Dairy-Free Peanut Butter Chunk Ice Cream

I've been on the look-out for Dairy-free ice creams that taste like the real thing for a while now. Ice cream is one of the only things, other then mac&cheese, that I really miss about going dairy-free ). This recipe makes an "ice cream" that would fool anyone into thinking it was made with dairy. It's rich and creamy and has delicious peanut butter chunks in it that reminded me of a Ben&Jerry's type ice cream.

Dairy-Free Peanut Butter Chunk Ice Cream (adapted very slightly from Alisa Cooks blog)

*recipe makes about 2 cups of ice cream. Double the recipe to fill most standard ice cream makers*

-1 14oz. can of Coconut Milk

- 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter

- 1/3 cup maple syrup, brown sugar, or honey (I used maple syrup and couldn't taste any maple flavor in the finished ice cream

-1 tsp. vanilla

-1 batch of dairy-free peanut butter chunks (recipe below)

Combine the coconut milk, peanut butter, sweetener, and vanilla in a bowl and stir well with a whisk until well combined. Place mixture in the fridge and allow to cool completely.

Pour mixture into your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions.

Make peanut butter chunk recipe while mixture is in the ice cream maker.

When ice cream is done, transfer it to your storage container and top it with the peanut butter chunk mixture. Try to spread out the mixture as evenly as possible over the ice cream. Put ice cream into the freezer for about 30 minutes or until the chunks have set up. Stir ice cream, breaking up the chunks, and return the ice cream to the freezer until ice cream is firm.

*This ice cream is better when not solid as a rock. Allow it to thaw just slightly before eating for creamiest ice cream*

Ice Cream-Friendly, Dairy-Free Peanut Butter Chunks

-2 1/2 tsp. coconut oil

-1 1/2 tbsp. creamy peanut butter

-1 Tbsp. honey (don't use sugar, you want the chunks to be soft)

-1/4 tsp. vanilla

Combine ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 10-15 seconds. Stir until coconut oil is melted and everything is well combined.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yesterday was my 32nd birthday. It was a great day. I didn't have to work since the kids were out of school for the day. Jon took the kids to Walmart first thing in the morning and came home with these beautiful flowers. I love how these mums go from lime green to deep orange. I think they're the prettiest mums I've seen.

Charlotte and Evan made a card for me. Later Jon had to go into work since the band was still going to perform at the football game that night. He took Charlotte with him for a little while. She loved spending the time with him and I enjoyed the time with Evan.

My birthday treat to myself was this amazing Peanut butter, Non-Dairy Ice cream with peanut butter chunks. It's unbelievably delicious. I'll be posting the recipe tomorrow. I ate my ice cream before my lunch. It was my birthday, after all.

I'm waiting on my birthday present to arrive at my local yarn shop. I've put in a special order for the most amazing yarn and I can't wait until it arrives. I'll be sure to blog about it as soon as it does.

Here's to another wonderful year full of surprises and happiness!

Evan's New Hobby

Evan has always been a very busy little boy. He's ready to go from the moment he gets out of bed until the very second before bedtime.
Lately, though, he's discovered a hobby that keeps him in one place for quite some time.
About a month ago, he put together a 24 piece puzzle. It didn't take him too long. He was so excited and couldn't wait to tear it apart and do it again. He was hooked!

When I found our 60 piece, John Deere puzzle for him, his eyes lit up! Johnny Tractor, Johnny Tractor!! He sat on the playroom floor and worked on that puzzle for 30-40 minutes without looking up or getting distracted. He didn't talk to us, use the bathroom, sing, or do anything but work on that puzzle.

Sticking your tongue out helps you find pieces.

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It's a good thing that Charlotte loves puzzles too because we still have all the beginner puzzles that she got when she was 3. She loves putting together 100-200 piece puzzles now. They must have gotten their puzzle ability and love from Jon because I'm not a jigsaw gal. Jon will sit and stare at a table full of puzzle pieces and feel quite peaceful and entertained. I, on the other hand, wonder why in the world the manufacturer chopped up a perfectly good picture in the first place.

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I think Santa is going to have a few puzzles in his bag for my kiddos this year.

Morning Glory Muffins aka. The Best Muffins In the World!

These moist muffins are full of such delicious ingredients. This recipe makes 24 muffins but keep for a few days at room temperature and they freeze beautifully. This is one of the only recipes that I don't alter. It's perfect just as it is. A little sweet and full of flavor.

Just look at all the yummy add-ins!


Morning Glory Muffins

1 1/4 cup sugar (you can use less if you want to... I think I used 3/4 cup)

2 1/4 cup flour (I use either white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour but all-purpose work too)

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut

3/4 cup raisins

1 large apple, peeled and grated

1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

2 cups grated carrot

1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

3 large eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350*

In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add the coconut, raisins, apple, pineapple, carrots, and nuts. Stir to combine.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, and vanilla. Pour into the bowl with the dry ingredients and stir ONLY until combined.

