Christmas Cards - 2014

It's that time of year again, time for our annual Christmas card.

This year we did a Coloring Book.

Take a look:

And we also included this picture:

Happy Birthday, Vernon!

It's my husband's birthday today. 5 years ago I made him a video to honor our life and times together. I made a new video this year, since, 1) We have gone on living the past 5 years, and 2) I converted a bunch of VHS tapes, so there is never before seen footage of us as teenagers. Sure, the video might be missing some of the magic of the original, as sequels often do, but it's still pretty sweet. I'm glad and lucky to have this guy in my life.

Mango Coconut Ice Cream

This was divine and super easy. (Original recipe here.)

2 cups coconut milk
1/4 cup honey
3/4 cup frozen mango chunks, divided
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
pinch salt 

 

Place the coconut milk, honey, 1/2 cup mango chunks, vanilla extract, egg yolks, and salt in a  blender. Blend until smooth. Pour into an ice cream maker and follow its instructions. About five minutes before the ice cream is finished, chop the remaining mango chunks into corn kernel-size pieces and add to the ice cream.

Hazelnut Chocolate-Chunk Ice Cream

This was alright.

Find the original recipe here.

We didn't follow it exactly though.

Spiced Sweet Potato Ice Cream

This was fantastic. (Here is the original recipe, which I am copying in its entirity, but I'm not sure how well Vern ended up following it.)

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• Table salt
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• Pinch of ginger
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Pinch of cinnamon

In a medium saucepan, mix 1 cup of the cream with the milk, sugar, and a pinch of salt. Warm the cream mixture over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar dissolves and tiny bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pan, 3 to 4 minutes.

Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with several inches of ice water. Set a smaller metal bowl (one that holds at least 1-1/2 quarts) in the ice water. Pour the remaining cup of cream into the inner bowl (this helps the custard cool quicker when you pour it in later). Set a fine strainer on top. Whisk the egg yolks in a medium bowl.

In a steady stream, pour half of the warm cream mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly to prevent the eggs from curdling.

Pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heatproof rubber spatula until the custard thickens slightly (it should be thick enough to coat the spatula and hold a line drawn through it with a finger), 4 to 8 minutes. An instant-read thermometer should read 175° to 180°F at this point. Don’t let the sauce overheat or boil, or it will curdle. Immediately strain the custard into the cold cream in the ice bath. Press firmly on the strainer with the spatula to extract as much flavor as possible.

Cool the custard to below 70°F by stirring it over the ice bath. Stir mashed sweet potato, vanilla extract, ginger, nutmeg, and cinnamon into the cooled custard.

Refrigerate the custard until completely chilled, at least 4 hours. Then freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the ice cream to an air-tight container, and freeze for at least 4 hours or up to 2 weeks.