Making Lavender & Lemon Ice Cream

Last year I tasted lavender and lemon ice cream from a local ice cream shop. The shop is in downtown Sweetwater and happens to be owned by a very dear friend of mine, Emily. It was the first time, I could ever remember, having lavender and lemon ice cream. It was so refreshing so delicate so creamy and so yummy. I have traveled back to the creamery a few times to get a half pint or two of this deliciousness. But I thought to myself, what if I could make it?

For my Birthday in April I told my husband I would love to have an ice cream maker. I bought one for my nephew for Christmas but I’m not sure he has ever used it. Another nephew told me he absolutely loved his and used it all the time. I had to have one. I love ice cream.

Well I got the ice cream maker for my birthday back in April and I have made a couple of different flavors of ice cream. I was finally ready to try making the lavender and lemon ice cream. I searched for a few recipes and found several and decided to combine a few that I liked. Here is what I got.

***This is the ice cream maker that I got from Amazon. I love it!!!***

I searched for lavender flavoring and finally just settled for a lavender syrup that you can use for many things, such as tea, ice cream and lots of things. You can buy it just about anywhere. I did receive a tip from my friend from the creamery she said you have to use a lot of this flavoring to get a lavender flavor. That is okay with me, until I find the perfect lavender flavoring.

So here is the recipe I used:

1&1/2 cups of whole milk divided

1 cup of sugar

5 egg yolks

Pinch of salt

1&1/2 cups of heavy cream

Juice of 2 lemons, (I may only use 1&1/2 lemons next time)

1/4 cup of lavender flavoring

Heat one cup of milk, salt and sugar in a saucepan to steaming, stirring to dissolve the sugar. In a mixing bowl whisk the egg yolks. Pour 1/4 of the milk mixture into the egg yolks whisking constantly until they are smooth. Pour the tempered egg yolks into the saucepan over medium/high heat until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Whisk in the remaining 1/2 cup of milk, heavy cream, lavender syrup and lemon juice. Refrigerate until fully chilled.

When the mixture is fully chilled pour it into your ice cream maker according to the instructions. it’s usually about 20-25 minutes of churn time. It will be sort of like soft serve ice cream after this time. I could still eat an entire container of it.

After churning let your ice cream freeze for up to 6 hours and then enjoy. I have found it best to let your container of ice cream set out at room temperature for 10-15 minutes before serving. It’s delicious!!!!

Not everyone will appreciate the flavor of lavender and lemon. My husband is not a big fan but that just means more for me. I love it!! It’s a perfect spring or summer treat.

***I use quart containers for my ice cream. I got these from Amazon.***

***I will let you in on a secret I did add a little purple food coloring to give it a pretty color.***

I will keep you posted on my next concoction.

Always remember

Love your day your way!!

Dogwood Winter, Orchids and Sourdough Bread

Hello friends, How was your weekend? Easter is always a special family time for us. We went to my sister’s house for a cook-out. I made baked beans and some cookie bars. How did you spend your Easter Sunday?

***My cookie bars just before baking them.***

I have been sitting in the early mornings listening to the whippoorwills while I drink my coffee. Whippoorwill winter will be here soon. All last week we were experiencing Dogwood winter. The Dogwood trees are now fully bloomed out and the temps have turned quite warm again. Dogwood winter was very nice while it lasted. Cool mornings and warm afternoons.

***I think the Dogwood is one of the most beautiful trees.***

I mentioned last week that I had visited Harmony Lane Farms in Smithville Tennessee. If you missed that post check it out Here. I took a sample of their sour doughbread starter. I didn’t have time to make the sourdough bread when I brought the starter home. I kept the starter in the refrigerator and took it out last Friday to feed it and get it to room temperature to get it ready to make bread. Just like my yeast bread it is a two day process. If you are unsure of making sourdough bread check out some of the YouTube or Instagram videos out there. There’s so many good ones. I think I’ve watched about a million trying to get different ideas of how people do theirs.

I fed the bread on Friday morning around 5:00 AM and marked my jar to be able to see if the starter was active and rising. I came home Friday night and ran to the kitchen to check the starter and it was rising. It had almost doubled in size. I fed it again that night and the next morning I started the bread.

There is a lot of stretching and folding when you are dealing with sourdough bread. It took most of the day, off and on. I finished it in the afternoon and decided to let the dough sit in the refrigerator overnight. I had read that this makes for a more flavorful bread. On a side note I made more bread a couple of days later and didn’t do all of the stretching and folding and I didn’t leave it in the fridge as long. I couldn’t tell a bit of difference. I did stretch and fold a few times and let it rest and rise for a few hours.

***This is the proofing basket. I used to put the dough in after I had folded it and seamed the bottom.***

I baked the bread on Sunday morning. I was very happy with the way it turned out. It is very different from my yeast bread and the artisan bread that I make.

