Say "Pesto-Changeo" & you too can make Pesto!

“Abracadabra!” “Alakazam!” No, honey, you don’t need a magic trick to make pesto! Put down your magic wand and save your witch hat for next month. Go look outside!

Is your basil trying to go to seed? Grab those leaves and let’s make some pesto! Seriously though, grab them sooner rather than later because when herbs or vegetables go to seed, they turn bitter. Why you ask? Oh, it is this cool thing that the plant is trying to pass on its genetics, by turning bitter. This adaption keeps animals in the wild from eating them. Thus, their genetics are passed on. Enough about biology—back to Genovese Basil, which is the type that is best suited for pesto!

Okay, wait, one more biology lesson, or it could be considered horticultural. Either way, do you know how many types of basil there are? 21!! I had no idea either! Each has its own distinct flavor profile, so many of the variations cannot be used interchangeably. For pesto making, it’s Genovese Basil, which looks very similar to Sweet Basil-- probably the variation you are most familiar with. My basil grows like a weed in the summer so that means by late summer, it is starting to go to seed. Lucky for me I make a giant batch of pesto to enjoy well into fall. I divide the batch into a few vacuum-sealed bags and freeze them for quick and easy meals! I snuck a few extra greens into this recipe. Spinach for some extra vitamins and minerals and arugula to help give a lovely, peppery bite to the pesto. I love this pesto recipe so much and hope you will too!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups basil leaves

• 1 cup spinach

• 1/2 cup arugula

• 3 large garlic cloves

• 2 cups shredded parmesan

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 1 pound of cooked and drained pasta

  • Reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water before you drain the pasta

Method:

1. In a food processor, add in all of the ingredients, except the olive oil, and pulse until paste-like.

2. With the processor on, slowly stream in olive oil until pesto is smooth and homogenous. Taste for seasoning and adjust as needed.

3. Scoop into a large bowl, cover, and set to the side if using immediately. Set in the refrigerator, if not using immediately. A note on flavor development—There are two factors when it comes to building flavor: time and temperature. Like a middle school grade dance, these flavors are standing on opposite sides of the room. As there is no alcohol in this recipe, time is going to be our ice breaker, and let’s give these flavors a chance to get to know each other. If covered and in the fridge, the pesto will keep for 5 days.

   Tip: To keep the top of the pesto from drying out, once in its container, add a drizzle of olive oil to the top, cover, and then, place in the refrigerator.

4. If using immediately, move on to step 5!

5. Bring a large of heavily salted water to a rolling boil.

6. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Scoop out 1/2 cup of pasta water and set it to the side.

7. Drain pasta and put back into the pot. Add pesto and stir it together. If pesto is not spreading easily, add a few drops of pasta water until pasta is covered in pesto!

8. Plate and add a little extra parm on the top!

You’ll notice that there are no pine nuts in this recipe. Nuts are hit or miss with me. It seems that everything but almonds causes an adverse reaction for me, so I steer clear of 99% of nuts. If you are missing them in this recipe, simply toast about 1/4 of a cup of pine nuts on the stove, until you can smell them, add them to the food processor, and proceed with step 1.

Dirty Mint Ice Cream

I absolutely adore mint in everything from my salads to my cocktails to my desserts—but most especially my ice cream. Recently, I have observed that the mint-chocolate flavor combination is becoming increasingly overlooked in favor of things that are more inventive and current, like mascarpone and fig or honey and lavender ice cream flavors. But what flavor is as refreshing as mint? It stands alone. What food is as celebrated as chocolate? None. It is time to revive this classic and celebrate her contributions to our spoons and stomachs. I’m a proud member of the ice cream party and am voting Mint-Chocolate 2020!

Ingredients:

• 3 cups whole milk

• 3 cups heavy cream

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt

• 3/4 cup sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon mint extract

• 3-5 drops green food coloring, personal color preference

• 1 cup Oreos, crushed

• 2 tablespoons chocolate hard shell (optional)

Method:

1. Freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. In a large bowl combine, milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

3. Add in cream and mint extract and food coloring. Stir until incorporated.

4. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

5. Pull out mix and give it a final stir.

6. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

7. While that’s churning, count out 12 Oreos and put 10 into a plastic bag and smash into crumbs with a rolling pin. This should yield about 1 cup. Snack on the saved two while waiting for ice cream to finish; when you finish the package of Oreos without sharing, hide the evidence.

