Kick the Can Ice Cream!

This entry is compliments of Maureen who passed it along to another reader a couple of months ago.  It seemed like the perfect way to round out the week.  It's relatively simple and will do a great job of engaging your kids, the kids you babysit, or your nieces and nephews.

Here is goes...

Kick the Can Ice Cream

Makes 4 Servings

Prep time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup milk (can use lowfat, fat-free, or flavored)

1 cup whipping cream (can use half-and-half)

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Ice

Rock salt

Large and small cans with lids (like coffee cans, cleaned)

Duct tape

Directions

Pour milk, cream, sugar, and vanilla into small can.  Cover the can and duct tape well.  Shake the can to mix.  Put a layer of ice and rock salt in a large can.  Add small can and layer more ice and rock salt.  Cover can and duct tape well.  Lick or roll the can for 10 to 15 minutes.  Remove the small can.  Scrape the ice cream away from the side of the can.  Retape and put back in large can with more ice and rock salt.  Kick or roll for 5 to 10 minutes.  Open can, stir and serve.

Variations

For reduced fat ice cream, use lowfat or fat-free milk and half-and-half

For strawberry ice cream, add 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen sliced strawberries

For chocolate chip ice cream, use chocolate milk and add 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Enjoy your Saturday and with only 27 days left in July, get busy eating some ice cream!

Signing off until Monday...

Whack on the Side of the Head Wednesday: Impossible!

How do you whack the perfect dessert?  Impossible.  

Today Von Oech's creative whack pack gets put to W-O-R-K!  The deck of cards, of course is designed to whack our thinking... to take an imperfect idea and make it better.  I am not qualified for this.  Ice cream to me is the ultimate dessert... perfect in its current state.  In need of no changes... nada... zippo. About the only recommendation I might concede worth making is some kind of topping for an otherwise ordinary scoop of vanilla ice cream.

The hair just stood up on a handful of your necks, I'm sure.  My husband's included.  He's a purist.  Vanilla ice cream, no chunks, no chips, no syrup.  Not me.  I like texture.  The more the better (unless of course it's a nut which I won't eat due to allergies).  Nonetheless, if my choices are straight up vanilla ice cream or a cup of fruit cocktail... I'm going vanilla ice cream every day of the week.

Are you ready to start whacking?  All warmed up (or cooled down as the case may be)?  

As you might have imagined, today's we will whack ICE CREAM.  We'll go broad.  That is to say, we'll look at ice cream in any form... flavor, methods of delivery, venues for selling, or when and how it is consumed... you pick.  Now the whack...

Imagine How Others Would Do It.  What people do you respect for creative achievement?  A leader in your field?  A teacher?  A parent?  Now, imagine that one of these people is responsible for developing your concept.  What would they do?  How would they approach it?  How would someone else change your idea?

Here's my crack at a whack... My friend, Sherry is the first person who came to mind when thinking about someone I respect for creative achievement.  A little about Sherry...  

I came to know her while working at Southern Methodist University.  She was part of what I affectionately refer to as the "Dream Team" (a group of people with which I had the privilege of working for a number of years).  I - the ideas person - would dream up some seemingly outlandish orientation theme, requiring props, printed materials, back drops, costumes... the whole nine yards.  The Dream Team made the ideas come to life.  Deanie, the props; Fred, anything made of wood; Quynh, master organizer and overseer of all details; Carol, the money lady and creative financier; and Sherry... well Sherry was the graphic artist who set the whole thing in motion.  For, without a "look" nothing else could follow.  To say we were a WELL OILED MACHINE would be an understatement!

I have dreams for Sherry and me.  I've told her since the day I left SMU, that one day I will make it big and when I do, my first order of business will be to hire her on staff.  Sherry is a total package.  She's master photographer, a fellow paper-lover, a nature lover, has a genuine love for children, and never, never, never complains.  She has the midas touch, transforming even the simplest thing into something that looks like a million bucks.  The world is a more aesthetically pleasing place because she is in it!

