It was another fun week of summer fun at the Clark house, although we didn’t get to many of our planned activities this week. The kids finished up their last week of swim lessons and we did a fun pirate-themed VBS at our church. Our children are so blessed to have such a fun church and VBS was stellar this year with tons of crafts and activities for the kids to do. We collapsed every night after swim lessons and a jam-packed evening of VBS activities.
I managed to squeeze in a Father’s Day date with my hubby, two birthday parties, a trip to a bounce house, attended a musical, had a slurpee celebration for finishing our swim lessons, two days at the pool, and one ice cream excursion. No wonder we didn’t have time for crafting this week!
For a fun Friday night treat this week, I made homemade fudgesicles for a fun way to finish off our pizza night together. These fudgesicles, from Smitten Kitchen, were so creamy, rich, and delicious made with such a seemingly small amount of cocoa and chocolate chips, that you really can’t believe how rich the flavor is. I doubled the recipe, but quickly realized that I did not need to double this for the amount of popsicle holders that we had. This makes a ton of popsicles and we still have another tray in the freezer for another weeknight treat. My husband said they were just as good as the store-bought variety and I loved them even more.
Proving that I will gain a million pounds over the summer, I made this key lime ice cream from goodLife{eats}, guest posted by Jamie from My Baking Addiction and let me tell you,… it is perhaps one of the best bowls of homemade ice cream I have ever eaten. I decided to play with the recipe a little and used fat-free sweetened condensed milk, the zest from a lime, and regular lime juice since key lime juice proves to not be plentiful in my Midwestern store. I find my father-in-law is the kind of guy that I want to work really hard to impress and I think our dinner, this dessert, and my present this year offered a triple wow factor that I will never be able to replicate again!
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Stumped for ideas this summer? Have no fear! I have you covered this year with our 100 Days of Summer Pinterest Board. There are 100 ideas for crafting, eating, and creating with your children of all ages. We promise to keep it carefree on Tuesdays and share what we tackle through our mobile uploads and you can even follow our adventures in real time through Instagram or on Twitter(my name is momadvice).
Our family is on the move and we want you to be on the move too.
Do something cool together this week.
Your kids will love you for it.
What did you tackle this week from your summer list?
Sounds like your family is having a great summer! I am loving your ice cream recipes and want to try some of them for the 4th so I have been on the lookout for an ice cream maker. I wondered if the one you recently bought was one of the newer ones that don’t require ice and salt and makes smaller amounts? I think you have to freeze the container before you pour in your ingredients too. Looking for someone’s tried and true recommendation before I purchase one. Thanks for your input.
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Heather Reply:
June 28th, 2011 at 2:47 pm
I bought my family the Cuisinart ice cream maker for Christmas and it is much loved here! We keep the canister in the freezer and when we want ice cream or slushies or sorbet we can just grab it out, pour in the recipe and plug it in. Most things take about 25 minutes to ‘freeze’ to soft serve consistency. If you want it hard frozen (in the case of ice cream) then you just put it in a different container and freeze it. Super easy and ours makes about 2 quarts, but I have a friend with one that makes one quart so I know there are different sizes. No ice, no salt and much loveliness with no preservatives or unpronounceables! Yummy.
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Amy Reply:
June 28th, 2011 at 3:40 pm
Yes, Barbara it does not require salt and is the electric variety. I just got one at Aldi for $20, but they have another brand at Walmart (Sunbeam, I believe) that was very similar for around $26 that also is electric and does not require the salt and ice. You might want to check there. If you want to spend a little more, the Cuisinart and the Kitchenaid ice cream bowl (made for your Kitchenaid mixer) might also be two other great options. I hope that helps!
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I have an old-school Rival ice cream maker I bought at the end of summer a few years ago – on clearance at walmart for $10. I also bought rock salt on clearance for $1 a bag, so we should be set for the rest of this summer, at least.
I also made the key lime pie ice cream for Father’s Day and it was delish. Try to find Nellie and Joe’s Key Lime Juice – it’s SO good.
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Amy Reply:
June 29th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
I was bummed that we couldn’t find it at our stores. I wish we had a store like Trader Joe’s around here, but the closest one is in Chicago. Regardless, I think the zest addition added a little something to it that heped a little bit
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Oooh, would love to try the key lime ice cream. Haven’t made ice cream yet but my husband loves key lime anything, so it may be time to try my hand a homemade ice cream.
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Amy Reply:
June 29th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
This one would be a great recipe to start with. We just polished off the double batch I made last night and it was good a week later. I hope you can make it, Kimberly!
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Hello Amy,
I always love your photos. I remember you posting an article about the camera you use (I know you use editing software as well) and I’m having trouble finding it. Could you please tell me what camera you use to take those whimsical photographs?
Thanks for your time!
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Amy Reply:
June 29th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
Oh, you are too sweet. All of our 100 Days of Summer pictures are taken with my iPhone and I use Camera+ & Instagram for editing the photos. All other photos are taken with my Canon Rebel T1i and 17-55 mm lens. I think the article you are looking for is here: http://momadvice.com/blog/2010/07/a-real-moms-guide-to-photographing-your-kids
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Michaela Reply:
June 29th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
That is the one! Thanks Amy!
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Just reading what you have achieved in the last week makes me tired! I love the summer but it can be exhausting keeping the kids occupied. I think that fudgesicles are the answer as they always enjoy helping to make things they can eat.
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