Almond Ice Cream-Pinned It Did It

May 24, 2013 By Leave a Comment

homemade ice cream, ice cream recipes, cuisinart ice cream makerLast year for Mother’s Day I got the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker machine… I was SO excited…my jeans were not (8 pounds later!!!!).  If you have an ice cream maker in your home then you know how amazing home-made ice cream tastes. It is almost worth the calories. OK, I’ll be honest, it IS worth the calories! There are tons of recipes out there for ice cream flavors but today I am going to share with you a little family tradition we have in our home. Every year my husbands fathers family gets together to celebrate Christmas and my husbands uncle is always in charge of bringing the ice cream. The man makes GALLONS of it! I couldn’t put my finger on it the first year I celebrated with them but something was different about this ice cream. After I was “inducted” into the family by way of marriage I was told that the secret is Almond extract NOT Vanilla. Oh my stars it is heaven in a bowl! So today I’m sharing this recipe with you too!

Almond Ice Cream

1-1/2 cups 2% milk
1-1/8 cups sugar
3 cups heavy cream (also known as whipping cream)
2 teaspoons pure almond extract

Cuisinart, cuisinart ice cream maker, ice cream machine, ice cream recipe

In a mixing bowl, prior to making the ice cream, blend together the milk and sugar to ensure it has properly dissolved (this takes around 3-5 minutes). Next, mix in your heavy cream and Almond extract. Turn on your ice cream maker and pour your mixture into the freezer bowl and let mix until it has thickened to the proper consistency. Then ENJOY! Let me know how you like it!

Filed Under: Pinned It Did It, tasty treats Tagged With: , , ,

Memorial Day Popsicles

May 23, 2013 By 2 Comments
Zoku

If you are in the United States you know that Memorial Day is next week and I thought this might be a good time to whip out my favorite Zoku Quick Pop Maker. Now, you don’t NEED one, you can make these the old-fashioned way, but I will admit making 6 Popsicles in under 10 minutes TOTAL was a bonus!

Zoku

I used lemonade for all three colors because lemonade Popsicles are a favorite in our house. I just added a drop of red and blue food coloring to the lemonade.

Zoku

I sliced an apple really thin and used the star shaped cutter that came with my Zoku, but you can find these at your local craft supply store. I added the stars to the Quick Pop maker to add a little more of a festive look.

Zoku

I simply added blue to one of the pops and striped the red and plain lemonade to make the stripes. I love how the stars and strips pops turned out, and so did my kids!

Zoku

You can even get a little more creative and add more layers… good ol’ Red, White, and Blue!

Zoku

Just remember to have fun and enjoy the time with your kids. Making Popsicles for my kids is one of my favorite treats for them because they love it and because I know EXACTLY what ingredients they are getting.

Filed Under: Patriotic, tasty treats Tagged With: , , ,

Kids Bowl FREE Summer Program

May 22, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Yes, you read the title right…kids bowl FREE during the summer!

kids bowl free, free bowling

I don’t know when your kids get out of school for the summer but Tottie’s preschool ended yesterday and Nutty’s first grade ends in 2 weeks.  We don’t have a lot of activities planned for the summer but that doesn’t mean my girls won’t be occupied…

One of the ways we plan to stay busy is with the Kids Bowl Free program.  This program was designed by bowling centers to give back to the community and provide a safe, secure, and fun way for kids to spend time this summer.  There are tons of bowling centers across the US participating in the program and even some in Canada!!

Families can get two free games for up to six children per day (valued at over $500 per child), and family packs (up to 4 adults) for the whole summer are $24.95.

You read that right…a cheap way to do something fun this summer!  It’s also great for those days when it’s just to hot to play outside!!  For more information about the Kids Bowl Free program please visit their FAQ page.  To find your nearest bowling center visit  their find a bowling center page.

We hope you take advantage of this awesome program and enjoy your summer.

I received a free family bowling pass in exchange for helping to promote the Kids Bowl Free program.

Filed Under: activities, sponsored posts Tagged With: , ,

Uninterrupted Family Movie Night #spon

May 21, 2013 By Leave a Comment

Turn up your volume for this post because what you don’t hear is the key…

Growing up, Friday night was family movie night in my house. Still today, my parents watch a movie together every Friday night. Heaven forbid my sister and I (or anyone) call during movie time and interrupt it. “You know it’s movie night don’t you? I’ll call you back when the movie is over.”

movie
Now that I have my own kids, we do family movie nights. We don’t do them every week, but we do have them regularly. Again, Heaven forbid something/someone interrupt our movie.

One thing that used to interfere with our family nights was our dishwasher. Hubby would start it after dinner (not thinking) and eventually we’d either have to turn up the volume on our TV way loud or simply pause the movie and wait for the dish washing cycle to end.  Even when we watched our movies on the downstairs TV you could hear our dishwasher!  Not any more…my new GE® Dishwasher is SUPER quiet!!  Just listen…

Yes, the GE® Hybrid Stainless Steel Dishwasher has a decibel rating of 48dBA.  In comparison, a light rainfall is around 40dBA and an average conversation is about 60dBA.  This dishwasher is somewhere right in the middle.  It is so quiet in comparison to my old dishwasher that I actually had to check on it a few times the first time I ran it to make sure it was still going!

Our dishwasher is something we no longer have to worry about when we have our family movie nights.  My phone tweeting or saying “Facebook Message” on the other hand…  What things interrupt your family movie nights?

Bonus points if you can figure out what movie we are watching :)

This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of GE® Appliances.  All opinions are 100% my own.

Filed Under: reviews, sponsored posts Tagged With: , , , , ,

Fingerprint Art

May 20, 2013 By Leave a Comment
fingerprint art

I had a ton of fun making spring photos with my fingers the other day…and in all honesty the kids didn’t participate. I know this is something they’d love to do, however, we were “blessed” by 12 inches of snow this past week so they were more inclined to go sledding than finger art! LOL

Bumblebee- simply use the thumb for the body and the pointer finger for the head. When the ink is dry add the details using a black marker

fingerprint art

Frog- my personal favorite! He’s cuuuuuute! The thumb is what you use to make the body. Add the black details when it’s dry and then use a green marker to add little triangles for the webbed feet.

fingerprint art

Butterfly-  use your pointer finger and print two next to each other to create the wings of the butterfly. When the ink is dry use a black marker to fill in the details.

fingerprint art

Flower- your thumb will get a work out when making this flower. Dip your thumb in yellow ink and make the flower shape. Clean your thumb off then add two green prints for the leaves and finally use your pointer finger for the orange center. Add a stem and you’re done.

fingerprint art

Bunny- a pink thumbprint below a pink pointer finger print and you’ve got the basic shape of the bunny. Once it is dry add the final details to the bunny and smile!

fingerprint art

Chick- dip your pointer finger in yellow ink and make two prints. Add the beak, wings and eyes once the ink is dry.

fingerprint art

Birds in a Nest- make two brown thumbprints for the nests. Next add two pink prints using your ring finger or pinky finger and then add the details once the ink is dry.

fingerprint art

Alligator- your entire hand will get some ink love making this alligator. Dip your thumb in the green ink and make three prints, follow with your pointer, middle and pinky finger for the tail. Lastly add the eye print with your ring finger and add the final details with a black marker.

Filed Under: activities, crafts Tagged With: , , ,
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