UPDATE **Seen & Sharing** Ice Cream

UPDATE: I have no idea what all happened with this post. I think I ran it once, but I am not sure if I had all the photos included. Here is the post just as if I never ran it before and with some good photos. I have since learned to make the ice cream with chocolate and also with nuts. This post only includes what I have done with the vanilla version.

I am SO going to start sharing some of the very cool stuff I run across online. I'm going to tag the posts as Seen & Sharing and since I see cool stuff all the time, I'll have lots of posts in the future,

This week, while I was laid up not feeling well, I saw a video that really cheered me up because it brought back childhood memories of my mom's kitchen skills. It is this one from Tasty and it shows how to make chocolate ice cream - without all the equipment and stuff that Mama used. Stuff I will never have around my tiny kitchen!

Homemade Vs. Store-bought: Ice Cream

Shut UP, right? How freaking cool is that? I'm going to try making a batch when I am feeling better and I will post about it. Once I saw the video, I checked out the Tasty YouTube channel (and subscribed) and found out that there is an app from Buzzfeed for Tasty.

If you thought the video was cool, you are going to be blown away by the Tasty phone app. It's unlike any other recipe app I've ever heard of. Not only are there a ton of recipes that are really easy to search through (and save as "favorites"), but there are short video clips for each step in a recipe. I have issues so visuals make life so much easier.

By the way, after I saw that ice cream video, I wanted to know if I could do a batch minus the chocolate without throwing things off balance. I didn't find the answer on Tasty, but I found one over on Kitchn.com.  This is a 2-ingredient, NO CHURN ice cream. The recipe is especially awesome recipe because options like adding fruits and different flavorings is explained. I sent that one out to my friends. Go check it out. And by the way, if you don't have the sweetened condensed milk around... Yep, there is a recipe for that too. The internet can be lovely.

Okay. So the other cool thing I saw and want to share is this info for how to make a homemade bleaching gel pen. Just like the person who posted the info, I think the storebought pens are outrageously expensive - but I have used them and love them. Anyway, I wanted to pass it along in case anyone wants to be a maverick and try it out.

So, big thanks to Tasty and Kitchn for this episode of Seen & Sharing.

Here are photos of my first try at the ice cream. It turned out AMAZING. I did add 4 cups of cream because I didn't want anything to be too sweet. That was overkill and next time I will do 3 cups (not the recipe suggested 2 cups). My neighbor who loves ice cream gave me a big thumbs up! Yay, me.

This is at the point I am starting to fold the cream into the condensed milk mix. This is also where, when I made the chocolate flavor, I added the melted chocolate chips. I learned to add some of the chocolate fully melted and add some of it just crushed up. That made a really nice texture to the latest batch. (I gave that batch away to my SIL before I took photos!)

This is what the batter looks like once the cream and condensed milk are all blended and ready to pack into a container and freeze.

This is what the batch looked like after about 4 to 6 hours in the freezer. The wax paper kept the top from developing frost crystals.

And this, my friends, is what the delicious ice cream looked like at serving. It was SOOO good. My family loves when I whip this up and I can't wait to make some for my little DJ when I go see him. The taste is a lot like what I remember McDonald's ice cream being like several years ago.

Once again, I am so sad that I didn't get photos of the chocolate. I will try to remember to add some the next time I make a batch.

After experimenting with different additions and flavorings, I have decided that the chocolate version is best when using bittersweet chocolate and leaving some of the chocolate unmelted. I wasn't crazy about adding nuts (I did walnut and pecan), but I did learn a trick when I do add them: don't put the nuts in until the ice cream has been in the freezer long enough to start thickening (about 1 1/2 to 2 hours). That way, you can stir in the nuts (gently) and not have them all clump together or sink.

Peace
--Free

**Seen & Sharing** My Homemade Small Load Washing Machine

Necessity might well be the mother of invention, but poverty is the daddy. And I know poverty.

I am single - which equals never enough clothes for a wash load until there are too many for just a couple of loads. Also, it costs a buck per load to wash (another buck to dry) in the building. Also, I wash and rinse by hand my kitchen towels often - like every three or four days - and have been looking for an easier way.

So, I've mentioned that we have a type of community table in the lobby in this apartment building. When we residents are getting rid of something useful, we put it on the table so that someone else can take it for no charge. A while back, I got a basket full of artificial flowers and put them into a vase as decor for my bathroom.






















I've given (and taken) cans of food, beverages, planter pots, clothing, and wall art. Recently, I went to the table to put out some tea bags and an old juicer (that came from a thrift store this summer). This is what I found:

I still have to figure out how to use the grill, but...

 ... that Bubba mug. Wow, what a find.

It was really dirty from use and unwashed buildup, so I cleaned and bleached it out, but I have no intention of drinking out of it. The reason I got it is because it's one of the biggest thermal containers I have seen. (By the way, I do believe that at 52 ounces it actually is the biggest.) I was just curious about it. When I looked it up on Amazon, I started getting an idea for how to use it.

First, though, I have to back up and tell you about a product I had on my Amazon Wish List (before they dumped my reviews and I dumped all my lists). It was a portable washing machine similar to this one. The price isn't bad on that thing, but I don't have the money nonetheless. So, this is what I came up with using all free parts: The mug, a kitchen scrubber with a long handle, my soap and bleach, and some calorie-burning elbow grease.

Of course, the Bubba I have 52 ounces so, of course, this washing idea is only for small loads. I was able to do four of my sink towels.

It might sound silly, but this is why it works for me:

• The insulated mug keeps the water at a pretty steady temp. If I need to, I can close the lid and let items soak.
• I can add bleaches and other cleaning things and not get as much splashing as when I use the sink. 
• Uses no electricity (except or boiling water in the tea kettle).
• A load of wash costs us a dollar and the water never gets as hot as I like.
• I often have only socks or a few towels in between my bi-weekly loads of wash.
• This is better than what I've been doing which is using the sink or waiting until wash day.
• The mug is easy to clean and store.

The first time I used this, I was thinking how great it would be to have the same thing - insulated container with a lid - on a bigger scale, but we all know I don't have the mind power or energy to do anywhere with that idea.

Anyway, I hope this was helpful to someone or sparks a creative idea in their mind. Knowing me, this seems like a great idea now, but I'll be wondering tomorrow what the hell was I thinking!

Peace

--Free