Pleasant surprises!

I was in a GREAT mood this afternoon because I FINALLY finished all my work for my current 2 master's classes. As of now, I'm officially done with taking two classes while teaching. I now have 2 classes left in the summer, 1 in fall and 1 in spring. The end is in sight! Either way. I was in a good mood and Darla and I had just enjoyed our traditional Sunday afternoon hike. When we left, Ben, his brother Joe and Darla's husband Steve were all working on Joe's car. When we returned, they were still working on the car.

Steve's first question to us was, "Do you have a recipe for homemade ice cream that doesn't use eggs?" This led to a long discussion about what the purpose of the eggs is and if it determines how fast it freezes. In the end, all Steve was trying to say was, how fast can I make homemade ice cream because I want some NOW. We finally picked a recipe (see below) and Steve set out to buy a double recipe worth of ingredients... He was really excited about ice cream. As he left, he said, "Now what are we going to have for supper?" This was hilarious to me because when my family has homemade ice cream, it IS supper.

After a frantic trip to the grocery store by Steve (again, he wanted ice cream NOW) and a More With Less goulash type supper made by me, I mixed everything up and set it up to run. Surprisingly, (it's been a long time since I made homemade ice cream), it only took 15 minutes to freeze!! Yay!

As we opened the container for the first taste, we all decided that perhaps this will be the summer where we become connoisseurs of ice cream, and make lots of different homemade ice cream flavors. (As opposed to last summer, where we became connoisseurs of different kinds of brats.) It should be a wonderful summer :-)

Mom's Homemade Ice Cream

6 eggs
2 c. sugar
1/2 t. salt
3 3/4 c. cream (can use up to 2 c. half and half)
1 1/2 T. vanilla
5-6 drops almond extract
1/2 gallon milk (or enough to fill freezer)

Beat eggs. Add all remaining ingredients and mix. Add enough milk to fill freezer properly and freeze according to freezer directions. Yield: 5 quarts ice cream.

Yay for cheap!

I just got 3 pairs of Crocs for $30!!!! Although the recession sucks in most ways, at least it means you can get some screaming deals on stuff. As I was driving past the mall on the way to work, I saw a big banner on a (recently closed) Circuit City that said "Crocs Warehouse Sale!!!!" So we stopped by after work to check out the action. There was a LOT of action. Tons of people. All Crocs were $10-15 dollars, plus they had tons of other gear, only open this weekend of course. For those prices, I'll definitely wear Crocs. Actually I'd always wanted a pair to see what I thought, but didn't want to pay the "exorbitant" $30 dollars or whatever they usually cost. So, this was the perfect time. 

In addition, (one of my favorite phrases used in Master's papers), there were TONS of parents there getting all kinds of shoes for the kids (I think they were $5 for kids pairs). This has been one of a number of times that I've thought, this would be SUCH a good deal if I had kids. Then, I would just go and buy a pair in the next 8 sizes up and call it good :-) 

Ben got a pair of specialty sailing boots for $25 that he's thrilled with, and a pair of shorts. He's so funny when he buys things: he comes home and spends the next 30 minutes analyzing his purchase, examining every nook and cranny, reading labels, wearing it around the house, etc. Cracks me up. It's like he has to justify the purchase to himself or something :-) In the end (surprise, surprise) he decided it was a worthwhile purchase :-) Hope you all are finding some good deals out there! Let me know if you want me to get you some Crocs :-) 

Ahhh...relaxation!

[I meant to publish this Sunday, but I didn't get to add the recipe till later.]

Man, I love holidays. Especially the ones that involve ham! :-) It started out as a very busy day, but has since relaxed considerably. Today started with Ben and I getting up at 5:30 to get ready to go to the sunrise service at North Mountain park, which was beautiful, as usual. It rained yesterday, and so the desert smelled wonderful :-) After that, I went straight to church for a 7:30 rehearsal, changed, and played at the 8:30 service. Then I had a nice Easter brunch at church, chatted for a while with the many people there for Easter Sunday, and then played at the 11:00 service.

After that, we went home, changed, picked up the dogs and the food, and headed over to Ben's parents' house for a lovely Easter dinner. After enjoying pound cake and strawberries, I sat down on a pool lounge chair and napped with the sun warming my legs, and a gentle breeze keeping me comfy. That was definitely the high point of my day. It was a very lovely day :-)

My assignment for Easter dinner (which I picked) was to bring bread and dessert. I made a kind of bread I hadn't made for a long time, called Golden Cake Bread from my home church's cookbook. It is very soft, and just a little bit sweet. Best of all, it doesn't involve any kneading! :-) See what you think! [Ben informed me after the fact that he thought this was too sweet for eating with dinner, but I disagree.]

