Lemon Theme Night!

Yes! Lemon was my surprise theme for my first official theme night! Now, at first, the theme lemon might not sound that exciting - but ohhh, it is. On the menu: Homemade lemon pasta with a rosemary vodka lemon cream sauce, a mixed green salad with lemon mustard vinaigrette, all served with a limoncello and orange cocktail. For dessert, we have a low fat/calorie homemade lemon ice cream! A little more exciting, right? On top of it all, I dressed up in my most yellow 50's party dress and had a big pouffy flower in my hair! Theme night was awesome!

So, the first thing I actually made was the lemon pasta, which you can read all about here. The next thing I made was my ice cream. I have been making banana ice cream a lot lately, so I decided to change it up. In the fridge, we had tons of lemons, so I went for it. Making lemon ice cream is tricky though, especially if you are using all non-fat ingredients. Lemon and cream can curdle real easy, especially when there isn't enough fat. Somehow, I got really lucky. I was very diligent about my whisking and it all creamed together, so wonderfully.

I used a lot of lemons, as pictured above, both their juice and their zest. I strained the zest out, before letting my mixture cool. The next day, I added a little more non-fat half and half, then into the ice cream maker it went.

Once it was thick enough, I packed up my ice cream and got started on the next lemon dish.

I started off chopping all of my ingredients, washing the salad, and basically making a big mess. Luckily, I made a lemon mustard salad dressing the night before, so the salad was ready to go.

I really wanted to surprise Brian, but I had less than an hour to get everything done! I started on my sauce, by sweating some sweet red onions and shallots, with a little bit of rosemary.

I added a few shots of vodka, a few squirts of lemon, and my cream. Since I used lots of fat free ingredients (low cal butter and fat free cream), I noticed a little bit of curdling. Gross, I know. To fix that, I just added a big piece of fatty, glorious, wonderful butter, which totally saved the day.

Did I mention I was making my pasta at the same time? Excuse the dark, somewhat blurry photos below. Making pasta, taking pictures, and being in a hurry all add up!

Making the pasta wasn't bad. Sure, I had to start over on a few pieces, but overall, it was a decent first time, for doing it by myself.

For some reason, the pasta machine didn't fully cut the fettuccine, so a few of them clumped together when I boiled them. I think I might need more flour, next time.

And finally, the last thing I did was make the cocktail.

Our friend, Michael, gave us a bottle of his homemade Limoncello - so delicious. I made a little cocktail that was 3 parts orange juice, 1 part Limoncello. It was so light and tasty! And finally, dinner was served.

Again, I apologize for the dark pictures!

We finished the night off with our homemade lemon ice cream.

It was dreamy.

All in all, everything was good. The lemon pasta was very subtle and it was cooked really perfectly. The sauce was yummy - though, I might cheat next time and use some real, whole fat cream. The cocktail? Amazing. The salad? Totally good. The ice cream was delicious, though, I might use 1-2 less lemons next time -the flavor was good, but it was strong. I wouldn't say too strong - but it was more strong than I'd like it to be.

Lemon day was awesome. Now, what shall I do for my next theme night? Hmm...

Baked Alaska with Homemade Banana Ice Cream, Brownies & Chocolate Covered Strawberries

This weekend has been a dream. We got messages, had a delicious brunch at one of our most favorite places, relaxed, and made some incredible food.



Yea.

So, the night started with Brian making me a nostalgic dinner, one he made for me 2 years ago today, when he proposed.



It was awesome. So many good memories! Brian agreed to let me make the dessert and I knew I wanted to make my guy something really special, cause I've got to admit, he's pretty awesome. I wanted to stay true to the dessert he made me that night, chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream and strawberries, but I wanted to amp it up. So, first I made one of our current favorites, a low calorie banana ice cream I've been making a lot lately. I paired the ice cream with a low fat brownie mix, except I added a little coffee to it too. Then, it came time to layer and freeze.



To layer, I just lined a bowl with some saran wrap, then layered brownie, ice cream a couple of times, until the bowl was full. I froze the layers until they were set, then prepared my meringue. I didn't really measure the meringue, but just used the typical few egg whites, a little cream of tartar and about 1/2 cup sugar - then came the fun part.



