Lemon Pie Ice Cream

Summer's here, which means it's time for ice cream!  Right?  This has become one of my favorite desserts and I've made it, oh, maybe four times already this year, and it's only the beginning of June.   For family dinners, church activities, birthday gifts and just to have around the house, this has been my go-to dessert.  Yep, I'm a big, big fan of this ice cream!  

I love "everything" lemon and lemon pie is high up on that list.  This ice cream is sweet and tart with crunchy bits of graham cracker, and really does taste like a frozen pie.  It's also easy peasy to put together and can of course be made days before you want to serve it, which makes it almost the perfect dessert in my book.  The last time I made this I substituted key lime zest and juice for the lemon.  It did take a little longer to put together, those key limes are so itty bitty, you know, and it took quite a few to yield half a cup of juice.  But it was mighty tasty.  So, go for lemon pie or key lime pie and enjoy!

Remember to zest your lemons first.  It's difficult to zest an already squeezed lemon.  I know this from experience.  The recipe calls for 4 lemons.  I usually buy a bag of lemons so I have enough to make a double recipe. My ice cream maker (which I love) came with two bowls.  When I have room in my freezer, I store them there, so they are ready to go when the ice cream cravings hit.   Also, this microplane zester is one of the most used kitchen tools that I own.

 Pour the half and half into a medium sized bowl.

Juice the lemons.  You'll need half a cup.  If the zest and juice from the lemons don't work out to the exact measurements needed for the recipe, you can freeze any extras for later use.  I freeze extra juice in ice cube trays and they thaw quickly when I need a little for a recipe.  Fresh lemon juice is so much better than anything you buy processed in a jar, so don't throw any away!

Pour the juice and zest into the bowl, along with the can of sweetened condensed milk.  Mix well and then pour into the ice cream maker.  My machine takes about twenty minutes to freeze to a soft serve consistency.

After you start the machine, take your graham crackers and crush them into pieces.  I just do this with my hands in a ziplock bag.  You don't want crumbs, so don't overdo this.

Near the end of the churning time, add the crackers. 

Scoop into a freezer container and freeze for a few hours before serving.  This is an important, although sometimes difficult step.  Who wants to wait?    

Hooray for summer foods!

Lemon Pie Ice Cream

3-4 lemons

2 cups half and half

1 (14oz.) can sweetened condensed milk

3/4 cup coarsely crushed graham crackers

Grate zest from lemons to equal about 1 T.  Cut

lemons in half; squeeze juice from lemons into a

measuring cup to equal 1/2 cup.  Whisk together

half and half, condensed milk and lemon juice. 

Pour mixture into freezer container of an electric 

ice cream maker.  Freeze.  Add cracker crumbs when

ice cream is almost frozen.  Transfer to airtight container.

Freeze at least two hours before serving.

* Recipe source here.

Strawberry Crepes

We've been celebrating strawberry season in a big way.  The berries have been tasty and plentiful.  My own strawberry bed is producing for the first time and I love picking them warm from the sun and popping them straight into my mouth.  No chemicals on these babies, so I can do that with good conscience.  There are not however, enough to make all the wonderful things that I want to make, so I've been supplementing them with berries from the local farms and some from down the mountain in SC.  They're all delicious!   

A dear friend of mine is getting married in August and I've been asked to help with the food at the reception by coming up with a strawberry crepe recipe.  This has been a tasty project that my family has enjoyed!  Unlike his wife, my husband doesn't usually get too excited about food.  But these crepes, well, they have turned his head.  They might be his new favorite dessert!

This recipe is made in three different steps.  First I made a simple strawberry sauce.

 Strawberry Sauce

1 quart of sliced strawberries

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

2 T. cornstarch

squirt of fresh lemon juice

I brought the sauce to a boil and then I took a potato masher and squished the berries, leaving plenty of them in larger pieces.  As soon as the sauce began to thicken slightly,  I turned it off and let it cool.  I didn't want to overcook, because I was going for a nice fresh sauce here, not jam.   

The second step was mixing up the crepe batter.  I don't think I've made crepes since high school French class, but if I had known how easy they are,  I would have tried them much sooner.  I dumped all the ingredients into the blender and mixed everything up in a few seconds.