8. With 5 minutes left on the churn, add in crushed Oreos and drizzle in chocolate hard shell.

9. Once completed, put in a freezing container, and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

10. Welcome to the Ice Cream Party! We are glad to have you!

Peach Cobbler 2.0

I love recipes. I love them for many reasons, from being able to pass down dishes served around the family dining table for generations to the fact that they can be as comforting and familiar as an old friend; however, I believe there is an element that can make recipes even more precious. They often can take on a life of their own. A simple tweak here and there can yield something new and exciting, maybe a different flavor profile, or an element of texture that elevates a dish that much more. That is what I have been learning in the kitchen as of late, the big tweaks are sometimes necessary, but the difference between a good and a great dish is often made by a smaller, more precise change. Think paring knife instead of chef’s knife. While I didn’t take a paring knife to my family’s peach cobbler recipe that I originally shared last summer: here, I did breakout the microplane and a teaspoon for some tweaks. Those little tweaks added up to big flavor development! The addition of citrus zest brightens the whole dish, while cinnamon provides that warmth on your tongue when it first hits your taste buds. Though this recipe has been elevated a bit, the batter feels reminiscent of Miss Truvy’s “cuppa, cuppa, cuppa” simple recipe in Steel Magnolias and I’ve always loved that, no tweaking there.

Ingredients:

• 8-12 soft peaches, yielding about 2.5-3 cups of diced fruit and juice

• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest

• 1 cup AP flour

• 1.5 cups sugar

• 1 cup milk

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter cut into 16 pats, 1/2 tablespoon pieces

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Peel and cut up peaches into 1/2 chucks and put into a large bowl. Tip: Make sure you squeeze the pits of the peaches to get all the juice and the fruit off the pit!

3. Add 1/2 cup of sugar, cinnamon, and lemon zest to your peaches and let sit for 15 minutes. Hello, maceration!

4. In another bowl combine, 1 cup of sugar, flour and milk and mix together.

5. Add in vanilla and mix.

6. Cut a stick of butter into 1/2 tablespoon pieces (you’ll get 16!)

7. Grease a baking dish (I used 9 x 13) and pour batter into dish.

8. Distribute the butter evenly over the top of the batter (like little butter life rafts!).

9. Pour peach mixture over the top of the batter. Aim for the center of the pan as the sides of the batter are going to bake up and need to come up and over the peaches. (Say it with me, batter: “I think I can, I think I can, I think I can…”)

10. Bake for 45-50 degrees or until golden brown and sides of pan and center bubble.

S'Mores Ice Cream

Well friends, we made it to June—Happy Summer! The temperatures in Texas have officially moved from warm to just plain H-O-T! With the rising temperatures, I am thinking of all the ways to cool down and my favorite way to do it is with my number one vice: ice cream! This recipe pays tribute to those nostalgic s’mores I used to enjoy at camp and at my family’s lake house growing up. I’m curious are you very methodical about your marshmallow roasting, trying to get just the right golden color, or do you simply just light yours on fire and let nature take its course? I am the latter—I love the crunch that comes with a burned marshmallow. I feel like you can get a small taste of children’s risk tolerance, watching them around a campfire, engaging in the roasting practice. I am no rebel though; a burned marshmallow is about as wild as I get! Spreading s’more love from my ice cream maker to yours—here’s to a sweet treat to beat the summer heat!

Ingredients:

• 5 graham cracker sheets broken into pieces

• 3 cups whole milk

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 tbsp vanilla

• 1 tsp kosher salt

• 3/4 cup chopped chocolate bar

• 3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (I used a box of graham cracker pie crust) You could always pulse some graham crackers in the blender until you get a powder-like consistency

• 3/4 cup of mallow bits (I used Kraft)

Method:

1. Freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place broken graham crackers onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until you start smelling them.

