Thirsty Thursday: The Master Shake

Any Aqua Teen Hunger Force fans out there?  Well, we created this shake just for you. (PS: Even if you're not, if you like peanut butter & caramel, you should be pretty satisfied by this sweet treat.)

This was one of our first specials during the second season, and it went over really well.  Partially because it's delicious, and partially because... who can resist Master Shake? 

(We contemplated a Frylock & Meatwad Sandwich to accompany, but alas, no deep fryers. *sigh*)

INGREDIENTS: (makes one 16 oz shake)

8 oz Praline Pecan Ice Cream

6 oz skim milk

2 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp caramel sauce

DIRECTIONS:

Blend on High until well combined.  Then, spend a few minutes Googling images of Master Shake so you can copy his face onto a styrofoam cup (or about a hundred of them, in our case).  Serve with snarky remarks and attitude (unless you're serving at a retail establishment, in which case smiles and pleasantries are more appropriate).

First Day Post-Daniel Fast: Chili Cookoffs & Toilet Seats

Well, I’m posting, which means we did NOT fall into a meat-sugar-caffeine induced coma.  Though…we tried.  Really.

Breakfast:  I’ll just let the picture tell its thousand words.

That’s biscuits, sausage, coffee (decaf) w/caramel syrup & some almond milk, and yes….CUPCAKES.  Half of each of the cupcakes that I brought home & froze after Amy’s wedding shower.  Because…I mean…CUPCAKES.

Then we headed over to the Sertoma Chili Cookoff to sling some tasty steak & sausage chili!

(We end up next to the Toxic Chili guys like, every year.)

We never win, but it’s still fun, and for a good cause.  After our shift was up, we headed out and tasted some chili!

(Oh…and beer, of course.  PS—the first person to figure out the clothespin thing was BRILLIANT.)

After we’d filled out still shrunken bellies with chili (which only took about 15 booths, or about 2.5 total cups), we wandered about to check out all the booths:

(Elks Lodge is on the left—they place pretty high every year.  Good stuff.  Waffle House…ehh, I was too afraid it would be ACTUAL Waffle House chili to try it.)

Then we headed over to The Scoop to take advantage of the awesome weather and pick up some trash on our Adopt-A-Street stretch! With all the snow & cold weather, we haven’t been able to get out there in a few months, and it’s…well…always an interesting experience.  We tend to find a lot of the usual:  empty beer cans & 50 mL bottles, fountain soda cups, random junk mail & newspapers… and then there’s the just plain sad ‘n nasty: socks, a couple syringes (needles gone), a tampon applicator (*gags*  WHO does that on the side of the road???)…. and then there’s the “WTF?”

Half-full bottle of E&J, and a TOILET SEAT.  (We also found a full set of keys, but that doesn’t beat toilet seat.  PS—Jo… I’m sorry my hubs is not wearing gloves. I was, just FYI. But I PROMISE he washed his hands as soon as we got back to the shop.)

After the trash pickup, we headed home so I could pack, since I leave for Louisiana tomorrow:

And then…what to eat for dinner?  With so much chili in our bellies, we weren’t really that hungry, so we snacked a bit (I had a few sweet pickles), and…well… we just HAD to have some ice cream! *grins sheepishly*

Blue Bunny “Perfectly Peppermint” + hot fudge.

So..while we managed to eat pretty much EVERYTHING that was forboden on the Daniel Fast (white flour, meat, caffeine, dairy, sugar, alcohol), we actually still only took in about 1600 calories.  And with all the walking around and trash pickup, we burned off most of those.  Not too bad.  Just gotta remember—if you want to eat the garbage, gotta be willing to work it off.

How do I feel?  Well…like not getting up off the couch for a while.  But that’s partly because my calves are still burning from our trash pickup adventure (our stretch of road is about 1.8 miles round trip & has some steep slopes).

Daniel Fast Day 12: Fasting & Valentine’s Day!

Today’s Devotion: “Let God Arise- Psalms 68:1 ‘Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him.’