Golden Cake Bread

1. pkg. yeast

1/4 c. warm water

1 c. scalded milk

1/2 c. butter or shortening

1/2 c. sugar

2 beaten eggs

2 t. vanilla

1 t. salt

4-4 1/2 c. sifted flour

Soften yeast in warm water. Combine scalded milk, butter and sugar in large bowl. Cool to lukewarm. Stir in eggs, vanilla, salt and yeast. Gradually add flour, beating well after each addition. Cover and let rise till doubled (1 hour). Turn batter dough into 2 well-greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Let rise 1 hour. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Cool and wrap in foil. May be frozen. Yield: 2 loaves. 

More with Less Favorites

One of the things I took camping was peanut butter popcorn, which I adore (as do many of my fellow campers). It's super easy and from the More With Less cookbook. It stays just soft enough to eat and not have to pick it out of your teeth.

Peanut Butter Popcorn

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. corn syrup

1/2 c. peanut butter

1/2 t. vanilla

Combine sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan and bring to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and fold in peanut butter and vanilla. Pour over 2 quarts of plain popcorn and enjoy :-)

Another favorite summer recipe is the cucumber salad, which I've tweaked just a little bit to suit my tastes :-) I could probably eat this weekly for the entire summer :-) (Maybe I will!)

Cucumber Salad

2 large cucumbers, thinly sliced

2-4 T. fresh dill, minced

2 T. mayo

2 T. plain yogurt

2 T. vinegar

1/4 c. oil

1 t. salt
dash of pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients except cucumbers. Pour dressing over cucumbers. Chill and serve.

Everything that could go wrong...

"I feel like its pulling..." And thus began our fateful camping trip. It was only one night, what could go wrong? Ha. Those words should never leave my mouth. We went camping this weekend at Lake Pleasant, about 45 minutes northwest of Phoenix, just for one night.

Things began going downhill before Ben and I even got home from work on Friday. He mentioned that the car was pulling to one side, but I told him it was just the (unusual) 40 mph winds. Our friends had gone up to the lake earlier in the day, and we were going to pick up Ben's sailboat at their house. We got home and packed all our stuff and the dogs. We got to their house, and as Ben hung up the phone to establish which camping spot they were in, he says, "That tire is going flat." So, we call Discount Tire, (a highly frequented spot of mine) and ask how fast they can fix a flat. They say, "We close at 6." It was 5:57. So that was out. So, we went to Ben's parents' and loaded ALL the stuff into Jay's Pathfinder and got on the road.

We finally got to the campsite around 7:30. At this point, it's just about dark, and still blowing 40 mph wind, and we still need to set up a tent we've never seen before. That was an episode. After much ado, (and redo), we finally got the GIANT tent set up. I knew it was a 4 man tent, but this thing could have had a second floor in it! We took our group picture with everyone standing up in the tent. Huge. Laughable. Plenty of space for me, Ben, Joe, and two dogs. Then we went to get our supper and realized there was a fire restriction and had to do hot dogs and s'mores over the camp stove. Definitely a disappointment.

After spending a night with those crazy dogs, we decided it was too much space. Those dogs spent the entire night wandering around the tent. Tromp, tromp, tromp. Wag, wag, kiss, kiss. Tromp, tromp, tromp. Wag, wag, pant, pant. All night... Then about 4 AM, they decide to start playing ON my feet. Needless to say, it was not the most restful night ever. Way too much space.

Then in the morning, we had a leisurely breakfast overlooking the lake, which was actually very pleasant. After lots of reading and sitting around, the host informed us we had to be out of the campsite by noon. This left us with some choices, given that the boys still wanted to sail and jetski, and some of the girls wanted to get back in time to watch the Final Four at 3 PM. We decided to have a late lunch at Jay and Marilyn's (our grilled cheese and tomato soup) and watch the games there. So, after much ado, (and discussion of how cold the water was-57 degrees), everyone but Ben and Steve decided to pack up and go home.

After getting home around 1, I took the car to Discount and had them fix my tire (30 minutes), went home, showered, and got ready to go watch the games and Jay and Marilyn's. Just as I was about to leave, Darla called and informed me that Steve's jetski never started in the first place and then he locked his keys in his car, and so she was going to take them to him. So she did. 3 hours later, the keys were dropped off, the originals were retrieved, Ben had sailed and gotten totally scraped up on a pully, and the boys were home. To cap everything off, as they rolled into Steve's house to put the boat back, Joe's truck stopped moving. Wouldn't move, clutch didn't push in, etc. So there you have it. A VERY eventful camping trip, but a good time was had anyway, given fantastic scenery and temperatures :-)