3. Pour toasted graham crackers into a bowl with 3 cups of milk. Cover and steep for 15 minutes. Strain milk out of crackers, pressing with a spatula. You should get back 3 cups of milk, but if you get a little less than that—don’t worry—just top off with regular milk!

4. In a large bowl, combine graham cracker milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

5. Add in cream and vanilla extract. Stir until incorporated.

6. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

7. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

8. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

9. With 5 minutes left on the churn, add in chopped chocolate, graham cracker crumbs, and mallow bits.

10. Once completed, put in a freezing container, and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

11. Enjoy your s’mores ice cream and remember to spread s’more love!

Chocolate Ice Cream

A sweet treat for a sweet day! Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary and actually the first time we have spent May 6th in Dallas since the day we got married! We love to take a trip over our anniversary! Tonight will look a little different, but still delicious! Ribeyes on the grill, twice baked potatoes, a glass (or two!) of red wine, the leftover brisket queso from yesterday’s Cinco de Mayo dinner, and finally, cookies and ice cream! I whipped this ice cream up in no time at all and it will be the perfect sweet treat to cap off tonight’s celebrations. I included some wedding photos below and it is very easy to see that our wedding revolved around food! I don’t think our guests went more than 30 minutes without eating! Starting off with our fabulous passed hors d'oeuvres (including mini crab cakes!), our three signature cocktails for our hour and a half cocktail hour (the Kentucky Derby ran in the middle of our cocktail hour so we had the country club set up a TV outside and served mint juleps during it too!). Leading to a seated dinner of salmon and beef tenderloin, my bride’s cake with vanilla and red velvet cake, my husband’s cookie bar with 2000 Oreos stacked with 15 dozen cookies and macaroons and spiked milk punch, a midnight snack of sliders and fries, and then donut holes in cinnamon and sugar to end the night on a sweet note! Clearly, our priorities have not changed—I would not have it any other way!

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups of whole milk

• 2 cups of heavy cream

• 1 tsp. vanilla

• 1 cup of sugar

• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

• 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, unsweetened

• 1/2 tsp. espresso powder—it is just going to enhance and intensify the cocoa flavor!

• Optional spike: 1/8 cup of preferred bourbon or whiskey—this will also intensify the chocolate flavor

Method:

1. Pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

3. Add in cream, vanilla extract, and espresso and cocoa powder. Add your spirit spike here too! Stir until incorporated, it’ll take a second! You might have to whip out a whisk!

4. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes. This time is going to help the milk absorb all the cocoa powder you just threw at it!

5. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir or whisk.

6. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

7. Put in a freezing container and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

8. Behold—your new favorite summer treat!

Grandpa's Breakfast Ice Cream

Okay, okay, I have to say that my beloved grandfather “Papu” was not the inspiration for this recipe. He enjoys grapes and milk with his cereal at his 3:30 am wake up call—oh the sleep-deprived life of a cattle rancher and farmer. This recipe is more of a figment of my imagination: an incorrigible, white-haired man slipping spirits into his breakfast cereal before anyone can catch him. In my imagination this ice cream sounded delicious, and I am happy to report that in real life it tastes as good as I imagined. I think the tongue-in-cheek title adds to the flavor too—I deeply appreciate food that doesn’t take itself too seriously. In fact, that is exactly what this quarantine has brought out in me, a recovering perfectionist—a charge to try and not to take things so seriously. A reminder that life is finite and precious. The schedule, the plan, the day, inevitably, changes. I can either waste energy trying to course-correct, or go with the flow and put my energy into creating progress on what I can control: me doing my darnedest to see and keep up with therapy clients through telehealth and giving myself permission to play with food and flavors! Though I hope this quarantine will end soon, I must say that I have appreciated the pause and creativity that has come with the stillness—though I know that has definitely not been the case for everyone. I hope you are staying safe and well, and don’t forget to play with you food and laugh when you can. You never know what you will come up with, like putting cornflakes and bourbon together to make a delicious bowl of ice cream. 