Piping! Now, I probably could have got my peaks a little stiffer, but I was so excited to get this guy into the oven!



And that's all it took! I paired the Baked Alaska with a few chocolate covered strawberries and we were instantly in heaven.




To celebrate today, Brian and I are taking a couple's pasta making class! It sure is a good weekend for our hearts and our bellies. Yum, yum, yum.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! xoxo!

Homemade Banana Ice Cream

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I have big plans for my Brian. It's our first Valentine's Day as a married couple, which is pretty special -and to top it off, February 13th is the second year anniversary of the day Brian proposed to me! To celebrate, Brian is making me the same meal he cooked for me the day he proposed and I've convinced him to let me take care of dessert this year. Since I've only got dessert to take care of, I'm going all out. Of course, we are somewhat dieting, so I'm trying to make it a little healthier, but still kind of bad. I've been very much into this Banana Ice Cream recipe lately, which is very low in fat and calories, but tastes like we're cheating on our diets, so we enjoy it quite a bit.



Ingredients:
3 cups fat-free half and half
1 cup fat-free egg substitute
1 cup sugar
3-4 bananas
pinch of salt

Directions:
1. In a food processor, process the bananas until smooth. Add a pinch of salt.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and egg substitute.
3. In a sauce pan, heat the half and half.
4. Carefully combine the egg mix with the milk to form a custard.
5. Add the banana mixture to the custard and let chill overnight.
6. After the mix has chilled, add it to your ice cream maker, and enjoy!



Now, just to clarify - this is only step one in the Valentines dinner dessert - there's a lot more to come to the big plans I have for my special valentine. It's going to be delicious, I can't wait!

Banana Pudding & Coconut Cream Ice Cream

It has been extremely hot here in Los Angeles lately. 100+ degrees hot. We are one of the few fortunate to have an air conditioning; however, this kind of heat requires more than just cool artificial air. It requires ice cream. It is National Ice Cream Month, after all.

One of my most favorite flavors to make (and to eat) is Coconut Cream. It's a nostalgic flavor for me, but it also tastes so, so, so good. When I make ice cream, it's usually my go-to flavor. This time, I also wanted to make something a little different. Something I have never made before, yet something that would go well with coconut. In comes Banana Pudding.

Nilla wafers, layered with banana slices and vanilla pudding... it's so tasty on it's own, but as an ice cream flavor? Why not? I started off the ice cream process the same way I always do. Vanilla beans, milk, and cream.

I slice the vanilla pods open, scoop out the vanilla beans, and the let the beans and the pods soak in the milk, as they begin to simmer.

It gets a little tricky after this. Sugar and eggs are mixed, then blended with the hot cream, in a very careful way. If this is done too quickly, you will end up with sweet, vanilla scrambled eggs - so be careful. I was so careful that I neglected to photograph this process. Either way, I placed my egg/cream custard mixture through a sieve, just to remove any scrambled egg bits that may have formed. I then let my mixture chill overnight, before placing it in the ice cream maker.
Since I had 2 different flavors, this was a 2-day process. Banana pudding was easy... just churn and add little scoops of the pudding right at the last few minutes of churning. For the coconut cream, I had prepared and chilled a mixture of coconut extract, heavy cream, and sweetened condensed milk ahead of time, mixed that with my vanilla bean base, and added coconut flakes at the last few minutes of churning.

It's hard to tell the 2 flavors apart, but we have banana pudding on top and coconut on the bottom. Both extremely rich and creamy. While coconut is usually my favorite, I must admit the banana pudding flavor blew me away. I bet some hot fudge topping would make it perfect! It might become my new go-to flavor.
Anyone else making ice cream this summer?

Baklava Ice Cream

I can't take all the credit for this one. My lovely, talented baker of a mom made some homemade Baklava, and let me tell you, it's some of the best Baklava in the world. So sweet and rich, it just melts in your mouth. She sent me home with a big bag, which would be way too easy for me to eat in one sitting, so I decided to make a little ice cream out of it!

