Friday's Food for Thought: Ice Cream

One way to survive blogging each day is to have a routine about what you will post each day of the week.  My Friday focus is food for thought in which I will share some of my favorite recipes.  

I have new rule about food appliances sharing my space with my family. In fact, my favorite new tool is my Kitchen AID spiralizer attachment, but I will write about zoodles later this month.(Disclaimer: I don't get kickbacks for any of the products that I talk about on this blog!) I came up with this rule because we live in a condo and our square footage is at a premium.  I love to cook, but the new deal is this: if I have a kitchen tool or appliance that takes too much space, I have to use it at least once a month or twelve times a year. 

The first item up for possible disposal was the ice cream maker that we received as a wedding gift sixteen years ago. This meant I had to make ice cream\sorbet at least once a month last year or 12 times last year.  Really not an awful problem, since my daughter eats ice cream each day. It's part of her prescription for life. I''m more of a chip monster, but these recipes were worth the work and once you mix the ingredients the machine does the rest.  Here are my top 3 faves!

1.  Meyer Lemon Sorbet:  Sour citrus flavors are among my favorite and lemon stands head and shoulders above the rest.  I have a box of Girl Scout lemon shortbread cookies taunting me from the freezer right now.  What was most delicious about this sorbet was the freshness.  A work colleague bought me a bag of Meyer lemons from his parents'  tree.  It was light and tart and enjoyed by everyone in my house. (a twist on this was a strawberry lemon sorbet).  

2. Strawberry Gelato:  In Florida, you can start picking strawberries in December until the end of March\middle of April.  I tend to go a little crazy picking strawberries, often picking 20 pounds.  I love strawberries and my daughter does too.  This recipe is richer than sorbet. The key difference between it and the sorbet recipe is heavy whipping cream.  It has a decadent mouth-feel.   For each of these recipes, all of the fruit was picked either by a friend or myself. Perhaps that goes back to the quality of the ingredients that made a difference.  

3.  Peppermint Ice Cream:  I love mint, peppermint, the kind that flavors candy canes. Some people love mint and some do not.  I can't stand wintergreen and the only way to keep my mom from eating ice cream is making sure it is mint. Although Publix makes a candy cane ice cream and Haagan-Daz makes a peppermint bark ice cream which both come out at Christmas, this recipe is worth the try.  It is actually from Cooking Light and you would never know the difference.  This was the first ice cream that I ever made.  The key to this recipe is that you have to stock some candy canes away, but I guess crushed peppermint candies would do in a pinch.

I've made other flavors too such as blueberry, vanilla, mint chocolate chip and watermelon sorbet. Not every recipes was a success, especially the watermelon sorbet.  Too much sugar!  My cooking failures are good lessons for me. Now I now to taste the base before I freeze it. Next up on my sorbet\ice cream flavor to-dos are key lime, grapefruit, cranberry and coffee. Any special requests?

What's your favorite flavor of ice cream or recipe to make ice cream or sorbet?