Homemade Ice Cream

My, my, my...the month of July is already flying by for us.  I can't believe that we're already into double digit dates and I'm just now putting up my third post of the month.  I suppose I better get used to it, since July is just going to get busier with my due date for #3 being July 22nd.  Lest you think I've been laying around with zero energy these last few days, I assure you our days have been full of projects and activities.  Thanks to some friends taking my kids for a few hours a couple of days this week, I've gotten quite a big of necessary nesting done.  I just haven't been able to do as much blogging as I normally like to.

Another thing about July--or rather a fun fact--is that it's National Ice Cream Month.  Now this is a holiday I can really get into!  And actually we have, even before we realized the official celebration.  Shawn and I started getting the bug to make homemade ice cream in late May when we were having some fabulous summer weather.  Our first recipe was a basic (no cook/egg) vanilla that I got out of the little owners manual that came with our ice cream freezer/maker.  Incidentally, we got our maker as a wedding gift from Bob McCoy (and his wife, but I can't remember her name right now) from Pocatello.
Anyway, the vanilla was good, but I was wishing it didn't melt so quickly.  So for our next ice cream adventure I went looking for a custard recipe--one with cooked eggs.  We tried this chocolate recipe and it was fabulous!  It truly lived up to all it's reviews.  In fact, do I dare say it could be better than Haagen Das?  I'm sure some of you will want to take the blindfolded taste test yourself.  If you're in our area, I'm sure we'll be making more of it this summer, so you could come over--with your own pint of Haagen Das--and try it for yourself.  I'll even supply the blindfolds!

Here's a lucky little lady enjoying the chocolate ice cream in a cone.

Then when I found peaches on sale at the store a few weeks ago, I had to get some to make something with. At the time I hadn't decided on exactly what, maybe crisp or a pie.  But finally I decided on ice cream.  Then I went searching for a recipe and found one called Georgia Peach Ice Cream.  I figured if anyone knew how to make anything with peaches it would be a Georgian. I had to convince Shawn to try this recipe though since it didn't have eggs in it and we were both so impressed with the cooked egg chocolate recipe.  I'm glad we made it though.  It was delicious!  And it even passed the test of a native born Georgian as well as some other friends at a cookout the other night.

Here it is with and without the flash.  I couldn't decide which one I liked better.

Next, there's two recipes I'd like to try.  One is called Cinnamon Ice Cream.  I know that may sound a bit weird.  But I was curious as to why it had so many stars and so many top reviews.  So after reading a few reviews, I decided we're gonna have to try it for ourselves.  228 cooks can't be that wrong, right?
The other recipe I want to try soon is a Peanut Butter Ice Cream with chunks of chocolate peanut butter cups in it.  That just sounds like a perfect combination to me.
Again, if you're in the area, we'd be happy to share some of our frozen treats with you.  Just come on over and bring a spoon!

So what are your favorite summer treats?