Vanilla Ice Cream

I had the great pleasure of coming across a Donvier Premier Ice Cream Maker at the thrift store.  Happy to announce that this little hand crank ice cream maker is going to save me thousands.  No, it's going to save me millions of dollars in store bought ice cream.  

This ice cream recipe is no cook, and no eggs.  I just poured the ingredients into a big quart sized mason jar, shook it up, and into the ice cream maker.  In 20 minutes I had fresh, real vanilla bean ice cream.  If you find a Donvier, by all means do yourself a favor and buy it!

Vanilla Ice Cream (no cook!)

Ingredients:

3 cups half & half

3/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

(Scrape a vanilla bean if you want specks!)

Pinch of salt (don't omit this!)

Mix all ingredients, and pour into your prepared ice cream maker.  Turn it on or crank away, until you have ice cream.  

It's not ready yet though!  

Transfer the fresh ice cream to a container, cover and freeze for 4 hours or overnight (For best results, I recommend an overnight freeze!) 

Scoop and enjoy!

Now go, and make your own ice cream!

Ketchup (v)

I use ketchup mostly to make other things, like barbecue sauce.  Most store bought ketchup makes me itch, so I just make my own.  It's a lot better, I think.  It's inexpensive and fresh tasting. 

Ketchup

Ingredients:

1 small can tomato paste*

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 Tablespoon dry mustard

2 Tablespoons molasses

1/8 cup water

1/8 cup white vinegar

Salt to taste 

Mix well = ketchup.

* to get all of your tomato paste out of the tin easily, open both ends of the can. Remove the bottom lid and carefully use the top lid to push the paste through the tin down out through the bottom into a bowl.  Discard other metal lid and voila!  All of your tomato paste in your mixing bowl. I learned this trick when I worked at The Grain Dance Bakery and I was in charge of making the pizza sauce.  Opening 20 tins of paste was a cinch using this technique!  

Gluten Free Egg Noodles

I have become mildly obsessed with homemade noodles lately.  I started off by making fettuccini noodles, and it sparked my interest to make good old fashioned egg noodles. These are awesome, and they will be amazing rolled out into dumplings and traditional wide flat egg noodles. I use an Atlas pasta machine.  For egg noodles, I use the thickest setting to roll out the dough.  I like a good thick noodle that I have to chew on.  I then use the fettuccini setting, but this weekend I'm going to make hand cut noodles and dumplings.

Gluten Free Egg Noodles

Ingredients:

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup potato starch *plus more for kneading and rolling

4 teaspoons xanthan gum

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

3 large eggs

1 Tablespoon peanut oil

Mix together the dry ingredients.  In a seperate bowl whisk together the eggs and oil and as to the drys.  Mix well, dough will be really sticky.  Use potato starch to cota your hands, then grab the dough ball and knead with potato starch until smooth and cohesive.  Cut into four sections to roll out. 

Roll each section out as thin as you like your noodles/dumplings.  Cut and set aside whole you make the rest of the noodles.  

Cook in salted boiling water immediately, or let air dry slightly and store in an airtight container in the fridge, or, freeze for later use. 

This is a versatile noodle, and will lend itself well to any dish you may create with it.  Experiment with different oils- I used peanut because I wanted to make am asian dish with the noodles.  It worked so well I just keep using it no matter what I make.  

Enjoy, and happy noodling!

Hot Buttered Rum

Kraken Spiced Rum is gluten free, and I couldn't be happier because this hot buttered rum just won't do without a good spiced rum.  I love Kraken because it's delicious, with tones of vanilla and nutmeg, it's perfect for this hot toddy!  Get yourself a special glass for this winter warmer!

Ingredients:

2 shots of good spiced rum

1 tbs. Pat of unsalted butter at room temp

Nutmeg, cinnamon and clove-a small pinch of each

1 teaspoon brown sugar (I used a tablespoon!)

1 teaspoon good vanilla

Hot water

Put the butter sugar vanilla and spices in the bottom of a glass (be sure your glass can handle hot liquids safely!) put a little hot water over the butter and sugar and stir to dissolve.  Add the rum, stir, and top with hot water to fill your glass.  Throw a cinnamon stick in for good measure and enjoy!