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Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Food Network Project

The girls are addicted to the Food Network. Weird. I know. But fun, too. (I mean, it's much better than Dora.)

So, Friday, they were watching Michael Chiarello...


...make different ice cream treats for his ice cream pool party, and they begged me to help them make two of the recipes he made. The first, was a cantaloupe granita, and the second was a speed scratch neapolitan. The cantaloupe granita turned out perfect, but since no one in the house likes cantaloupe, it flopped. Badly. (I tried to tell them....) The neapolitan, though, was a huge hit.

I thought I'd share. It was so much fun to do with the girls, especially since it was their idea and they were so into it.






I am determined to make this summer a memorable one and try to do several fun projects a week. My plan is to try to do a Friday 'Week in Review' post throughout the summer. We'll see how I do... I've only made it through Monday, and I'm already exhausted.

5 comments:

Robyn said...

Thanks for sharing! Mine love Tyler Florence, Sunny, and Giada. We watch the Food Network after their naps. They love shouting out what ingredients they see.

Superchikk said...

C and I watch Food Newtork together all the time right before bedtime. I'm hoping it will give him dreams of becoming a famous chef so he can support and feed his Momma in her old age.

I must find those recipes - they look great! I just made some homemade ice cream this morning and need some new fun things to try.

Guillen said...

Hey Angela--Great Job. We're food network nuts around here! Try this one. I'm planning on doing crafts at church camp this summer and it's one I'm going to try. I've not done it but my niece says it's "way cool"

Homeade Ice Cream in a Bag
What you'll need:

* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1/2 cup milk or half & half
* 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
* 6 tablespoons rock salt
* 1 pint-size plastic food storage bag (e.g., Ziploc)
* 1 gallon-size plastic food storage bag
* Ice cubes

How to make it:

1. Fill the large bag half full of ice, and add the rock salt. Seal the bag.
2. Put milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and seal it.
3. Place the small bag inside the large one, and seal it again carefully.
4. Shake until the mixture is ice cream, which takes about 5 minutes.
5. Wipe off the top of the small bag, then open it carefully. Enjoy!

Tips:

A 1/2 cup milk will make about 1 scoop of ice cream, so double the recipe if you want more. But don't increase the proportions more that that -- a large amount might be too big for kids to pick-up because the ice itself is heavy.

Here's an improvised version of the homemade ice cream recipe from another parent:

These are the homemade ice cream ingredients . . .

* 1/4 teaspoon imitation vanilla butter and nut flavor
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 1/2 cup 1% milk

These are the other supplies . . .

* Plastic sandwich bag (e.g., Ziploc)
* 12 water softener pellets
* 1 tray of ice (My ice cube tray makes small cubes, so it produces only about half a tray.)
* Large plastic bag

Put the ice-cream ingredients in the small bag, and then put the bag, salt, and ice in the big bag. Hold the bag shut and stir it around on the floor for about 5 minutes. Although the salt pellets hardly dissolved, I got ice cream. It was not as smooth as ice cream, probably because of the low-fat milk. Instead, it was a little like sherbet. I think if I had more ice in the bag, I could have shaken it better. I'd recommend wearing gloves. It is incredible that it is ready in 5 minutes (not counting assembling the ingredients.)


Next, I changed the recipe, using a tablespoon of cocoa, a tablespoon of sugar, and a cup of milk. I really wanted to use carob, but I didn't have any. It was a tad too chocolatey, but good! My daughter has milk allergies, so I suggested she try this with fruit juice. She used straight pineapple juice and got a terrific fruit sorbet.

Guillen said...

Sorry about the last comment. Didn't know it was going to be so long.

Angela said...

Ooooo fun, Guillen, thanks!!! That's definitely on next week's agenda. Fun!!