Ahhhh, long holiday weekends, I love them! Hope you’ve all been able to relax and enjoy a little time off too. After quite a few rainy days this month, we’ve been spoiled with the most gorgeous weather the past few days, which has been especially nice. Shane and I took advantage of the sun to get out and do some yard work. We also went shopping for flowers, and finally picked up some of the herbs and veggies I’ve been so eager to get planted this spring. I’ve been growing herbs in containers on my deck for a few years now, but this year I’ve decided to branch out and try a few veggies for the first time too, I’m so excited!
I still haven’t completely decided on everything I want to grow, so today we just grabbed a few things. Parsley is non-negotiable, it’s the herb I use most so I love having it on hand. I turn to mint a lot in the summer so that was in the cart as well. Basil and rosemary rounded out the herbs, though I may still pick up thyme at some point too. The veggies are where I remain most undecided. I don’t have a lot of room to grow them so I need to do some more research. Today we started with a jalapeno plant, and it’s probably the most excited I’ve ever been about a plant in my life. Let’s just hope I can keep it alive long enough to get one or two peppers π
With Memorial Day weekend marking the unofficial start of summer, I thought it was as good a time as any to share an ice cream recipe with you. We’ve already made a few trips to our favorite local ice cream shop, but I really love having homemade ice cream in the freezer too, it really is the best. If you’ve been nervous about making your own ice cream at home, this is a great first recipe. It’s Philadelphia-style (versus French style), which means you don’t have to fiddle with cooking egg yolks to make the base. Instead, here you’ll puree strawberries, some sugar, a little bit of lemon juice, salt and half and half for the base. It really is as easy as it sounds.
I’ve made a French-style strawberry ice cream in the past, and it had chunks of strawberries in it, which did get quite firm in the freezer. I liked them, but I don’t think everyone was as keen, so I pureed all of the strawberries in this recipe to give the ice cream a really smooth texture (though you can see the seeds, I really couldn’t taste them at all). This ice cream is rich and packed with sweet strawberry flavor, it was the perfect way to use up some berries I’d neglected in my fridge. If I have one tiny criticism of this recipe it’s that the ice cream froze quite hard – I definitely had to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes before I could scoop it. Next time I make it I’ll probably try to add a little bit of alcohol to keep it a bit softer. So yeah, the “perfect” in the title was the author’s, not mine, but it’s a keeper for sure π
Perfect No-Cook Strawberry Ice Cream
adapted from Gourmet, August 2009
1 lb strawberries, stemmed and hulled, halved if large
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups half and half
Combine the strawberries in a large bowl with the sugar, lemon juice and salt. Use a potato masher to mash them until coarse. Let the strawberry mixture stand for 10 minutes, stirring and mashing every few minutes.
Transfer the strawberry mixture to your blender and add the half and half. Puree until smooth, then pour the mixture into a large bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or until very cold. Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Store in an airtight container in your freezer.
Makes about 1 1/2 quarts
This looks amazing! We planted our herb garden last week and are already reaping the benefits. I can’t wait to see what you cook up with your produce. Have a wonderful Memorial Day Tracey!
Can’t wait to try this! I’m getting quite a backlog from your site π
Peppers like to be very warm (85 degrees) and don’t care for too much fertilizer. Also, since you have just one, touch an electric toothbrush or back of a beard trimmer to the main stem and each branch once it flowers to help it pollinate. You can also spray the whole plant down with an epsom salt/water mixture once it sets fruit to help it produce better. I forget the ratios, but should be easy to catch on google. Have fun gardening!
This sounds so delicious! Love this idea!!
Loved the icecream, beautiful color
That looks really creamy and delicious. I love the pink color, too. =)
Strawberries have just come into season in my area so I know what I will be baking with all week! Your strawberry ice cream looks delicious, and is similar to a lemon ice cream that I make. So simple to put together!
I’ve made so much ice cream but I’m not sure I’ve ever done just plain strawberry. Adding it to my list for this summer!
My mom sends me weekly photos of her jalapeno plant – she seriously has more than she knows what to do with! Hopefully yours produces a ton too. π I’m gonna pick up some herbs this weekend, I think.
What a great strawberry ice cream and I love that it’s no-cook! I can’t think of any better use for my fresh strawberries. Thanks for sharing, Tracey!
These pictures are so different for you, I love them!
I am dying to know how you scooped the perfect round scoop of ice cream π I am the worst scooper, ever!
I can’t wait to give this recipe a try. I promised myself to use that ice cream maker I had to have, this summer! This looks like a great recipe to get it started – simple, delicious, and perfect.
How exciting to have herbs in your garden! Oh the things I cannot wait about house living instead of apartment. This ice cream looks great too, enjoy that it doesn’t need cooking since there are no eggs. I will have to remember that about the alcohol to make it softer. Would love to make this when I get back!
@Michelle – Haha, I cheated a little. The part of the scoop you see was actually on the bottom (in the scoop), I flipped it because the other side was ugly π This was an easier than usual ice cream to make nice scoops since it was pretty firm.
Perfect is indeed a matter of personal opinion! But there’s something to be said for no-bake ice cream recipes. Here’s to hoping you get your peppers!
It’s as if you were watching over my shoulder. I was just eyeing strawberry recipes in one of my magazines the other night! Fantastic.
I LOVE strawberry ice cream and yours looks so perfect. it looks like the perfect consistency. this is great that you don’t need an ice cream maker to make this π i don’t have one yet and i’ve been looking for ice cream recipes that don’t require the use of an ice cream maker. thanks!!
Maybe instead of the lemon juice, you could use limoncello? (For alcohol content)
@Kristy – I like the way you think!!
Looks so yummy, any way to make it without an ice cream maker??
@Tawnya – There’s a great post from David Lebovitz on how to make ice cream without an ice cream maker. You can find it here:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/07/making-ice-crea-1/
I can’t say for sure if this recipe is rich enough that you’ll wind up with a super creamy result, but let me know how it goes if you give it a shot!