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cornflakes

• 2 1/4 cups milk, yielding 2 cups of cereal milk

• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream

• 1/8 cup bourbon

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Method:

1. Freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place 3 cups of cornflakes onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.

3. Pour 2 cups of toasted cornflakes into a bowl with 2 1/4 cups of milk. Cover and steep for 15 minutes. Strain milk out of cereal, pressing with a spatula. Due to the cornflakes absorbing the milk you will probably be left with 2 cups of cereal milk. If you get a little less than that—don’t worry—just top off with regular milk!

   P.S. Congratulations you just made cereal milk! It’s all the rage in NYC.

4. In a large bowl, combine cereal milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

5. Add in cream, vanilla extract, and bourbon. Stir until incorporated.

6. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

7. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

8. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

9. While your ice cream starts churning, take remaining cup of cornflakes and place into the jar of a blender. Blend into a fine powder. This is your mix in!

10. With 5 minutes left on the churn, add in cornflake powder!

11. Once completed, put in a freezing container, and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

12. You can absolutely leave out the bourbon to make this kid-friendly! Or the mix in if you just want plain cereal milk!

Watermelon Crawl

Truth be told I pretty much avoid alcohol Monday through Friday unless I am celebrating a special occasion—even then I am a one drink with dinner kind of girl. But yesterday I got a hankering for the watermelon juice that I typically make myself in the summer afternoons (think of an agua fresca!) where you basically just blend watermelon and ice together (so refreshing and hydrating). As I started blending the watermelon though, the proverbial creative juices really started flowing and all of the country songs involving alcohol-soaked watermelons at church picnics started playing in my head: I decided this juice needed a kick and a twist! My husband, seeing me pouring out a shot of vodka, walked by the kitchen laughing and said, “Quarantine has changed you!” I told him to hold onto his socks, and into the blender went the vodka. Next, I decided on lime juice, simple syrup, and mint and blended it together. It smelled amazing! Then I shook it over ice, strained it, served him a tester of the concoction. One sip in he decided that he was on board with the cocktail train that was leaving the station. This cocktail is refreshing with a citrus and mint kick and while it does have vodka in it, it is very light and not boozy! See also: perfect for sipping on a sunny afternoon. Happy Friday!

Tip: Serve with a watermelon wedge and eat your booze-infused watermelon once you have finished the drink!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups watermelon juice

• 2oz vodka or tequila

• 1.5oz lime juice

• .5oz of simple syrup

• 2-3 mint leaves

Method:

1. In the jar of a blender combine, watermelon juice, your spirit of choice, lime juice, simple syrup, and mint leaves.

2. Blend until liquified.

3. Pour juice into cocktail shaker and fill shaker 1/2 way full of ice. Shake it for 10 seconds.

4. Fill a cocktail glass with ice and strain juice into glass. Serve with a watermelon wedge and a sprig of mint.

5. Enjoy!

Hot Chocolate Ice Cream with Marshmallows

Raise your hand if you were obsessed with Serendipity’s Frozen Hot Chocolate growing up (both of my hands are in the air!). I am sure the nutritionist I saw as a child just cringed! I will never forget the first time I tried that magical dessert during one hot New York summer day. It was love at first bite—as it enabled me to have one of my favorite Christmas time beverages in the summer heat. I loved it so much that I asked to bring the pre-made packets back to Dallas so I could make them as I pleased. While good, they were just not the same, I could never get the consistency right. Fast forward to the following summer, my quest for ice cold hot chocolate was still red hot. After swimming in the pool, I decided that some ice cream was in order (see that nutritional training paid off!). Perhaps, I thought, maybe if I combined a pre-made hot chocolate packet into ice cream, I might have something similar.