Sherry left SMU for a short stint and moved to another part of Texas where she and a couple of other women opened an art studio where, among other things, children's art classes were taught.  So, when thinking about how Sherry might change ice cream, children and art immediately came to mind.

Would she open an ice cream bar where children could order sundaes not only by flavors, but also by shape?  Want a panda bear sundae?  Sherry sets to work using ice cream, oreos, m&m's, Butter fingers and a variety of other toppings to depict the bear's paws, eyes, and mouth.  How about a giraffe?  Maybe a scoop of ice cream with a pretzel rod sticking out?  A snowman sounds yummy?  Two scoops of vanilla, a marshmallow hat, red hot buttons....  I'm limited, but Sherry... NO!  I feel certain she could go on for days rattling off animals and all sorts of other shapes children could create using ice cream and assorted toppings.  Or maybe she wouldn't even do the decorating.  Maybe the whole point of the ice cream bar is that the basic ice cream sculpture is provided, but kids use their creativity to decorate their bear, giraffe, or snow man however they see fit.  Sherry could make it work.

How about you?  Whose creative achievements do you respect and how might they whack ice cream?

Here's one final kicker to make today extra fun.  I have in my possession three bags from the clearance rack at Target.  They make the perfect tote for moving creative projects (card making, book writing, sewing, etc...) from one place to another.  One bag will go to the highlowaha reader who submits the winning idea (as awarded by my neutral neighbor.  Ideas should be submitted by 9:00 CST).  The second bag will go to the person who inspired your whack (the person you respect for his/her creative achievement) and the third bag will go to... are you ready?... a RANDOM WINNER selected from my Random Acts of Kindness box of postcards!  Yes, the box of postcards is finally activated! 

Still need to submit your postcard for future giveaways (another coming up later this week and still another next week) and random acts?  My address is:

Claudia Beeny

4012 Harvestwood Court

Grapevine, Texas 76051

Remember all you lurkers... no need to even reveal yourself.  Just send a postcard with your address and that's enough to get you included in the drawings. 

Signing off until tomorrow...

Now It's Your Churn

Thanks, Katie for whipping up a great story and topping of the month of June!  

If Baskin Robbins can tout 31 flavors, we can certainly fill the next five days with ice cream adventures.  Today we dig into some of your favorite memories.  I'll indulge by starting off with a couple of my own.

Maybe I should tell of my long and illustrious four-year stint working at Haagen Dazs.  Or, my three year stint at Yogurt Oasis (do you see a trend?).  As much fun as it was, there's no great story to relay (other than every man on ASU's campus calling the store to see if Gail Trybolt was working that night.  Gail is the brunette on the left with the deep tan.  She was considered the female version of Big Man on Campus). 

 

I could tell of my all-time favorite date.  One of my college boyfriends majored in Aeronautical Engineering and was intent on being a pilot.  One summer night - maybe even a first date - he ran in to pick me up from work.  I say ran, because his car was a jalopy and he couldn't turn it off in fear that it wouldn't start again.  Once in his car I noticed a zip lock bag with with two spoons and napkins inside.  We were headed to the Phoenix airport with ice cream and the zip lock bag in hand.  We spent the next couple of hours on the top level of parking lot watching planes land and eating ice cream.  It seemed magical.

 

I could tell of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Fests, but I seem to remember talking about that crazy ritual in an earlier blog entry.  ...A pint of ice cream for each participant.  Pass to the left, pass to the right.  Round and round it went until the last chip had been eaten.  Five people, five pints.  Ten people, ten pints.  Ugh, gives me a sugar rush just thinking about it.

Then there is my son Ricky's favorite story.  Every summer he goes to the quintessential all-boys summer camp in Tallulah Falls, Georiga.  I'm talking rustic cabins; archery, riflery, and kayaking; a lake in the center of the camp - fully equipped with a "blob," where big kids catapult smaller kids into the water; no showers; a mess hall where slop is served three times a day; and a canteen where kids can buy snacks to compensate for the slop they didn't eat earlier in the night.  

