Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

Since we're in the midst of an 8 day (thus far!!) heat wave here on the East Coast, I decided that now would be the perfect time to make some homemade ice cream to cool down with.  I recently bought the ice cream make attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer and was anxious to try it out.  So I decided that yesterday was the day!!

This recipe is one that I learned while I was a camp counselor one summer in college.  Making ice cream was one of our afternoon activities, only we did it hand crank style!!  Gotta give those kids a work out, right?!?!  I fell in love with it the first time I tasted it.  It is super sweet and dreamy.  It's the consistency of soft serve right out of the ice cream maker, so if you like your ice cream a little firmer, freeze until it's your desired consistency.  I think its delicious now matter what consistency it is.

I love this recipe because it's not custard based, so you don't have to worry about tempering egg yolks. My new ice cream maker performed beautifully!!  So glad that I bought it.  I think I'm just going to store it in the freezer so I am always ready to make ice cream.

I halve this recipe as it makes too much for my ice cream maker, which is a 2 qt maker.  I re-use Cool Whip containers to store the ice cream in in the freezer.

Here is the recipe:
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream

1 quart milk (I used whole to give it a creamier texture)
1 quart heavy cream
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 teaspoons vanilla

Mix all ingredients together.  Refrigerate until chilled.  Freeze according to you ice cream maker.  Place in a freezer safe container for 2-4 hours for a firmer consistency.  Enjoy!!

I hope you enjoy this recipe!!  Stay cool out there!!  Hoping that our heat wave breaks today!!  Until next time...

Happy 4th of July!! (a couple of days late)...

So I meant to post this on July 4th, but didn't get around to it.  Hope everyone had a wonderful Independence Day!!  Took some pictures over the weekend of my patriotic home decor, inside and out.  Hope you enjoy!!

Buntings on my deck railing.

Patriotic spinner and flag.

My front porch.

Close up of my front porch.

My deck with my patriotic kitty garden flag.

Another spinner in a flower pot on my deck.

Patriotic word stacker blocks I made on my end table.

Mantle (all the patriotic decor is from Pat Catans).

Little spinner in my spider plant (from Michaels).

My entertainment center with my 2x4 flag I made, a vase with a spinner my mom gave me, and a patriotic bell jar from Pat Catans.

I hope you enjoyed my patriotic decor pictures.  Today doesn't seem like Saturday since July 4th was on a Thursday and I had to work yesterday, but I'll take it.  So I'm going to enjoy relaxing this weekend.  It's too hot out to do anything else!!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!!  Until next time...

Summer Day at the Park

So I went home a couple of weeks ago to Western PA to spend some time with my family.  While I was there, I spent the morning at a local park taking some photographs.  Buhl Park is a rather quiet, nice park.  The casino next to the lake has been recently renovated, so has some great architectural elements that are great for photographs.  There's also a fountain in the lake, which also houses some wildlife.  I had a great time enjoying the scenery.

Duck family swimming to the right of the fountain.

Fountain in the middle of Lake Julia.

Picture of the casino (sorry about my hand making it into the picture too!!)

Bridge crossing the lake.

Duck family!!

More ducks!!

Bridge and fountain in a flower garden.

View of the lake, fountain, and casino.

Hope you enjoyed these pictures.  I was so bummed though...there used to be a family of swans that lived at the lake.  Some of them got hit by a car a couple of days before my visit.  The babies were removed to another site.  I was really looking forward to photographing the swans.  :-(

Have a great Independence Day tomorrow!!  Until next time...

2x4 Patriotic Flag

I finished another Patriotic craft over the weekend I thought I would share since tomorrow is July 4th!!  I made a 2x4 flag.  Again thanks to my dad for cutting my wood.  I love the flag ribbon over the gold ribbon wrapped around the flag.

The star is made out of glittery white craft foam.

The long stripes are 7" I believe and the shorter ones 3.5".

The flag ribbon is just too cute and looks nice overlapped with gold ribbon.

The blue square is also 3.5" and here you can see that it stands on its end.

I ended up doubling the stars and like how it turned out.

Happy 4th of July!!

I hope everyone has a very happy and safe 4th of July!!  Happy Birthday America!!  Until next time...

Media, PA Memorial Day Parade 2013

So my parents came to visit me Memorial Day weekend, and since my father is a veteran, I tried to find a Memorial Day Parade for us to attend.  So we settled on the Media, PA parade.  It was a nice little parade.  We were all looking forward to the many fire trucks that were lined up since my dad is also a retired volunteer fire chief.  But of course right when the fire trucks were starting to move, they got called to a real emergency and all quickly exited the parade route.  :-(  But nonetheless we enjoyed ourselves.

Veterans starting the parade.

Some of the older veterans along for the ride...and handing out little flags.

I think this was the mayor.

Penn Crest Marching Band.

Penn Crest Marching Band.

I had to take a picture of the purple car since it's my favorite color!!

Nice red car.

Gotta love the bear in the back!!

One of the few fire trucks left after the mass exodus. 

Hope you enjoyed these pictures as much as we enjoyed the parade.  Until next time...

Pink Butterfly Tulle Wreath

So this is the pink butterfly tulle wreath that matches the purple one I already posted earlier this spring.  I made them for an online auction that my sister hosted to raise money to help cover their adoption costs.  Both wreaths sold!!  This just screams girly and spring!!

I hope you enjoyed this wreath.  Stay tuned for more crafts, and maybe some recipes!!  Until next time...

Patriotic 2x4 Word Stacker Blocks

So I know it's been like forever since I posted, but hopefully I'll get back on track!!  I may even go back and post some things I meant to post previously.  But here is something seasonal for the July 4th Holiday coming up next week.  Went home a couple of weeks ago and my dad cut some wood for some projects I had in mind.  Here is the first one that's finished.  I love the way it turned out!!  I doubled up on the ribbon since I loved the star ribbon, but felt it was too narrow on its own, so I put it over some plan red ribbon. 

Happy July 4th!!

Used stick on stencils to paint the letters.

Love the ribbon!!

Painted the blocks, but then sanded them to give them that distressed look I like.

I hope you all enjoy this craft.  Have a wonderful and safe July 4th Holiday.  See you soon!!  Until next time...