Spoon the batter into muffin tins that have been sprayed with Pam or lined with muffin cups. Fill each one to the top since these muffins don't rise much. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool muffins in the pan for 10 minutes then move to a rack to finish cooling.

Charlotte's Craft Birthday Party

Charlotte turned 6 a few weeks ago and got to have her first birthday party with friends. We picked a crafts theme since she invited boys and girls. The kids started off by painting wooden picture frames and shapes ($1 each at Michael's!). The cheap plastic table cloth from Walmart worked great for the party since we could just bundle it up and throw it away after the party.
A Happy Birthday cupcake

Then each child got to decorate their cupcake with all sorts of decorations. Charlotte had such fun at the store picking out glitter gel icings, sprinkles, colored sugar, sugar soccer balls and hearts, etc.

Thank goodness my mom came to help with the party. We had children from 3 -6 years old so the more hands helping, the better.

I think Evan was formulating a plan for his cupcake creation.

Can you see the cupcake under all of Charlotte's pretty decorations? It was quite a work of art.

After the cupcake decorating and eating, the picture frames and shapes were dry and ready to be decorated.

We had bowls of pom-poms, buttons, sparkly butterflies, and jewels. Each child was given a bowl with glue and a q-tip to help them put the glue on their project.

They each got to take home their projects. Charlotte and her friends had a blast. It's so nice to see my formerly shy girl act so outgoing and bubbly around her friends.

How To Tell When You Need A New Mixer

When your mixer sounds like this on LOW speed!

I'm pretty sure I broke our mixer. Before I tried to mix up this batter, I tried to use the dough hooks and the dough setting to knead a double batch of cinnamon roll dough. I think it was just too much for this mixer. It sounded kinda funny but I ignored it and put it away until I needed to mix up Charlotte's birthday cake batter. When I tried to mix up the cake batter, I turned it on low but it was spinning faster then the fastest speed. It would race super fast and then slow down for just a second. I thought maybe I could just keep using it only everything would be mixed on high. I added the milk to the cake batter and milk started spraying out of the bowl onto everything in the kitchen. At that point I realized that this mixer was dead.

Jon was so sweet. He said to go buy a new mixer right then and there. I told him that we really shouldn't spend the money on a new mixer and I could try to make due with my hand mixer (which I hate) . He said that considering how long I've owned that stand mixer (7 years) and how often I use it (almost daily), it's high time for a new one.

So, meet the New One. It's the same brand as the old one but it has an updated style. There are only slight differences in the two but I'm still getting used to them. I really wish I had my old one back but that's just because I knew it so well. It was like a friend who helped me bake. I'm sure I'll come to love my new kitchen friend but I have to get to know her first.
So, hopefully this $90 mixer will last me another 7 years.

She is pretty. I guess she's starting to grow on me after all.

Chick Salts

I recently hung up my chick salts for the first time since moving here 5 years ago. I love them dearly but kept them packed away... not sure why.... maybe I was afraid they would get broken or maybe I hadn't come up with the right place for them. I'm so glad I got them out of hiding because looking at them makes me smile.
These are Boyd Chick Salts and they were given to me by my Aunt Linda about 10 years ago. This is actually only half of the collection. I very begrudgingly happily shared the other half of the collection with my sister.

You can read more about Boyd's Chick Salts here. These are what they call their 1" chicks but they're really about 2 1/2" x 1 1/2 ". You can lift the little hen off of her nest.

Each color has a name and my Aunt put a tiny label inside each chick with it's name. Though it's impossible to pick a single favorite, two that are in my top 12 are John's Surprise (the translucent cobalt blue in the top right of the picture) and Royalty (a deep purple in the bottom left corner of the top picture).

I'm so glad I unpacked them. They certainly brighten up the wall in my kitchen.

Rodeo

A little over a week ago, Jon and I went with my mom and Mark to the rodeo. It was held at the Dixie Classic Fair. The kids stayed home with a babysitter so we could have a grown-ups night out. Jon and I got there early to save a good seat. A great chance for some knitting if you ask me. Jon got bored waiting for the rodeo to start. When I suggested he take up knitting, he just raised his eyebrow and went to get a snack.

The Ferris wheel was so pretty in the setting sun.....

...and in the dark.

Here are some of the cowboys that were going to try to ride the broncs and bulls.

Artsy blurry lights picture....

Can you tell I like the Ferris wheel? It's actually the only fair ride I do like. The midway is an area of the fair I usually avoid like the plague. It's loud, crowded, and...... well, I guess that's it... it's loud and crowded.

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I don't have any pictures of the riders on the animals because it was so dark. All the pictures I took were blurry beyond recognition.

