Homemade Ice Cream in 30 Minutes

Well, if you remember to freeze the container 16 to 24 hours in advance, and make your ice cream mixture at least 4 hours ahead of time. I got an ice cream maker for Christmas from my mother in law. It is not something I would have bought myself.

I have found enough recipes for homemade ice cream that do not specifically require an ice cream maker. You freeze the mixture, then whiz it in a food processor. I already have a food processor. Plus, my ice cream maker does not make a large quantity. It will produce a maximum of 2 and a half cups. I can finish that in two sittings. It is barely enough to feed my family of four. Lots of work for very litle return.

I suppose the appeal would be the ability to customize the flavour to your preference. You could also be sure to have wholesome ingredients, or make it dairy, gluten, soy...insert allergen... free. Plus, it is fun to make your own ice cream, sometimes. I actually prefer the quick and easy double ziplock method with ice and salt, or the double can method. Shake up the mixture for a few minutes. It is a much more interactive process than watching the plastic paddle circulate in the freezer bowl.

Speaking if which, the paddle started sticking quite early on when the ice cream mixture froze on the side of the bowl. There were a few splashes when the paddle unstuck itself. The ice cream mixture was leaking out down the side. At the end of 25 minutes of churming, as I was about to click the machine off, the paddle stuck for so long that the lid popped off. There is a reason they tell you to not leave the machine unattended. Luckily, I was able to shut it off before there was a huge mess.

I will be trying a frozen yoghurt recipe next, to use up the egg whites that did not end up in ice cream mixture. I mixed some lime, honey and margarita mix with some yoghurt, and you add some beaten egg whites after you have chilled the yoghurt mixture. Again, I think I would be more likely to make frozen yoghurt pops next time, instead of churning frozen yoghurt, but I had the egg whites, and the other ingredients. Plus, the freezer bowl is already frozen.

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So Little Patience

I try to be patient with my children. I try to give them plenty of warning and time to get ready in order not to be short with them. But, it routinely backfires. I try to talk to them calmly, but I often end up repeating myself so many times it just becomes noise. I have taken a multitude of parenting classes. I have tried many different discipline techniques. I find myself at my wits' end almost every day.

I love my children, and would not trade them for anything in the world...most of the time, but they are giving me a run for the money. My son hits my husband and me when he is frustrated. You would think, it is no big deal to be hit by a three year old, but he is strong, and somehow, he find the sweet spot when he takes a swing. I have almost dropped him. My husband has dropped him. He screams and kicks. He will never do what we want. He won't do the opposite either if we try it that way. With both of my children, the threes have been the worst.

I figure, they know how to express themselves, so it is not a matter of not being able to communicate their wants. They just do not want to do what we want them to do. Tantrums are their power. This is the only way they have to fight back. At three, they have not quite figured out if they listen and are well behaved, they will be rewarded. This is probably why my reward chart is not working. Actually, my almost six year old daughter has not really figured this out either.

My son refuses to sleep in his room. He also refuses to go to bed when he should. (He refuses to eat supper, get dressed, brush his teeth...you get the picture). I keep telling him if he sleeps in his own bed the whole night he will earn stars towards a reward, but he weighs the options, and decides that he would rather forgo a future toy for the immediate "pleasure" of sleeping anywhere other than in his bed. I have actually taken away one of the prizes he earned for a brief period of sleeping in his bed because he has stopped sleeping in his bed.

There is no reasoning with him either. Often, our last resort is to let him cry it out in his room until he falls asleep. Somehow, he has not figured out the child proof door knob. I try very, very hard not to get into a shouting match with him. He is a screamer and a yeller. I try to remain calm and quiet as much as possible, but he often outlasts me. I swear, we could use my children to get people to divulge their secrets. Torture by preschooler.

I know, this too shall pass. Every stage has its pleasures and its displeasures. It is tough being a parent. If I wanted an easy life, I would not have chosen to have children. The challenges usually lead to rewards, and there are moments when my children are laughing, smiling and singing that I truly do treasure. I just have to keep that in mind during the times when my kids are screaming and banging against their doors.

 

 

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Paying For Goals

This weekend is our children's soccer tournament. My son is in the U4 development program, so they just had a "festival". He was all suited up, but decided at the field he did not want to leave his sister's game. He did eventually go to his field, but sat and watched for half an hour before my husband decided to take him shopping.

My son loves kicking the ball around in the gym, or at home, but for some reason he is not into the organized soccer program. Last week, he got offended when his father chastised him for something, and I spent the whole hour following him around the field, trying to get him to do the skills. At least I am learning some soccer moves! He seems to show some natural ability, so it would be nice if he perks up later in the season.