It is day number 12 in our fast & 12 is the number of perfect government. To be governed perfectly means that the King is sitting upon the throne of our hearts ruling & reigning in our lives. That is a picture of his kingdom. I believe this is what this verse in Psalms is referring to when it declares, “Let God Arise”. Whenever we become complacent in the things of the Lord seems to be the times most of the attacks of the enemy come against us.  Not as though the Lord has left us or anything like that, but it represents times when we put Him out of mind & begin to do our own thing. But the answer is simple, ‘Let God Arise.’ We can avoid the heartache most of us deal with if we will remember this simple truth.”

Well, Happy Valentine’s Day to you all!  The day where we celebrate a man who was martyred for marrying Christians with champagne, flowers and boxes of chocolates.  Completely logical, right?

Well, with the Daniel Fast, we can only celebrate with one of those things.

(Thanks for the flowers, Bishop Valentinus.)

So, are we stuck at home munching on celery & carrot sticks?

NOPE.  Well…okay, we are eating at home, but definitely not rabbit food!

(Unless rabbits also eat fungus & tubers. In which case…erm…well…sorta.)

Breakfast:  ½ whole wheat flatbread w/PB & pumpkin pie spice

Lunch: Leftover salsa rice.

Valentine’s Dinner:  Garlic Rosemary mashed potatoes, balsamic grilled mushrooms & onions, and steamed peas.

That’s right…tonight’s dinner actually doesn’t have any “real” protein, because we’re kinda burnt out on beans.  So I used my favorite marinade to make us some meaty mushrooms and comforting mashed ‘taters.

INGREDIENTS: (serves 2)

Potatoes -

• 2-3 large russets, peeled & cubed
• 2 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp dried rosemary
• 2 cubes chicken bouillon (if it has no actual chicken product in it)
• 1/2-2/3 cup almond milk
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• salt & pepper to taste

Mushrooms & Onions-

• 8 oz fresh portabellas, wiped but not washed
• ½ onion, sliced into thin rings
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• ½ tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

For the Mushrooms—place the oil, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, garlic, salt & pepper to a large Ziploc and mix well.  Then add the mushrooms and marinate for about 30 minutes.

Boil potatoes with the chicken bouillon, minced garlic & rosemary to help infuse those flavors into the potatoes.  When the potatoes are tender, drain the water and add coconut oil and milk and puree until creamy.  Add more garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste.

While your potatoes are boiling, heat a large skillet over medium heat, spritz lightly with olive oil, and then add your mushrooms & the sliced onions.  Sauté until tender and the onions are caramelized.  You can add a bit of water if the marinade starts to render down too much.

And for Dessert?  More fake ice cream!

(1 ripe banana, mashed, 1.5 tbsp peanut butter, 2 tsp unsweet cocoa powder, 4 dashes cinnamon: blend together & freeze)

Garnish with some fresh fruit (used a cookie cutter to make the shapes).

As for gifts: I pulled another “Crafts in the Office” & made The Hubs a little wall hanging from one of our favorite photos.

Supplies:

• 5” wooden plaque (Hobby Lobby)
• Wood Stain or Paint
• Modge Podge
• Photo, trimmed to fit
• Any lettering/decorations you want to use
• Ribbon
• Two thumbtacks & some Scotch tape

This was a super quick little craft. I had the photo printed at 5x7 so that I could trim it to fit, and then went through a recent mag and picked out some letters to decorate with.  This seemed appropriate. :)

Backstory: This is from a trip to San Fransisco.  We missed the last Alcatraz tour (which you can barely see in the background).

I stained the edges of the wood that would be visible, and then set it aside to dry.  Then I applied Modge Podge to the wood, attached my photo, and then sorta “squeegeed” the photo to get the excess glue out.  Then let it dry.  Once dry, I added the letters, and Modge Podge’d over the whole thing, let it dry again, and used some sand paper to buff any edges of the photo so that it would be flush with the plaque.

I taped the ends of the ribbon so they wouldn’t fray & used the tacks to connect to the back.

Ta-Da!

Oh, and I also ordered The Hubs some personalized beer bottle labels, since he’ll be bottling up his first batch of home brew over the weekend!

And for me?  Well… you know… I don’t ask for much… and yet, The Hubs takes quite good care of me.  Love you to the moon & back, sweetie!

Snow Day Treats: Snow Ice Cream!

We had our first big snow of the season this week; got about 8-10 inches at our house, depending on where you stick the ruler…or dog. 

“Okay, verrrrry funny guys.  Now…how do I get down?”