I wish I could go back in time and give my younger self a pat on the back because that 13 year old girl was on to something! Throughout high school and college, the frozen hot chocolate inspiration evolved into hot chocolate ice cream. I would simply take a hot chocolate packet and combine it with a simple vanilla ice cream recipe—voila. As I have gotten older though, I have really wanted to nail this recipe down and make it my own, as it one of my favorite childhood creations. I am so happy to share this recipe with you, as it is years in the making, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I have! Perhaps I should add to my resume: Savannah, virgo, gluten-full, and believer in year round hot chocolate consumption? I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you say, “Yes!”, as my spoon was scraping the bottom of the bowl.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups of whole milk

• 2 cups of heavy cream

• 2 tsp. vanilla

• 1 cup of sugar

• 1 tbsp. kosher salt

• 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, unsweetened

• 1/4 tsp. espresso powder—it is just going to enhance and intensify the cocoa flavor!

• 1 cup of marshmallow bits, I used Kraft

Method:

1. Pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

2. In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, and salt. Stir together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

3. Add in cream, vanilla extract, and espresso and cocoa powders. Stir until incorporated, it’ll take a second! You might have to whip out a whisk!

   Side bar: you could put all of the above ingredients together into a saucepan and heat over the stove on a medium-low setting until cocoa powder is mixed in—just like you would make stovetop hot chocolate. If you want to do this, just pick back up on step 4. I just wanted to simplify this process and opted to stir in my cocoa sans heat.

4. Cover and chill for 2 hours, or if needing quicker, put in the freezer for 30 minutes.

5. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

6. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

7. Slowly add in marshmallows directly into ice cream mix with 5 minutes left to go.

8. Put in a freezing container and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

9. Welcome to the hot chocolate ice cream fan club! I am the founder, manager, and janitor of the club!

Peach Ice Cream

Happy Labor Day weekend! The official bookend of summer is upon us and in case you find yourself by a peach stand during this long weekend, needing to get your last summer fix, make this! I find that there are two camps when it comes to peach ice cream. Camp one: wants basically vanilla with peach chucks in it. Camp two: wants it to taste/smell/look like a peach, just colder. Since I’m all about taking your favorite things from each recipe and blending together, this felt like a fun one to experiment with. Here’s what I found, making a peach simple syrup is KEY! It contributes sweetness, color and translates the essence of peach very well into the milk and cream mixture. Don’t worry, it’s not as complex as it sounds—I’m going to walk you through step by step so you too can know the wonders of peach ice cream!

Ingredients:

Peach Ice Cream

- 2 1/2 cups heavy cream

-2 cups whole milk

-2 1/2 tsp salt

-3/4 cup sugar

-2 cups fresh peaches, cubed (about 5 peaches)

-1/2 cup of peach simple syrup

-2 tsp vanilla extract

Peach Simple Syrup:

-skins of 5 yellow peaches

-1 1/3 cup water

-1 1/3 cup sugar

Method:

Peach Simple Syrup

1. Peel the skin off 5 peaches. Place the inside of the peaches into a bowl (we will need for the ice cream) and place the skins into a saucepan.

2. Fill saucepan with water until peaches are covered. Add same amount of sugar, as you did water. For this exercise, my measurement was 1 1/3 cup for both. Stir together until dissolved.

3. Bring peach skins to a boil for 5 minutes. Reduce to a simmer and let cook for 45 minutes.

4. Strain peach skins and place peach simple syrup in a container to cool completely.

Peach Ice Cream

1. Place the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker in the freezer at 0 degrees for 24 hours

2. In a large bowl combine, milk, sugar and salt. Stir until dissolved.

3. Add in cream, vanilla, and simple syrup and mix to combine. Cover and let chill for 2 hours.

4. Take freezer bowl out of freezer, and add cream mix, make according to your machines settings.

5. Add in peach chunks with 5 minutes to go.

Peach Cobbler with Salted Vanilla Ice Cream

There are many things I love about the summertime: more daylight hours, blueberry picking, the smell of sunscreen, and peach season to name a few. Peach cobbler has always felt like summertime in a bowl to me. Maybe it’s the bright color or the mix of the jelly-like texture of the peaches, with the pillowy-bread top, or the fact that it tastes like sunshine personified? I always knew it was the start of summer when my mom made a peach cobbler on Memorial Day Weekend, and then through out each holiday in the summer, made from peaches that we usually pick up from a peach orchard not far from our family’s farm in East Texas. The cool thing about cobblers is that is feels like everyone’s family has their own recipe and I love seeing how everyone puts their own spin on things—keeping the family traditions alive. I love the fact that this is the recipe my grandmother made, my mother makes, and my sister and I will continue to make. Each adding our own touches to make it our own. My mom doubles the recipes to make it thicker and cooks it longer, my sister makes her gluten free, and I macerate my peaches (which means nothing more than letting sugar break down fruit) and added the ice cream touch to make it a little extra special!

