Dark Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream

What you'll need:

-Ingredients for basic vanilla ice cream for an ice cream machine (eggs, sugar, milk, cream)

-Peppermint extract (store brands are super cheap)

-Crushed peppermint candy

-Dark chocolate chips

If you don't have an ice cream machine just use the No Machine Ice Cream recipe listed in this post. Seriously easy; heavy whipping cream and sweetened condensed cream. BAM.

I got a little fancy and bought Hershey's special dark chocolate and pre-crushed peppermint

Helpful tips:

-Make the regular recipe for vanilla ice cream (except go easy on vanilla and add a dash or two of peppermint extract to taste) and run it through the machine. Pour the thickened ice cream into a bowl and THEN mix in the crushed candy. Trust me on this this. I tried to save time or whatever by mixing the candy into the liquid-y before stage and ALL of the candy sunk to the bottom and stuck to the ice cold canister. It was a freakin' mess.

The result, note, at home versions may turn out less Instagram-y.

Now, I'm going to sit here on my first day off in 13 days and enjoy Christmas ice cream and Law and Order on instant Netflix.

Going Martha Stewart Up on Everything

Saving money has been freaking delicious (and probably fattening).

I've been making my own bread for a while now and I really enjoy it. The recipe makes two loaves (I tend to give one away) and I only have bread in the house when I know I'm going to use it. Plus, fresh bread is on a whole other level.

Look at this kick ass sandwich:


I've been wanting to make apple butter for a while ever since I saw this recipe. Apples went on sale at my local grocery store for $0.97 so I figured it was time. I can't even describe how amazing my house smelled. It was also a great way to bring in the fall (FYI fall in Texas is when it drops below 90 degrees and there's a slight breeze). After reading some of the comments I modified the recipe by reducing the sugar to only 1 cup and using some Agave Nectar I had in my cupboard. Despite my best efforts it turned out more like apple sauce so I had to give it a whirl in my food processor. After that it was perfect. Next time I might process the apples before cooking and add another cup of sugar to thicken it up.


Tomorrow I plan on making fresh buttermilk biscuits and going to townnnnn. I hope leggings are still in fashion because I doubt I'll be able to fit in any of my pants for much longer.

Unfortunately I wasn't satisfied with the sugar overload of apple butter. I wanted more. MORE. Lately I've been all about ice cream. After 4 years of being vegan I now want to try every single flavor my pals Ben & Jerry can offer. That got to be an expensive habit so I wanted to try my hand at home made ice cream. The only problem is that I don't own an ice cream machine and I certainly can't rationalize spending $40 on something I don't really need. So I googled my heart out until I found a recipe for home made ice cream sans ice cream machine.

I found this recipe from a blog called Kevin and Amanda and I don't know how my heart is still beating. There's only two ingredients: Heaving whipping cream and sweetened condensed cream. Jesus. The blog also gives recipes for cinnabun and Nutella ice cream. I decided to keep it simple with plain ol' vanilla. The recipe was easy and cheap (around $3 for 3 full mason jars of sweetness!!!).


So good. The only difference between this and store bought ice cream/ice cream made with a machine is that it isn't as cold. It is, however, ridiculously creamy and satisfying.