It started on Thursday afternoon, and by the time I left work at 4:15pm that day, the roads were awful…ice beneath snow, plus darkness = my typically 30 minute commute took 2 hours.  Yuck!  To top if off, my windshield wipers got coated with ice on the way home, and when I went to clean them off, the driver’s side wiper snapped right off!  Since I can’t easily make it 18 miles to the office without a working wiper, I ended up working from home on Friday.  I’m pretty blessed that we have such a nice setup that allows us to work remotely & still access all our files even when you can’t get into the office.

But of course…around lunch time…I decided it was time for some snow ice cream!

Aaaannnd….well…seeing as how we have all the leftover ice cream toppings from The Scoop in our pantry right now…our snow ice cream got a little fancier than usual. :D

INGREDIENTS:

4-6 cups packed snow

1/2 cup half & half (or evaporated milk)

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

TOPPINGS!  (whatever you have on hand)

 

DIRECTIONS:

Working quickly (because this will melt FAST), combine the snow, milk, sugar, & vanilla, and stir until well combined. 

Add your toppings and devour as quickly as possible!  (or as quickly as brain freeze will allow.)

May the Fourth be with You: Wookiee Cookie Ice Cream Sammies!

Happy Star Wars Day!!!

Yes, yes, my favorite holiday.  Along with Pi Day and Christmas, of course.  And Thanksgiving.  Or, essentially any holiday that can be combined with food.  But yes, this day in particular appeals to my deep-seated inner geek.

Particularly now that I own an ice cream shoppe, because I can force my geekiness upon other people.

When we were still just thinking about the idea of purchasing the business, the idea for these sammies popped in my head.  I’m just glad that the craziness died down in time for me to find the time to make them.

Ingredients (makes about 20 cookies / 10 sandwiches):

1 cup almonds, toasted & chopped

3/4 cup light butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup flour (if you’re wanting to be gluten-friendly, grind oats in your blender or food processor and use that “oat flour” instead)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3 cups rolled oats

Chocolate chips

1 square of white baking chocolate

2.5 cups vanilla ice cream (cinnamon or coffee flavored would also be good)

 

Directions:

Heat your oven to 350, and toast the almond for about 10 minutes. Then chop in a food processor & set aside.

Combine the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla with your mixer.

Add in the baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and mix for a few seconds, then slowly add the flour; mix until well combined & smooth.

Slowly mix in the oats and the almonds.

Lightly coat two cookie sheets with cooking spray or use parchment paper.  Portion dough into ~1/4 cup balls on the tray, and pat flat with wet hands (a small ice cream scoop works well to make sure your cookies are evenly sized).

On HALF of the cookies, add chocolate chips for the eyes and nose—press into the cookie slightly so they attach during baking. (The other side will be blank, since it’s the back of the “head”.)

Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges are brown.  Then remove from the oven & let cool.

Once the cookies are cool, melt the white chocolate in your microwave (takes about 1:30 minutes), then transfer it into a small plastic baggie.  Snip the tip off of the baggie, and BAM—instant piping bag!

Pipe the mouths onto the Wookiee faces.

To assemble the sammies, scoop about 1/4 cup of ice cream onto the bottom cookie, and pat flat.  Then place the face cookie on top.  And there you have it---Wookiee Cookiee ice cream sandwiches!!!

Hi There!

*head hung, kicks the dirt* Soooo…. I’ve been a little absent lately.  And I TOTES apologize for that.  Things have been massively chaotic at home & at work.  I know, I know, a blogger’s never supposed to apologize or make excuses, but I’m just leading up to something here.  Because I want to share with you all what’s been going on, and what I’ve been doing instead of blogging:

WE BOUGHT AN ICE CREAM SHOPPE!!!

(Sorta like “We Bought A Zoo”, but smaller and with less animals.)

If you’d have asked me a month ago “Hey Feaux, do you think you’ll be a business owner next month?”  I’m pretty sure I would’ve laughed.  But here we are, it’s March, and we own an ice cream parlor.  It’s sort of a funny story…the Hubs texted me & asked, “you wanna buy Emack & Bolio’s?”  (that’s the parlor’s former name—they just dropped the franchise last year, so that’s what most people still know it as).  I thought he was talking about a Groupon, so I said, “Sure!”  We laughed about it for a while once I realized he meant the ACTUAL ice cream shoppe.  The owners wanted to retire, and the price was just too good…and the rest is, as they say, history.

