November is happening. In a serious way.
Remember last year? I blogged every single day in November. It was epic. It’s happening again. So are some other things. Like… butternut squash lasagna. Probably some more canning. Definitely some more ice cream. A gluten free variation on a seasonal favorite (I hope). And a whole lot of Gilmore Girls references.
Canning things makes me feel like I have my life together. Sometimes I eat french fries for dinner. Sometimes I watch a Numb3rs marathon. Sometimes I go to Trader Joe’s and discover the most amazing gluten free peanut butter cups. In case you were confused, I don’t have my life together.
… but canning things. Who even cans things anymore? Moms who are totally with it and grandmothers who are beyond with it. I think it’s pretty obvious that I really mean my mom and my grandmother.
So make something that goes in a can. Make it from scratch. Make it with local produce. Put it in a can. It’s relaxing.
It’s kind of a big deal. See?
Google knows when something is a big deal. Trust me. People are posting recipes so you can make your own, others are yammering on about how exciting the first pumpkin spice latte of the year is. People love them.
And I’m not judging. The pumpkin spice latte was the first time I ever had coffee and didn’t think “That’d be good… if you could just get rid of the coffee flavor.” I just wasn’t raised on coffee. My parents don’t drink it. And my caffeine of choice through college was always diet coke (interestingly, this is what I would get when I had the pleasure of taking a sip of my dad’s drink as a child). I’ve had roommates who drink coffee like it’s their job. And when you’re a student, I guess it kind of is. And I’ve just never really gotten into it. I would always prefer a soda or a cup of tea. Always. … except the pumpkin spice latte. It has this rich, earthy flavor… mixed with fall spices and the richness of cream. It’s a match made in heaven really.
Did you see my birthday ice cream from a couple days ago? Pumpkin ice cream is really a pretty good idea. … but I really had to wonder if we could make a sort of pumpkin spice latte ice cream. We can. I did. You should too.
Photo by Nathan Clendenin
For the recipe, I basically merged two of David Lebovitz’s recipes together. This recipe for coffee ice cream. And this recipe for pumpkin ice cream. I made a few minor adjustments, and voila! Here’s how it goes:
Pumpkin Spice Latte Ice Cream
Mix the milk, coffee beans, sugar, salt, spices, and 1/2 cup heavy cream together in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat until steamy (not boiling). Cover, remove from heat, and let steep for approximately 1 hour.
Whisk the egg yolks in a bowl. Prepare ice bath: a big bowl with a bunch of ice in it, and a littler, metal bowl sitting inside of that. Pour the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream in the smaller bowl; then put a mesh strainer on top.
Now reheat the milk mixture. Once hot and steamy, pour some of the milk mixture into the eggs and mix together. Now pour the egg/milk mixture into the milk mixture. Cook on medium until thickened. Remove from heat. Pour through mesh strainer into ice bath. Mix in brown sugar and coffee grounds. Now chill this mixture thoroughly (preferably overnight).
Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla. Strain again to get out any chunks. Then freeze according to ice cream maker’s directions.
Hey, it’s Valerie again after a long absence. Jenny, I hope you don’t mind this surprise post.
I wasn’t in the mood tonight for any of my tried-and-true recipes. But I also wasn’t in the mood to buy expensive ingredients or make anything too involved. Which means it was the perfect time to look through my 1970’s Betty Crocker cookbook. I found a recipe called “Tomato-Pepper Chicken” which was exactly the sort of thing I wanted to make.
Chicken ready to simmer in tomato sauce
Basically, you bread the chicken, brown it in shortening (so 70’s!), cook up the peppers and onions, add tomatoes, mushrooms, and tomato sauce, then simmer the chicken until it’s cooked. It turned out great, but here are some changes I’ll make next time. 1) Use less shortening. Maybe even replace it with olive oil. 2) Use chicken thigh fillets instead of leg pieces to cut down on the fat from the skin, and to make it easier to eat.
Dinner is served! Mixed greens and fresh mozzarella on the side.
While I was making this and while I ate it, I listened to Ella Fitzgerald on Spotify. It was a pretty perfect night!
I woke up today. It’s my first day of being fully 25. Yesterday was in between. It was an amazing, but confusing day. … and I’m starting to think that I like this 25 year old business. Here are a couple reasons why:
I’m having the most amazing hair day today. That’s not braggy, is it? I’m as shocked as anyone else, but I just woke up… and there it was. Exactly how I wanted it to be. And I didn’t do anything to it. If this is any indicator of how this next year is going to go, I’m pretty ok with that.
Pumpkin ice cream. I was going to make cupcakes for my birthday, but then my mom made me some this weekend. So then I thought I’d make chocolate ice cream, and on Sunday, decided we’d go pumpkin instead. I have no regrets. You won’t either.
Photo by Nathan Clendenin
So I like this David Lebovitz guy. He really seems to know his stuff when it comes to ice cream. … but sometimes his directions stress me out. There’s not enough before-hand prep, and I’m afraid I’ll burn milk if I leave it on the stove when I’m separating eggs. I’ve switched a few of the directions around, and I edited the spices a bit (because honestly, I don’t fresh grind much of anything). Generally speaking, though, this ice cream is my adaptation of his adaptation, which gets confusing after awhile. Here’s what I was working with.
Pumpkin Ice Cream
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
5 large egg yolks
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon (gluten free) vanilla extract
3/4 cup canned pumpkin puree (100% pure)
Make an ice bath: a big bowl with a bunch of ice in it, and a littler, metal bowl sitting inside of that. Then put a mesh strainer on top. Keep this handy. You’ll use it later.
Separate your eggs and whisk up the yolks. Keep ‘em close. Mix the milk, cream, sugar, spices, and salt over medium heat. Stir constantly, and heat until just starting to bubble. Now pour some of the milk mixture into the egg yolks slowly, while whisking the eggs yolks. Do this nice and slow so you don’t cook the eggs. That’s gross. Now pour the egg/milk mixture into the rest of the milk mixture. Cook over low (let’s be honest, I got impatient and turned the heat up) until thickened. If you’re questioning whether it’s thick yet, it’s not. You’ll know.
Now strain the thick custard mixture into that littler metal bowl that’s sitting in the ice bath. Stir until cool, then refrigerate until chilled (preferably overnight). Whisk in the pumpkin and vanilla, then strain again. Now freeze according to ice maker directions.
This ice cream tastes like fall. You won’t regret it.
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