It was great fun though. Jon had only been to a big rodeo where there were more riders and the action moved faster. He was disappointed that only a few riders had rides long enough to qualify. I couldn't believe anyone could qualify after watching the animals they were attempting to ride! One day I'd love to go with Jon to a big rodeo but until then, I'll stick to the fair rodeo. I can't wait to go next year!

Busy, Busy October

October is proving to be a fun but incredibly busy month. October has always been a busy month since Jon is a high school band director. He is working about 70 hours a week between practices, football games, and competitions. So, we try to squeeze in family time whenever we can.
Last weekend we had a great visit from our families. Jon's parents and sister, my dad, brother, and sister all came for Charlotte's birthday and to see Jon's band perform.
Charlotte, Suzanne, and Grammy had fun playing Memory.

Papa and Evan played on the floor of the kitchen while I cooked dinner. Dad, can you come over and entertain him every night so I can cook in peace??

The next morning, Charlotte helped me spread icing on her birthday cake.

Presents!

Yes, I used Christmas wrapping paper.

More presents!

Cake at 9:00 in the morning. Nothing like a sugar rush to start the day. We had to squeeze in time for cake and presents before Jon had to leave to go to the competition.
Katie, can you move closer? Please!!??

Uncle Chris gave Charlotte a princess bubble wand that created tons of bubbles when Charlotte would spin.

We took advantage of the beautiful day and spent a lot of the morning trying to let the kids burn off some energy.

"See my bus, Grandpa?"

Katie fixed Chris's hair for him. Have I mentioned how fun it is to have a brother with hair long enough to style?

Can you see the final hair style? Katie put it up in side ponytail braids. I think Evan is trying to get a closer look at his hair.

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We were sad to see everyone have to go home Saturday night and Sunday morning. We had such a great, busy time with everyone. I wish we all lived closer.

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On Sunday, we met up with my mom and Mark and went to the Farm Fest at Rising Meadow Farm. We had such a good time last year so I was excited to go back. Nana and Grandpa offered to drive Charlotte and Evan in their van so Jon and I could drive the hour in peace and quiet. I couldn't thank them enough. After such a busy weekend, having an hour to talk to Jon without any interruption was so nice.

The kids really loved the ice cream. Evan had banana ice cream.

Charlotte had vanilla.

We got to see lots of fiber animals, including these little angora goats which produce the fiber known as mohair. There were llamas, alpacas, sheep, rabbits.... and I forgot to take pictures of almost all of them. I think I was a wee bit tired that day.

Evan watched the sheep dog demonstration with Nana and Grandpa... though I think this is the only moment he held still the whole afternoon. Going without naps for the whole weekend left him a bit wired. Okay, "a bit" might be an understatement!

Charlotte (in pink) sat in the front row to watch the herding dog get a group of Indian Runner ducks up the ramp and into the wading pool.

We all had a good time but I think we were so tired from our weekend that napping on the couch would have been fun too.

That evening we went to the rodeo at the fair but that's a post for tomorrow. I think there's enough pictures in this post for today.

Charlotte's Daisy Cardigan

Charlotte asked for a coloring-changing, bathtub Princess doll for her birthday. So, in addition to giving her the pink-haired, well-endowed doll, I also knit her a cardigan.
This was my first time knitting a cardigan and it was super easy. It's a top-down sweater (meaning it's knit in one piece instead of sewing in sleeves later).
I used the Daisy Cardigan pattern available for free on Ravelry. The pattern was very user friendly. I'll definitely be using this pattern again.

I adjusted the pattern a bit because I was worried that size 6 wouldn't be big enough. Charlotte seems to grow a half inch every time I blink. I'd like her to be able to wear this sweater this year and next year. I used size 6 needles instead of size 4. I decreased the sleeves only twice instead of eight times because I didn't want them to taper to much. Next time I'll probably decrease the sleeves as directed. I made the sleeves 13" to give her some growing room. I knit the body 2 " longer then the pattern directed. I'm so glad I did because it's a great length for her long torso.

The lazy daisies were easy to embroider thanks to a youtube video. The picot edging along was really easy and I'll use that more often to bind off little girl's clothing.

The green yarn is a very soft Dolce Merino, color 410. It's a blend of merino wool and microfiber. The pink yarn is also super soft, Sublime, Extra Fine, Merino wool, color 0202. Since the yarns are DK weight, the cardigan will be warm but not too hot. It's light weight and breaths so I think it'll be perfect for fall and spring.

I'm not sure I'm brave enough to let her wear it to school yet. I worry it will get lost on the bus or on the playground. This might be a weekend sweater until I can "let go" enough to send it off to school. It's amazing how attached you get to a garment after you spend 20 hours knitting it!

Happy 6th Birthday, Charlotte

Our sweet girl turns six today at 4:36pm. She's bringing ice cream cups to school today to celebrate. She's very excited that her birthday will be announced over morning announcements at school.

We celebrated early with both sides of the family this past weekend and she's having a friend birthday party this upcoming weekend.

Happy Birthday, Charlotte!