It’s the cutest lil’ place, right across from Sequiota Park.  The building was constructed in 1937.  I’m still working on uncovering the history of the building, but I’m about 75% sure that it used to be a ticket booth.  There’s an old section of railroad that runs from the park across the street up to the main part of town, and back in the day when Galloway was still a village of its own and not just another part of southeast Springfield, an electric train ran from Springfield to the Park (which was then a fish hatchery).

This is one of my favorite parks in Springfield, mainly because of the three caves:

(From left to right: Crawl-All-The-Way Cave, Walk-All-The-Way Cave, and Sequiota [Fischer] Cave)

 

While I’m really looking forward to this new adventure, the Hubs & I are both still keeping our regular jobs and will be managing this from afar…and with all the business licenses and whatnot, we are up to our ears in CHAOS right now!  But here in a few months once we get the store open and find our routine, things should get back to “normal” so that I can resume blogging, because believe me—I haven’t stopped cooking, and I have a HYYYOOOOOOJJJ backlog of posts to write.

All the same…I’m super excited about this.  My blog here is for fun—I love sharing with all of you and being a part of this community.  But there are times when I find myself in my science-y “real world” and wish there was more cooking and creating going on.  With our new biz, I’ll be concocting fun new specialty sundaes/cones to feature each month, and my creative gears have been churning!  (Bacon, anyone?)

So, if you’d like to show our fledgling new biz some love, we’re on FB, Twitter, and Instagram.  There’s also a webpage of sorts in the works (set up on Blogspot); I’ll post a link later once it’s more fleshed out.

Stay tuned for some actual cooking related posts…sometime… :D

Thirsty Thursday: Pumpkin Beer Float!

Pumpkin beer.  It’s a passion I have.  Which makes this one of my favorite times of year.  I get to pick up mixed 6 packs and be a beer critic for a few months.  There’s a delicate balance to be found.  I should be able to taste all the typical “pumpkin pie” flavors…not just cloves.  Some brewers out there just hit WAY too heavy on the cloves.  If I wanted clove beer, I’d buy clove beer…but no, I bought PUMPKIN beer. 

Two of my favorite pumpkin beers are from right here in Missouri.  One is the O’Fallon Pumpkin Ale, which we featured in a Thirsty Thursday two weeks ago.  The other is made right here in Springfield, at Mother’s Brewing Company: Mr. Pumpkin.

Delicious, delicious brew, and fantastic label art to boot.

So here we are, with delicious cinnamony holiday ice cream in the house, and a bottle of Mr. Pumpkin.  What’s a girl to do?

BEER FLOAT.  That’s what we do.

 

Ingredients:

1 pint glass

2 scoops holiday ice cream (if you haven’t made this ice cream yet, and don’t have time to, not to worry.  Pick up a pint of something like the pumpkin spice ice cream at Starbucks or a freshly made pint of either cinnamon or pumpkin from your local gelato or froyo joint)

1 bottle Mr. Pumpkin (or other, inferior pumpkin beer…)  ;D

Two straws

 

Directions:

Pretty simple.  Ice cream goes into the glass.  Beer goes over that.

Add two straws, and share with your favorite someone.

Pumpkin spice added over the top, ‘cuz weez fancy like dat.

Holiday Ice Cream!

A few years ago, my friend Sam brought this AMAZING ice cream to a birthday party, and the Hubs & I were just absolutely smitten with it.  All the flavors of cinnamon, cloves, oranges, almonds… it was like EATING Christmas.  I asked him to share the recipe with me, which he was kind enough to do, because he’s awesome. 

Now…here’s the thing.  I’ve been utterly swamped lately.  My company has a massive project starting next week that’s going to require nearly all of our field personnel and much of the equipment we have…so we’ve all been under the gun to get any OTHER field work completed before that project started.  So between field work, office work, school work, and the general craziness of Halloween, I’ve been getting home really late.  And when it’s late, I don’t necessarily feel like cooking.  Particularly if it involves a lot of steps.

Which this ice cream sort of does.  Sure, chopping the almonds was easy.  But candying orange peels?  Yeahhhhh…I burnt them the first go-round and almost swore off this recipe entirely.

