Super Easy Vanilla Bean "Ice Cream"

"Why the quotation marks?" you ask?  Well, technically this isn't ice cream.  Real ice cream requires eggs to make a custard base and whatnot.  This is a cheap (and easy) knockoff that's just as satisfying.

I had seen MANY "3 ingredient" ice creams floating around the web, so I kind of made up this recipe based on what I had learned through my research, and according to my taste.

Ingredients:
2 cups whole milk
1 cup half and half
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
vanilla bean, or vanilla bean paste- I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons (love that stuff!)

Directions:

1. Whisk together milk and vanilla bean paste
2. Add half and half, and sweetened condensed milk. Whisk.
3. Chill the mixture (I stuck it in the fridge for about an hour)
4. Add mixture to ice cream maker, and churn according the manufacturer's directions

Mine turned into soft-serve at about the 30 minute mark.  It was delicious, but a bit too soupy for me.  I threw it in the freezer, and about 2 hours later it was perfect!

Incredible as-is, but better with a pizzelle :)

Oh yea- and check out those flecks from the vanilla bean paste!! I told you that stuff was awesome:

"It's the beaniest!"

Pumpkin Frappuchino

Sorry, no pic for this one!  (at least not yet)

This is a really simple recipe for a delicious smoothie.  The only thing- you need to make the frozen pumpkin cubes ahead of time, so make sure to plan for that!

Ingredients
1 c cold brew coffee (We used instant coffee)
1 c milk (we used almond milk)
1/4 c pumpkin butter
2 Tbsp agave nectar
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Instructions

1. To prepare cold brew coffee, place 2 cup ground coffee – the bolder the better – into a bowl, top it with 4 cups of water and place it in the refrigerator overnight. Strain in the morning and reserve the leftover in the fridge. (since we used instant coffee, I dissolved it in a small bit of hot water, then added enough cold water to make 1 cup of coffee)
2.  Prepare milk ice cubes in advance by pouring your milk of choice into a bowl and mixing in pumpkin butter, agave nectar and pumpkin pie spice. Whisk to ensure even distribution.
3. Pour mixture into an ice cube tray, covering lightly with saran wrap, and freezing overnight. (we froze ours for a few hours, and that was good enough!)
4. Place 1 cup coffee and 8-10 pumpkin ice cubes in a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and add extra agave if you prefer a sweeter beverage (This was not needed). Additionally, add more pumpkin pie spice or pumpkin butter if you prefer a spicier flavor.

Recipe from Minimalist Baker

Banana Smoothies

As Matt and Melissa know (from their recent trip to MA), Dave and I have been making a lot of smoothies as evening snacks.  To keep them as healthy as possible, we start with a frozen banana. I'm not a big fan of banana, but once you start adding the extracts and spices, I don't even notice that banana-y taste!  I'm going to keep this post as a running list of our favorite flavor combos.

As a general note, when we buy a bunch of bananas, we keep them on the counter until VERY ripe.  Then we peel and quarter each one and place it in a sealed container in the freezer.  That way, whenever we want a smoothie, it is easy to take 2 or 4 banana pieces (depending on if the recipe calls for a half or whole banana), and load it up in the Magic Bullet with the other ingredients.

One more note- where the recipe asks for "milk," we found that almond milk tastes good too! :)

Pumpkin Spice
1/2 cup pumpkin (canned or freshly cooked) I used a heaping 1/2 cup
1/2 frozen banana
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (I used allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and a bit extra cinnamon)
pinch of ground ginger
Dave added a teaspoon of brown sugar to his

 pumpkin spice

Mint Chocolate Chip
1 frozen banana
cacao nibs (or chocolate chips) we used grain-sweetened chocolate chips
2 drops pure peppermint extract
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup frozen spinach
Dave likes his with cocoa powder too

Vanilla Chai
1 frozen banana
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
tiny dash each: pepper, cardamom, ground cloves, and nutmeg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Other flavor combos I'd like to try....

Coconut
Some kind of combination of banana, coconut milk, coconut extract, and flaked coconut 

Chocolate Cake Batter
Recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie

Chocolate Covered Strawberry
Banana, strawberries, cocoa powder?, dark chocolate chips

Do you have any other ideas for flavors?

Photos of smoothies coming soon (Whenever I make one, I am too excited to drink it, and never end up taking a picture!!)

Peanut Butter Oreo Ice Cream Pie

Wow...the title of this recipe says it all, doesn't it!?

Dave and I made this on a whim- we were not expecting any guests or company- we just couldn't resist making it once I found the recipe! What was awesome is that it lasted for just over a week since it was wrapped up in plastic in the freezer, although I'm sure it would have lasted at least 2 weeks.

Ingredients:
1 box Oreo Cookies
6 tbsp melted butter
2 cups cold heavy cream
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 bottle Smucker's Chocolate Fudge Microwave Topping (we only used about half)

Directions:
1. Finely crush about 25 Oreos in a food processor. Mix with melted butter and spread in the bottom of a 9″ round pan for the crust. Freeze for about 10 mins.
2. Lightly crush the remaining Oreos into large pieces, and set aside
3. Whisk sweetened condensed milk, peanut butter, and vanilla in large bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, whip the heavy cream to stiff peaks, then fold the whipped cream into the sweetened condensed milk mixture.
5. Pour half of the peanut butter ice cream mixture on top of the frozen Oreo crust.
6. Heat chocolate fudge according to the directions on the bottle, and pour half of the bottle in a layer over the ice cream.
7. Add the remaining ice cream, hot fudge, and top with the Oreo cookie pieces. Freeze for at least 6-8 hours before serving.

This pie was just heavenly. Dave and I had some leftover peanut butter filling that didn't fit in the pie crust we made, and that was delicious just on its own. Make sure to let the pie thaw out a few minutes after taking it out of the freezer.

Recipe and photo from Kevin and Amanda