While on vacation this summer, I made a little pact with my friend that I would purchase an ice cream maker and begin churning out my own product.  Why you might ask?  Well, it sounded like a lot of fun for the family and when I asked the kids to find an ice cream with 5 ingredients or less in the common grocery store, we were getting looks as we opened and closed the multiple freezer doors with frustration. 

Two weeks ago I finally made the trip to get my shiny, stainless steel ice cream maker.  The first Saturday I tried out an ice milk recipe which didn't have even a tablespoon of cream in it and I didn't love it.  BUT I am happy to say that the recipe for real creamy vanilla ice cream with 4 ingredients produced the best I have tasted in just 30 minutes from start to finish.  I was curious to check out the website of my usual store vanilla brand and it listed 11 ingredients with such words as "modified", "artificial", "gum" and "oil". 

I paired our ice cream with jonagold apples from the market at Burlington Mall which I cored and filled with a touch of butter, brown sugar, raisins, cinnamon and grated lemon rind.  Placed them tightly in a baking dish, covered with a 1/4 cup of orange juice and baked them in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes to soft and gooey perfection. 

Many of us have read the book "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan where he speaks of looking for packaged foods with 5 ingredients or less and even better, being able to read all of the ingredients.  We sometimes need the convenience foods and I use them as well, but ever since I read that book I have opened my eyes to the boxes and cartons in my house and because we are an ice cream loving family, this just seemed like a fun way to meet that 5 ingredient challenge....that is until we decide to add a bit of dark chocolate to the mix next time....YUM!!

See you out this week.  It's going to be nice and warm and during the Off-Road Class today we couldn't stop exclaiming about the beauty of the sun and the crunchy leaves.

Sue