Crankin for Ice Cream

I have always associated ice cream with good memories. I used to call it my mood food. Like Sandra Bullock in “Miss Congeniality” after a bad day, I would hit the freezer for a pint. My good friend Michelle and I would often go on a “double date” with “Ben and Jerry” to a movie or if I was having a bad shift at the hospital, she would meet me with a pint on my break.

When I was going through my divorce, my second daughter was 12. When questioned about her parents seeing other people when married, she gave her response about her dad and then said, “My mom goes on dates.” When questioned further, she said, “Yes, she goes on double dates with her friend Michelle with those one guys, someone and Jerry.” We laughed and laughed about that. From then on I had to make sure she knew “Ben and Jerry” were ice cream makers with some fabulous ice cream.

That has been a classic joke at our house and we often talk about going on dates with our favorite men. The girls took me to Build-a-Bear and we built my perfect man and named him, “Ben N. Jerry” He is a little monkey and we put him in a Superman suit and the girls each took a turn recording themselves saying “I love you,” and then after that say, “We love you mom.”

We have people for dinner most Sundays so we can get to know them better. In the summer, we don’t like making baked goods as it heats up the house. We tried to come up with a fun home made treat that would be good and not heat up the house. I searched for and tried many types of ice cream. Many of the recipes were lengthy and required cooking the ingredients first. I then came upon this recipe and have never looked back.

We also have a tradition of making ice cream at the sand dunes or camping. I found two hand cranked ice cream machines at a used item store. We stop and get ice and take salt in a Tupperware. When we get to camp, we pour the cream that started out frozen and is now thawed into the maker. We open the sweetened condensed milk and crush some Oreos, other cookies, etc in and have the kids each take a turn churning the cream. Those that churn get first dibs on the ice cream.

I have tried several times to double the recipe and for some reason, I haven’t had much luck. So, I just do one flavor at a time. I have two electric and two hand crank makers so we can have up to four flavors for big parties.

When we make it at home, we get the makers going as we pull out the roast and make the salad. By the time we have eaten and cleaned up, we have ice cream. I usually have them churning in the garage so we don’t have to hear it churning. I set a timer to go out and check it. We serve it with an Oreo on the side if that is the flavor we made or a chocolate stick cookie etc.

Easy Ice Cream

1 pint cream

1 can sweetened condensed milk

flavoring ie. cookies, chocolate, nuts etc.

I use water softner salt for the salt as it is cheap and I also use it for my sidewalks instead of chemicals when it snows.

Hope your date with ice cream is as enjoyable as mine!