This is our family’s peach cobbler recipe and it reads a little like Miss Truvy’s “Cuppa-Cuppa-Cuppa” recipe from Steel Magnolias. I added the Salted Vanilla Ice Cream because the salt brings out the natural sweetness from the peaches, as well as cuts through the syrup-y sweet taste.

Peach Cobbler Recipe

Ingredients:

-1 cup of flour

-1 1/2 cups of sugar

-1/4 tsp of cinnamon

-1 cup of milk

-2 tsp baking powder

-1 stick of butter

-12 overly ripe peaches (you can leave them in the window sill to help them ripen!)

Method

1. Peel peaches and cut into 1/2 in. size, sprinkle with half a cup of sugar and cinnamon. Set aside to macerate for 10-15 minutes.

2. Mix together flour, sugar, milk, and baking powder to make a paste.

3. Pour paste into a greased 9x13 baking dish.

4. Cube one stick of butter of the paste.

5. Pour peaches over the butter.

6. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until it bubbles all around sides and in the center and browned.

Salted Vanilla Ice Cream

Pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

Ingredients:

-2 cups of whole milk

-2 1/2 cups of heavy cream

-1 cup of sugar

-1 tbs. of kosher salt (I use Diamond)

-2 tsp. of vanilla extract

Method:

1. In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, salt. Stir (do not whisk) together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

2. Add in cream, vanilla extract, and combine. Cover and chill for 2 hours.

3. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

4. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machine’s settings.

5. Put in a freezing container and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

6. Or enjoy immediately over your freshly made peach cobbler and sprinkle with a little extra cinnamon!

Butterfinger Ice Cream with swirled peanut butter

As the temperatures ramp up in Dallas, my obsession with perfecting ice cream recipes seems to be surging right along with them. I promise, come September 1st, you will see a green vegetable grace this site—maybe even two! But for now, the ideas keep coming, so I’m going to keep churning out (pun intended) the cream. Growing up Butterfinger was my favorite candy, a preferred treat of mine post soccer games. I loved the way the pieces broke off and it was still crunchy while being enrobed in chocolate. Delicious. I’ve tried Twix as a mix in for ice cream and the cookies just do not hold up to the ice cream and the crunch gets lost. All that is solved with the use of Butterfingers. It crumbles beautifully, breaks off into multiple sizes and shapes, the color is a fabulous burnt orange, and stays crunchy! Add in a little peanut butter and you’ve got yourself quite a treat—almost becoming mousse-like when churned. YUM!

Butterfinger Ice Cream with Swirled Peanut Butter:

Pre-freeze ice cream maker bowl at 0 degrees for 24 hours.

Ingredients:

-2 1/2 cups of heavy cream

-2 cups of whole milk

-1/2 cup of sugar

-2 1/2 tsp of kosher salt, remember the peanut butter will add salt too!

-2 tsp vanilla extract

-3/4 cup of smooth peanut butter (spray your measuring cup with nonstick spray prior to filling)

-1 cup of chopped/crushed Butterfingers (this took about 10 of the fun-sized bars)

Method:

1. In a large bowl, combine milk, sugar, salt. Stir (do not whisk) together until sugar and salt are dissolved.

2. Add in cream and vanilla and combine. Put in refrigerator to chill for 2 hours.

3. Pull out mix, and give it a final stir, taking care not to make it bubbles, as you do not want to add air.

4. Pour into ice cream bowl and make according to your machines settings.

5. Add in Butterfinger pieces with 5 minutes to go. Then add in your peanut butter—slowly drizzle it in. The candy pieces will grab the peanut butter (they make the texture a little more irregular)—incorporating it easier.