Crepe Batter

2 eggs

1 1/4 cup milk

1 cup plain flour

4 T. powdered sugar

2 T. melted butter

I sprayed a nonstick skillet with coconut oil and poured about 1/4 cup of batter in the pan.  Quickly I turned the pan from side to side to completely cover the bottom. 

As soon as the batter is set, gently flip over the crepe and cook for about a minute.  This all goes really quickly, so have a cooling rack close by so you can remove one crepe and start the next one.  The recipe makes about ten crepes, depending on the size of your pan.  You want them to be lightly browned, like this.

Putting the crepes together was the fun part.  I took one of the cooled crepes and spread it out on a plate.  

Next came the creme filling.  Oh, I forgot to tell you about the creme filling.  I guess this would be step three.   This filling is a divine mixture of cream cheese, powdered sugar, heavy cream and vanilla.   Mix this all together in your mixer and have it ready to spread on the crepes.  This will keep for days in the refrigerator, if you want to make it ahead of time. 

Creme Filling

2 packages of cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 cup of powdered sugar

1 cup of heavy whipping cream (unwhipped)

1 t. vanilla

Spread the crepe with the delicious cream filling and then place a few fresh strawberries on top of the cream.

Spoon the strawberry sauce over the fresh berries.

Wrap the crepe tightly with the seam on the bottom.

Make the second crepe, because you will definitely want two.

Sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar.  You could put more fresh berries and whipped cream on the top, but it's really not necessary.  They are perfect just like this.

I think these will be a hit at the wedding!

*Recipe adapted from this website.

Lemon Zucchini Bread

You know it's been a bad gardening year, when you can only grow one zucchini.  I mean really, ONE zucchini!  Usually at this time of year, I'm scrambling to find ways to use all the squash and zucchini and trying to give it away to anyone who will take it. This recipe for zucchini bread, just might be the best solution to that problem I've found so far.  It's completely different from the traditional recipe, that's heavy on warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg.  I like that one too, especially with nuts.  But this is light and lemony and perfect for summer.  I've made it a couple of times and everyone who's tasted it so far, has given it a big thumbs up.  My daughter asked, "What kind of bread was that?!?"  When I told her it was zucchini bread she said, "Well done!".  I think you'll like it too, even if you have to buy some zucchini in the store in order to make it. (I still can't believe I'm buying zucchini..., who would've ever thought?)

Start by mixing the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Break your eggs into another bowl.  Whisk eggs.  

Add liquid ingredients and whisk in sugar.

Zest and juice your lemons,

and add to liquid ingredients.

Wash and grate zucchini.  You can peel the zucchini if you like, but if you leave the peel on, the bread will have the prettiest little green flecks throughout.  Kids might not touch it, if it shows evidence of being made with a green vegetable, but that just means more for you. 

Make a well in the dry ingredients.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry.  Add grated zucchini, stirring gently just until everything is moistened. Be careful not to over mix. 

Spoon batter into greased and floured pans.  I like to use small pans, but you could use two large loaf pans instead.

Bake until golden brown and pick inserted in middle of loaf comes out clean.  Cool for a few minutes, then turn out on rack to cool completely.  

The original recipe, found here, didn't have a glaze.  But a lemon glaze could only make it better, right?  Now it tastes like Lemon Zucchini Cake- yummy!

Lemon Zucchini Bread

4 cups plain flour

4 t. baking powder

1 t. salt

2 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 cup milk (whole or half and half)

4 T. fresh lemon juice

zest of two lemons

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 cups grated zucchini

Mix dry ingredients in large bowl.  Mix

liquid ingredients in another bowl.  Stir in

sugar to eggs, oil, lemon juice, zest and milk.

Add zucchini.  Make a well in dry ingredients. 

Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix gently.

Spoon batter into greased and floured loaf pans.

Bake at 350 for 35 minutes (small pans) or

1 hour and 10 minutes (large pans).

Cool before glazing.

Lemon Glaze 

Confectioners sugar and lemon juice.

Mix until you have the consistency you like.

Drizzle over tops of bread.