My daughter is in her second season of soccer, in the U6 girls division. She has never had development, unfortunately, and has been relying on observation. Considering she is the youngest and least experienced player on her team, I think she is doing really well. Last year, the season was spent picking dandelions. This year, she is running all over the field, and keeping up with the front runners. I should say catching up. She is a little speed demon. However, she has no idea what to do with the ball when she gets it.

So far, her team has won every game in the tournament, but she is one of two girls who has yet to score. You should hear the parents (moms) encouraging her and the other girl whenever they get the ball. If the team is leading far enough ahead, the other parents will tell their girls to pass the ball to my daughter or the other scoreless player. She has tried, and had a few kicks on net, but her kicks are weak. She did awesome in goal yesterday, and I am proud she is showing an interest in the sport.

She has not been too thrilled about the constant game aspect of the tournament. The girls have played four games in two days. I took her to a birthday party in between two games yesterday, and she did not want to leave for a soccer game. It took a lot of convincing and a few tears to get her to the field on time. She did step up, and play well. Also, despite not wanting to play yet another game yesterday evening, she was an excellent goaltender.

I have not offered a bribe for her to get a goal. Other parents have done this for their children, and it just feels wrong to me. I might have to bribe my son to participate in the regular soccer program, but we seem to have to use incentives for him to do a lot of things. He still refuses to sleep in his own bed, let alone his own room. I do not think my daughter would be more likely to score even if I did bribe her. She is participating fairly well in the tournament.

It is raining this morning. My daughter is in a bit of denial that she has her final soccer match this morning. It will be interesting to see how much she enjoys playing in the rain. She was already growing weary of playing soccer after her second tournament game. We are now on game five. If she scores, we will all be happy and proud of her, but I am already impressed by how much she has improved over last year. Another bonus of this year's season is the addition of development classes on the weekend, so she can learn some soccer skills, like her brother, if we ever have time on the weekends!

 

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Falling Off The Writing Wagon

So, I have not been true to my goal of writing every other day of late. Mostly, this has been because I have not felt inspired to write. Many times, people write to rave or rant about something. My last rave was in praise of watermelon margaritas. I could write about how much I like mojitos too, but then people might get the wrong impression of me. I really do not drink very much.

I tend to rave about things I have cooked or events I have attended. Not that life has not been good lately. It has been pleasant, but uneventful. I just have not done or made anything spectacular or different in quite some time. I have not done anything I feel inspired to tell the world about.

I also do not feel much like ranting. People tend to rant about the same thing over and over. The same things that irritated me before are still irritating me now. I am always concerned about how people perceive and/or judge me, but I have already broached this subject. I do not need to revisit it.

Also, my life is going fairly well right now, and I do not feel the need to rant. Rants are reserved to people who have no other problems going on in their lives. Although, I personally do not have things going wrong in my life at the moment, I have enough friends dealing with loss right now, I do not feel I have the right to rant about petty things.

I will try to find inspiring things to write about his month, and see how well I do with adding entries to my blog. No one is reading anyway, so it is for my "piece of mind". I try to set a goal I could reach, and for a while, I was able to write almost every other day, aside for holiday times. I am no longer caring for my children solo or visiting my parents nor occupied more often socially. You would think I could come up with something. I will try better.

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Watermelon Margaritas

Recently, my friends and I attended the wedding of a mutual friend. We all lived together in Monterrey, Mexico, over ten years ago. This was the first time all four of us were together since we left Mexico to come back home in June 2002. Being together brought back a lot of memories. One of our traditions was attending two for one Margarita night at a bar called Nueva Luna. They had all sorts of flavours from strawberry to tamarind. I do not know if they had watermelon, but I found a tasty, and easy, recipe for watermelon margaritas in my latest Food and Drink magazine from the LCBO, and had to try it.

The recipe is from President's Choice Black Label brand because it uses their margarita mix as the base. Okay, so this might not be super family friendly, but sometimes mommies and daddies need to unwind. Enjoy this in moderation. You could also make it without the tequila and orange liqueur. Maybe add some orange zest or a dollop of orange marmalade to give a bit of the bitter orange flavour.

Watermelon margaritas using the Black Label margarita mix.

Cut up 1 1/2 cups of seedless watermelon. Freeze it for two hours. To a blender, add frozen watermelon, 1/8 cup tequila, 1/8cup orange liqueur, 1/4 cup of margarita mix and 3/4 cup ice cubes. Blend until smooth and slushie. This recipe makes two drinks, or one really big drink.

Now, officially, my favourite summer drink. If only I could figure out how to make a tamarind flavoured frozen drink, then I would be set.

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