans
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
cheese
sour cream
tortillas
etc .


Put the brown rice, water and lime juice in a rice steamer, or cook on the stove, according to directions on package (mine takes about 45 minutes in the steamer).

Put the vinegar and oil in a bowl. Throw the tomatoes, green onions and cilantro on top. Mix and let it sit while the rice cooks. This gives it a chance to soak up the flavors.

Do useful things as you wait for the rice, such as grating your cheese and setting the table.


When the rice is done, rinse the beans in a colander under hot water. Add them to the tomato mixture. Put the hot rice on top and mix it all together. The hot rice will warm the beans the rest of the way. It is a nice little time saver if you are running late on dinner, which I often am.

Spoon the filling onto a tortilla and top with cheese, sour cream, taco sauce, and anything else you like.

Roll up the tortilla and eat.

Sometimes, if there is leftover filling, I will throw it over romaine for lunch the next day. It doesn't even need dressing because of the oil/vinegar/lime juice combo. I love that it can be salad or filling.