6. Put in a freezing container and let harden for 3-4 hours or overnight.

7. As the little alien dude says in the new Butterfinger commercial, “Nobody lay a finger on my Butterfinger.”

8. Make a sign to go on your ice cream with the same sentiment.

A little abstract ice cream art…

Gluten Free Blueberry Cobbler

Two truths and a lie: I once cast over 500 votes for Kelly Clarkson in finale of season one of American Idol (Kelly, feel free to send a royalty check at any time) using both land lines at my parents house, my mom’s cell phone, and the cell phone I got in 5th grade for “emergencies,” I was once featured on episode of a hunting show filmed on my family’s ranch, and I am gluten free.

What’s that you say? Gluten free is the lie? You are correct! For those curious about the truths: the show is called Brush Country Monsters, the episode is “West Texas Whitetails.” I was also on the opening credits for season one of the show… I digress.

I am not gluten free; however, many people in my life are. Namely, my sister. As someone who views the making and giving food as one of the love languages (sorry, Gary Chapman), the thought of someone having to watch everyone else enjoy a treat that they can’t makes me sad. I wanted to change that and the Good Lord gave us oat flour—His mercies are indeed new every morning.

My friends, I give you Gluten Free Blueberry Cobbler...

Ingredients:

-1 cup of sugar

-1/2 tsp kosher salt

-2 to 3 cups of blueberries, depending on your berry-enthusiasm scale (mine is on the higher end)

-1 cup of oat flour

-1 tbsp of baking powder (these are generally gluten free, but always double check the starches in the ingredients)

-1 tbsp of the juice of an orange

-1 tsp orange zest

-1 cup of milk

-1 tbsp of vegetable oil (or your preference of neutral flavored oil)

-1 stick of butter

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl combine: sugar, salt, oat flour and baking powder and mix together. Add in the milk, oil, orange juice and zest and stir. Why the extra oil? Well, oat flour is a drier flour and it will be receiving moisture from the butter we add in later, but this oil is going to help the batter stay tender while baking.

In a baking dish (mine was 9x13), butter or coat the dish with a nonstick cooking spray. Add in your batter mixture to the baking dish. Then cut a stick of butter into 1/2 tsp size pieces, there are 8 tbs in each stick of butter, so you will have 16 pats of butter. Distribute the butter pats evenly on top of the batter. Then pour your blueberries on top of the batter and butter. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until cooked and golden brown.

Goes perfectly with ice cream and that’s no lie.

Watermelon Caprese Salad

I think we can all agree that when the temperatures rise (especially in Texas) that you rarely will crave a hot meal in the thick of summer. Unless that hot food is queso, which I crave 24/7. If I am seeing clients late, I rarely want to make a big expression with my dinner. Often times I am eating dinner at about 8:30 on my late client nights, and just want a quick dinner before bed. Enter Watermelon Caprese Salad. It’s quick, easy, delicious, and like the earth, watermelon is mostly made up of water (try 90%!) so it will help keep you hydrated in the heat of summer. Filling from the cheese and fiber from the watermelon, in addition to being hydrating and pretty to look at, this salad would graduate valedictorian. Serve as a quick, meatless dinner, salad option, or a side dish. Could also be styled on a skewer!

Ingredients:

-4 cups of cubed watermelon

-8 oz. of mozzarella

- large handful of basil, hand torn yielding about 1/2 c of basil

-2 to 3 second drizzle of olive oil (don’t count in Mississippi’s)…which gets you around 1.5 tablespoons

-a drizzle of balsamic reduction

-pinch of flaky sea salt and pepper (if it suits you)

Method:

Cube up a watermelon into bite size pieces (about 1 in. cubes). Then break the mozzarella into bite size pieces. Hand tear the basil (this is essential because the heat of your hand releases the oils in the basil, thus making it more fragrant/delish). Toss together and sprinkle with some flaky sea salt. Finish with a balsamic reduction, you can make your own on the stove or buy it at your grocer, and your preferred olive oil.

Buckle up, my friend. Your taste buds are going for a wild ride.

P.S. I’ve used peaches before too, and while good, the watermelon soaks all of these flavors up like a sponge.