His first year as a young adult the counselors talked all week of the much anticipated ice cream hike.  The story was, that for every pound worth of rocks the boys could carry up the mountain, they would receive a gallon of ice cream.  The group of boys schemed all week about stuffing rocks into their pockets, back packs, and even canteens.  They were motivated!  Finally the day arrived and the boys executed their plan flawlessly.  Each kid did their part by lugging close to their body weight in rocks for three miles straight up a mountain.  When the boys arrived at the top and were ready to dig in, the counselors - intent on teaching them a life lesson - pointed to a huge pile of rocks and said, "If it seems too good to be true, then it probably is."  The fact that Ricky remembers his counselor's words... VERBATIM is a good indication it worked.

Since it's summer, I think I''' finish with one of my own favorite camp memories.  

As mentioned a few weeks ago, I worked at a great day camp about 50 minutes from my house.  We drove to the wooded camp grounds every morning and drove back every evening.  I feel lucky to have been a part of this ritual for so many years.  The bus ride home was always much anticipated because every kid and every counselor knew this is when cups of ice cream were distributed. You might be able to envision the ones I'm talking about.  Small cups, half vanilla, half chocolate.  Pull back the tab and dig in with a small wooden stick wrapped in white paper.  By the time the ice cream got to us, it was in a PERFECTLY... let me say that again... PERFECTLY melted state.  The ice cream stuck to the lid when you pealed it back, leaving you no choice but to lick it off.  

The real question was, "Who would get the extras?"  Sometimes the counselors would hoard them because they could.  Other days they would give them to kids who might have been celebrating a birthday, or to someone who could dig into their bag and deliver a specified item (red towel, deck of playing cards, blue pen). Sometimes they would just throw them out and let Darwanism take over.  Every once in a while they'd actually make you work for the ice cream by posing trivia questions.  Answer the question right and win the coveted cup.

I don't have one of those cups and chances are, if I did, it wouldn't still be around.  But, I do have a $5.00 gift card to Marble Slab.  Be the first to answer the trivia correctly and I'll toss it your way.

According to Sajid, manager of Marble Slab in Grapevine, Texas (where we had dessert tonight):

• The most ordered way to buy ice cream is cup or cone?
  
• The favorite topping is which candy bar?
  
• The busiest day of the week is?
  
• The flavor most ordered by children is...
  
• The average person asks for how many samples?
  

Signing off until tomorrow....  

Kiss Me, I'm... TIRED!

Happy St. Patrick's Day and a good Monday morning!  Where to start?!?  I fully intended to do an update on my cookie baking extravaganza this weekend, but after 15 hours of baking and decorating (no joking), I'm way too tired to give the explanation I initially planned.  Have I mentioned I am no Martha Stewart?  I can't possibly go into all the detail of my already ill-conceived plan going awry, so let my just make a few key points before moving on to today's exciting entry.

• Hosting is hard.  Cassie coordinated the first bake-off, so frankly I was CLUELESS about exactly how much work and planning went in to making it happen.
  
• 99.9% of the time things do not come out the way they are pictured in the cookbook or in this case the Cookie Box recipe card.  I attempted making leprechaun hats from cupcakes, an oatmeal cookie, green icing, tootsie rolls, and yellow decorating pens.  DISASTER!   I ended up throwing the whole lot of them away.  Even if I could have "engineered" them to work, I cannot help but think they would have tasted awful.
  
• Pay attention.  I got all the way through the sugar cookie recipe - which interestingly enough called for cream cheese and sour cream (in addition to a number of other things) - and realized I forgot to add the sour cream.  The dough was already in the refrigerator for its requisite two hours.  I pulled it out of the refrigerator, unwrapped it, put it back in the mixer, and added the sour cream.  It was about 7:00 a.m. when that happened.  That, in retrospect, was foreshadowing.

Is this all sounding negative?....

Here's the good news...