Thankfully, I’m blessed with an amazing husband who works out of our home. So one afternoon, he pulled out this recipe, candied the orange peels, make the “custard” base, and by the time I got home, everything was ready to go into the ice cream maker.  Have I mentioned how much I love my husband recently? :)

Anyway, I recommend saving this recipe for weekend sometime, because there’s a lot of time involved, particularly once you have to chill your ice cream base mixture.  If you’re craving ice cream OMGLIKERIGHTNOWWWW, then you’ll have to run out & grab a pint of Ben & Jerry’s.  But if you’ve got some free time, this decadent dessert is TOTALLY worth it.

 

INGREDIENTS: Candied Citrus Peel

• 1 large lemon or orange, preferably organic (no wax on the zest)
• 1 cup water
• ½ cup sugar
• 1½ tsp light corn syrup
• pinch of salt

Directions:

With a vegetable peeler, remove strips of peel from the citrus. Keep only the bright peel, leaving the white pith behind. Then slice the peel lengthwise into thin strips.

Put the strips of peel in a small, nonreactive saucepan, add enough water to cover them by a few inches, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a gentle boil and cook for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, strain the peel, and rinse with fresh water.

Combine the cup of water, sugar, corn syrup, and salt in the saucepan. Fit the pan with a candy thermometer and bring to a boil. Add the blanched peel, reduce the heat, and cook at a very low boil for about 25 minutes, until the thermometer reads 230˚F (NOTE: check back frequently and stir, or you will end up with a large pan of black goo.  Just FYI). Turn off the heat and let the peel cool in the syrup for a few minutes. Once cool, lift the peel out of the syrup with a fork, letting the excess drip away, and then place the peels on a sheet of wax paper to finish hardening.

Tastes like an orange Tootsie pop.

You’ll end up with about a cup of this, but you’ll only need 1/4 cup to go in the ice cream recipe below.  You can sprinkle some over the top of your ice cream for garnish, and save the rest for other recipes.  I’m planning to use it in a cranberry-orange cookie recipe soon. You can store the excess peel in an air tight container in the fridge for up to 2 months.

 

Ingredients: Ice Cream (makes about a quart)

• 1 cup fat free half and half
• ⅔ cup sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 4 large egg yolks
• 3 Tbsp honey
• ¼ cup mixed candied citrus peel
• ½ cup almonds, toasted and coarsely chopped

 

Directions:

Warm the half-and-half, sugar, and spices in a medium saucepan. Cover, remove from heat, and let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Pour the cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer over top. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the spiced mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the mixture back into the saucepan.

Stir the mixture constantly over medium-low heat with a spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Don’t rush this step: it might take 10 minutes or so. If you hurry it along, you may end up with scrambled eggs in your ice cream. Then, pour the custard through the strainer into the cream. Discard the cinnamon stick. Stir the custard until cool over an ice bath. While it’s cooling, stir the honey into the custard.

Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. This is vital.  If you pour warm ice cream mix into your ice cream maker, it’s not going to solidify properly.

(He’s so intense, isn’t he?)

When cold, freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. During the last few minutes of churning, add the citrus peel and almonds. 

(Chopped candied orange peel.  YUM.)

After about 15-20 minutes of churning, you’ll have somewhat soupy soft-servey ice cream.  Pour this into a freezer-safe airtight container, place in the freezer for a couple hours, and let it get nice & firm.

Serve with candied orange peel and/or sliced almond garnish. (I like mine with a little pumpkin pie spice sprinkled on top.)

I forgot to take a final pic, so you’ll have to just ogle this pretty pic snagged from the interwebs:

 

Other serving alternative to be featured in tomorrow’s Thirsty Thursday…stay tuned!!!

NutriFacts: (per 1/2 cup serving)

Calories 271.9

  Total Fat 16.7 g

  Saturated Fat 8.2 g

  Polyunsaturated Fat 1.5 g

  Monounsaturated Fat 6.2 g

  Cholesterol 144.9 mg

  Sodium 59.3 mg

  Potassium 146.2 mg

  Total Carbohydrate 28.6 g

  Dietary Fiber 1.0 g

  Sugars 24.8 g

  Protein 4.0 g