ice cream, oh my!

Well,...today we made magic in the kitchen. (And no, I was not being dirty for you dirty minds out there). We created a new ice cream delicacy, that was healthy, fat-free, sugar-free, and tasted sinful. Believe me, you wish you had something that tastes this good in your mouth. WOW!

Anyway, let me just say, we both had the hardest time not eating the whole batch (I had to keep saying "but don't you want to save some so we can have something that tastes this good tomorrow")...we almost ate it anyway. Oh,...it was cookies and cream by the way...YUMMY-in-my-tummy!!!!!!

holiday baking!

This weekend I went to the baking extravaganza with the med school wives. We had a lot of fun! And we made so much food - mint brownies, peanut butter balls, gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies, hot chocolate, wassle, toffee, peanut brittle, chocolate candies...oh my goodness, I can't even remember what else! (above: Logan, Stacy, Rebecca, Aubrae, Callie, me, Darcie, Misty, & Beka)

(the "sig. others" from Jeff's mod: Callie, me, Misty, & Darcie)

baking ideas

Let me tell you, I am so full of holly in my heart and these cookies cutters make me just want to go bake and have a wonderful time decorating cookies!

So, I am needing an excellent idea for holiday treats and I am wondering if anyone out there has any good suggestions.

What is your favorite holiday goodie?

toasted marshmallow ice cream

So, on our trip to OU/tx Jeff had this idea to make toasted marshmallow ice cream. Honestly, at first, I was skeptical, but thought, "hey, we'll try it!" As it turns out, this idea was shear brilliance. In fact, we have now made it twice in the last four days and we still have none left! YUMM!!

We burn the marshmallows ourselves over my 4-wick candle! That is the best part...so fun!

He is genius when it comes to creating unique ice cream flavors. So far, we have done:

- pear-carmel

- mint-chocolate

- toasted marshmallow

- tart-honey fat-free frozen yogurt

- honey fat-free frozen yogurt

- strawberry-banana-orange fat-free frozen yogurt

- vanilla fat-free frozen yogurt...and that is all I can think of right now.

We make up our recipes totally from scratch...in fact, the first time we made ice cream together, we just put in ingredients and amounts that seemed appropriate without any sort of guide. It is awesome too because there are no eggs, no long, slow cooking, so it is super fast and has super easy clean up! And now, we just follow that base recipe and add flavors. Our next experiment is going to be sea-salt carmel ice cream!! I am excited...I'll let you know how it goes!

P.S. I love our ice cream maker by the way!

birthday month treats

Today, Jeffrey surprised me with donuts, grape juice, and cheese sticks for the first day of my birthday month!! (because he loves me... :D ) He actually went to TWO stores to get me happy treats! Oh, f.y.i. I really get excited about my birthday. I personally start celebrating October 21st and my birthday month ends Dec. 21st...and all throughout that time, I am really secretly excited! Well, not truly "secretly," since I am posting it on the internet, but still...you know what I mean.

Anyway, this is a personal things that I never expect others to recognize because I realize that most people don't care. But Jeffrey loves me so much that he is willing to wholeheartedly celebrate even the most trivial things with me just because it makes me happy!

I love him so!

test block 1

So, this is about as much as anyone sees of Jeff these days. Study, study, study, a few hours of sleep, and study, study, study...this is Jeff's life right now, and by extension mine too. When Jeff studies, he likes to snack. He has almost eaten everything we have in our home and I have already made multiple trips to the store this week.

Cookies for the mod. Of course, Jeff won't eat them, but I get to bake and decorate and eat a little cookie dough. So, it all works out.

baby cupcakes

Stephanie Owen, a girl in Jeff's mod, just had a baby boy. (right before first test block too!) So I made these cupcakes for her and the mod to celebrate. And oh, did I have fun decorating!!

While I was baking, I also made homemade pear-carmel ice cream to take to the Spouse Alliance ice cream social and chocolate chip cookies and sent a special one to Lindsey. My kitchen smelt delicious!! But I was good, I did no pre-tasting. I did lick the spoon when I was done however... benefits of working in the kitchen :)