• I just finished putting the final touches on 10 little packages for teachers, friends, and the postman.  I feel great.  This morning I will brighten the day of a number of unsuspecting people and that is a good feeling.  It will immediately wipe away any questions about whether it was worth the time and energy.
• We had fun.  Cassie; Nan, my neighbor; and I had great conversation while decorating the cookies - shaped as pots of gold, horseshoes, four leaf clovers, and leprechauns (we had beer mugs too, but time and stamina ran out).
• I learned something new.  Baking a sugar cookie, yes.  I had done that.  But outlining and "flooding" cookies....  This is a world I knew nothing about.

Do I recommend the experience?  I am not going to pretend it was easy.  I am NOT Martha Stewart, so it took a lot of energy on my part.  If you are like me, it is the kind of experience that you enter into with caution and a lot of extra time.  But, yes... I recommend it. 

 

Now onto something that is a Beeny Family tradition and more my speed.  Shamrock Shakes!!!

Brief history... When I was a kid, I went to St. Aloysius.  We wore green uniforms and so St. Patrick's Day always felt a little special - at least in my house.  We are not Irish, but my mother has the wonderful ability to make even the smallest things seem like an occasion. Every St. Patrick's day my mother would give me $1.50, so that after school my best friend and I could walk to our local McDonald's and buy green shakes.  This quickly became a tradition. I didn't realize that Shamrock Shakes were a regional, New York-thing.  I couldn't get them when I went away to college and so I kind of forgot about them until I met my now-husband and stepson.  Kids have a funny way of pushing us to remember all the best parts of being a kid.  At the time I was living in Dallas and I called around to 10-12 McDonald's searching for a franchise that sold green shakes.  Not one did I find.

So, we went to work creating our own family tradition.  Each year on St. Patrick's night we make our own Shamrock Shakes. It's my kind of simple... milk, ice cream (mint chip if you feel inclined), green dye, and the kicker... McDonald's straws.  McDonald's straws are a MUST!!!

On this you may not compromise.  Fact.  Shakes taste better out of a McDonald's straw.  They are bigger than any straw you buy in a store and Wendy's straws don't come close either.  Oh, and the other essential - at least in our house - the kids draw straws to see who gets to add the green dye.  They get a kick out of seeing how green they can get the shake.

That's it.  Green shakes on St. Patrick's Day and my kids think they have died and gone to heaven.  It's not too late to try.  One stop at the supermarket...  a quick drive through McDonald's... and you'll have everything you need.

 

Signing off until tomorrow when we celebrate the second of six GREEN ideas - in honor of St. Patrick's week. Cheers.

Ice cream Sundae!

If you know me at all, it will not surprise you to know that our week is topped off with an ice cream sundae. In fact, I do believe that my appointing a different activity to each day began with the need for some excuse to have ice cream at least once a week. I spent years working at Haagen Dazs as a teenager and in college and then more years, in the late 80's when frozen yogurt was hitting the scene, working at Yogurt Oasis - the favorite hangout for college students in Tempe, Arizona. Even when I was floating around the world on a ship for a semester, two shipmates and I spent hours daydreaming about finally being reunited with Ben and Jerry. I know ice cream!

So every Sunday night we break out all the works and create our sundaes. Ice cream, hot sauce, sprinkles, whip cream, and topped off with a cherry. Oooohhh, sometimes there are variations. If we bake brownies during the weekend, they become brownie sundaes; a delivery of Girl Scout Cookies means a special think mint cookie topping for the house; Christmas time 'tis the season for snowman sundaes; and when feeling like especially responsible parents we throw on some fruit such as strawberries or bannnas.

Ice Cream Sundae is made more special because of the bowls we use. Our close, close friends from Georgia know of our love for ice cream and six years ago presented us with personalized bowls for each family member. At that time it meant three bowls - one for me, one for Richard, and one for Ricky. Two years later a matching bowl showed up with Matthew's name on it, and this past Christmas a final bowl was added to the collection for Jack... and I do mean THE FINAL BOWL.

Tonight we have a visitor flying into town from Kentucky. Maybe we'll celebrate with Derby Pie Sundaes - pecans, carmel, chocolate, and... bourbon!