***I love the color and the texture of this bread.***

I celebrated my birthday this week and my 35th wedding anniversary. I don’t know if I told you but I got married on my Birthday. So we have a double celebration. I asked for an ice cream maker for my Birthday. The electric kind not the one you churn by hand. No thank you on the hand crank job I remember those from my childhood. Hubs and I took the day and did a little shopping and went out to eat. Very low key.

***My morning view a couple of times last week.***

I had read that if your cat has a box to play and sleep in it makes them more sociably comfortable and happy. I fixed a box for the kitties. They were very interested. Gus was the first one in it.

And then Kitty Kitty got in after Gus had finished inspecting it.

As soon as Gus saw Kitty Kitty in “his” box he ran straight into it and pushed Kitty Kitty out. The fight was on. I went down to the basement and got a second box and fixed it up for them. And wouldn’t you know it, neither one would have anything to do with the second box. Now they have lost interest in both boxes. Oh well it was an experiment.

***Several of my orchids are blooming and I am just loving all the different colors.***

That is what has been going on around here how is your week going?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

A Trip To Harmony Lane Farms In Smithville Tennessee

Happy Monday. How was your weekend? Last week was a long week. I started last Monday taking my sister for outpatient surgery in Knoxville. Then I had to stay late at work three different days. A long week. But the weekend was great!!! And I was so ready for it.

On Saturday my sister, niece and I went to nearby Smithville to visit my nephew. He works in Smithville and has lived there for more than a year. He discovered a goat farm near his house. Harmony Lane Farms, it is a working farm and they sell goat milk, ice cream and even fudge all made from Goat’s milk.

I went online to check it out and saw that they even had a farm tour and baby goat cuddling. We were all in.

We met my nephew in Sparta Tennessee which is about thirty minutes from his house. He had a pizza place he wanted us to try. We got into Sparta almost an hour before we were scheduled to meet him so we drove around the town.

My sister and I chose something different than pizza. Although the pizza looked great too.

Just outside of town we saw a little farm store that was very crowded. We still had some time to kill so we pulled in. The Farmers’ Storehouse. It was the neatest shop.

They make a lot of sour dough and even gave me a sour dough starter. It turns out that my sour dough bread is actually more of a yeast bread than an actual sour dough bread. But that’s okay I can do both. I have already fed the new starter a few times but haven’t actually made bread yet.

The farm tour was so much fun. We rode on a wagon and fed chickens, goats, cattle and watched the hogs being fed. I even got to milk a goat. Then we were able to cuddle the baby goats and even feed them with a bottle. They were just adorable.

***The goats know when it is feeding time.***

***The goats are hand milked twice a day.***

***Me and my sister and some baby goats. We also got to bottle feed them.***

We sampled several different types of cheese and the fudge of course. It was all delicious. My nephew always buys ice cream here.

I got home just in time to capture this beautiful moonrise.

Sunday was mostly resting and some laundry and spending time with my hubs.

How was your weekend?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!

Making Chocolate Pudding Cake

Hello and happy Monday. It really was a true Monday. I left the house this morning and several miles down the road I realized I had forgotten my purse. I did not go back. I had my phone and my lunch. I can use Apple Pay on my phone if I need to. So I did without it today. It did feel a little strange though. Oh well I guess it just proves I don’t really need a purse. I think I will get me one of those cute little wristlets and hook it to my keys.

It was a great weekend. The weather was so nice. I went outside Saturday morning to check out the tulip bulbs, and there are now fourteen coming up. I am hoping for even more because some of them are just barely breaking through. Of course I had a little helper. Allie.

I spent some time out on the deck reading. I am still reading Ina Garten’s Memoir. The sunshine and warm temperatures were just great. I baked bread and took most of it to work with me today.

When I was growing up my mama made a very yummy chocolate dessert that she called Chocolate Pudding Cake. Think lava cake or something like that and you will have an idea of what it is similar to. For many years we have tried to perfect the cake and make it like hers. I think my nephew and I just about have it down. After we came up with our recipe, other than a few tweaks here and there, my niece casually mentioned that she made it all the time. We are thinking we need to have a bake-off and let the family decide which one tastes the most like my mama’s.

Here is the recipe:
First melt one stick of butter in a 9×5 baking pan or casserole dish.
In a separate dish mix these dry ingredients:
1&1/2 cups of self rising flour
1&1/4 cups of granulated sugar
1&3/4 TBS. of cocoa
after you have stirred these together add:
3/4 cup of whole mild
2 tsp. of vanilla extract
pour into your pan evenly (DON”T STIR) after you pour it into the pan.

In a separate bowl mix:
1&1/2 cups of sugar
1/2 cup of cocoa
Stir all of this together until all of the lumps are out of the cocoa
Sprinkle this mixture over the top of the first mixture (DON’T STIR) after you put it on top of the first mixture.

Boil 2&1/2 cups of water (this is where I am tweaking mine next time and only adding 1&1/2 cups of boiling water.) But I used 2&1/2 cups yesterday and it was still delicious just a little runny while it was still warm. Pour the boiling water over your mixture very slowly. Let it soak in for a few minutes and then put it in your oven at 350 degrees and bake for thirty minutes.