I gotta say, crushing the Baklava was really hard. It hurt to hit something that tasty!

I used my old faithful vanilla bean ice cream base.

And so it churns...

Who knew this ice cream would come out so attractive?

I saved a little of the crushed Baklava as garnish, which would probably also double as a great topping on plain vanilla ice cream too!

Okay, last one! This ice cream was just too photogenic... and tasty!

Coconut Ice Cream

This was the last of my holiday kitchen adventures. My mom personally requested my Coconut Ice Cream for Christmas Eve, I just forced the Egg Nog on them too. The room was split between Egg Nog and Coconut fans, but I think my personal favorite is the coconut. It was a good batch, super rich and creamier than I could have ever hoped for.

My super cute mom even bought ice cream cones in anticipation! Isn't that adorable? It was about 40 degrees outside, but everyone had a cone in hand. It's also a good sign when you get emails asking for the recipe the next day. Something about me and coconut, we just work well together! My next ice cream flavor idea is a bit more tricky... let's just say it involves a little bit of alcohol and little bit of fruit. Though, this may have to wait a while, since tomorrow I will be headed out on a road trip! I'll be making stops in Ashland, Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco, so send fun restaurant tips and sights to see my way! Everyone have a happy and safe new year!

Egg Nog Ice Cream

I'm generally not the biggest Egg Nog fan. I like it, but I can usually only stand a few sips before I realize it's just too much. I have to say, I don't feel that way about Egg Nog Ice Cream. I think it's because Egg Nog as a drink is too creamy, but how is it possible for ice cream to be too creamy? It's just not possible! Needless to say, I really did love how the Egg Nog Ice Cream came out.

I paired it with some of my cracked Macarons that did not quite make it to the holiday parties.
I even experimented with Macaron-Egg Nog Ice Cream sandwiches!

The almond flavor of the Macarons went nicely with the Egg Nog flavor! I think Macarons and Egg Nog Ice Cream might be repeats for years to come on the holidays...

It's Pumpkinini!

I've been meaning to post this since Halloween, but I guess now is a better time than never. I'm not the biggest Pumpkin flavoring fan, but I did enjoy this cup of Pumpkin Ice Cream!

I'm not sure I've ever had an ice cream I didn't like, to be honest. It just might be my favorite food. Even though it's raining out and winter is here, my mother made a special request for me to make a few batches of homemade ice cream for Christmas dinner this year. After trying my Coconut Ice Cream, she insists on me making Coconut again. So I've prepared a few batches of Vanilla base to make her Coconut, but also to make something a little more holiday inspired, Egg Nog Ice Cream! It's coming along, so pictures will be posted soon.

Coconut Ice Cream

I guess I'm on a bit of a coconut kick lately. It is one of my favorites! I especially love those coconut popsicles with the little coconut flakes in them! Those remind me of being a little girl and going to work with my mom. There used to be a guy who would sell popsicles in a little cart and my mom and I would always go for the coconut bars. I was really going for that same coconut popsicle taste with my ice cream. I think I achieved it with some sweetened condensed milk in my coconut mixture.

And of course, I added a big handful of coconut flakes. The texture was good.

Even as it melted in the hot LA weather!

But the ultimate test was getting my mom's opinion.

And the first thing she said is, "It tastes like a coconut popsicle!" Of course, the ice cream is creamier than a popsicle, but that just kind of made it taste better! I still have one more batch of ice cream to make! As tempted as I am to make another batch of coconut cream, I'm leaning towards something a little more seasonal...

Someone's Making Ice Cream

Uh huh. That's right. I'm at it again. I have a couple of flavors I want to experiment with and I'm pretty excited about both of them. They both start with a vanilla bean ice cream base. I just love a fresh vanilla bean.

The smell is heavenly. I scraped the seeds and put them into my mixture of milk, and cream.

I have to admit, I did use non-fat milk and portions of low-fat and non-fat whipping cream. This could be trouble!

The vanilla milk tasted pretty decent, but when I added the eggs and sugar... well, I was excited! It tasted delicious!

I'll be making two flavors out of this base, but those will be revealed in the next post!