Very Low-Carb French Vanilla Ice Cream

Oh, the pain and heartbreak of a low-carb diet.  Nothing delicious to eat.  Okay, this isn't true. There's lots of delicious things you can eat...just not very many that are sweet.  I searched and searched for a low-carb ice cream and couldn't find anything that didn't have like 20 grams of carbs per serving.  That's not the kind of low-carb ice cream I am looking for.  I want it to be a lot less than that.  My entire recipe contains 60 grams of carbs.  That's 24 grams for the Splenda, 32 for the Heavy Cream, 1 gram for the the egg yolks and about 3 grams for the vanilla.  Split that between however many servings you get from this receip...Very low carb.  You will get around ten servings.

I scoured the web and did some research on ice cream recipes and they all seem to have a combination of milk and heavy cream.  I only want to use heavy cream.  Is this even possible?  Oh yes, and it turned out to be really good.

I am going to give you a little trivia here, vanilla ice cream with egg yolks in it...is French Vanilla ice cream.  This recipe is made from a custard base and includes egg yolks, so that's why it's French Vanilla Ice Cream.

Very Low Carb Ice Cream 
servings: about 10

4 C. Heavy Cream
2 Egg yolks
1 C. Artificial Sweetener...I used Splenda
Pinch of Salt
2 tsp Vanilla


In a heavy pan, combine the heavy cream, pinch of salt and 1/2 cup of the artificial sweetener.  Heat over medium until almost to a boil.  Do not let this boil.  You will ruin your cream.  Once you can almost see bubbles, remove immediately from heat.  While it is cooking, use a combination of a wire whisk and a rubber spatula to stir and stir and stir.  I like to whisk for a second and then scrape all about the bottom and sides of the pan with the spatula.

In a separate bowl, combine the egg yolks and remaining 1/2 C of sweetener.  Add some of the hot liquid to the eggs to temper them.  Add tempered egg mix to the cream.

Place back on burner, but this time on low.  Cook for approximately 10 minutes until the mixture has begun to thicken, stirring constantly.  Again, I used my combo of whisk and spatula...it works great and you don't have scorched cream.  As you can see in the above picture, if you slide your finger through the liquid and it leaves a path, it's thick enough.

Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Make sure that you push your plastic wrap onto the top of your ice cream base.  You do not want it to develop a skin.  I also put another layer of plastic wrap over the top...I didn't want my ice cream developing any funky flavors from other ingredients in my fridge.

Cool over night.  You want your ice cream base to be incredibly cold.

Place in your ice cream maker and blend for about 20 to 25 minutes until it has become soft serve ice cream.

Spoon this into a plastic tub and freeze until ready to use. Freezing it turns it into hard scoop ice cream.  When you are ready to eat it, remove from freezer...about 5 minutes early to help with ease of scooping.

Enjoy some seriously yummy ice cream while on your low carb diet.

Even better...include a little sugar-free root beer and make yourself a root beer float...oh yeah baby!  My kids thought this was the best ice cream they've ever had...it even made doing homework, not so bad.

Thanks for reading!

Loved if you followed on Facebook

Heather

Massage your Kale!

Today I am talking about beets and kale.  What?  That's right, possibly two of the most feared items in the produce aisle.  More specifically, I am talking about the beet greens.  I would recommend getting your beet greens from your own garden or a farmer's market as they're bound to be fresh and pesticide-free.

Here are some tender young beets, just pulled from my garden.  As you can see, the actual beets, are very small, but the beet greens, or the leaves are a pretty good size.  You cook these like you would cook spinach.  I boil some water, add a touch of salt, throw in the washed leaves and beets.  Reduce my water to a simmer, cover with foil and cook for 5 minutes.

Make sure you wash them really well!!  They are loaded with dirt.

When you can stick a fork in the beets, they're done.  So, it actually might not even take 5 minutes.  Depending on how hot your water is, they can cook faster.  You do not want to over cook these greens as they are very tender.  The less you cook, the better.

To serve, remove cooked beets from water.  Put on a plate, add a pat of butter, sprinkle on some lemon juice, salt and pepper and they are ready to be consumed.

I want to say that The Mister...who has told me from the day we began dating that he hates beets!!!!  he actually likes beets made this way.  He requests them daily from our garden and my supply is now gone.  I will be re-planting beet seeds today. 

So, there you have it, as a beet fan from day one, I feel vindicated...kind of like when his brother told him that minivans are only useful when your kids can't buckle themselves in (yeah, that's right, The Mister, not me, is the one in this family who wants a minivan).  Happy dance  I'm not getting a minivan  I'm not getting a minivan.  Ahem, alright then.

Now then, about the title of this post.  MASSAGE YOUR KALE PEOPLE!  I am here to confirm that if, before you eat kale, you rub their leaves a little bit, (mush two leaves together against one another and work out their sore muscles...aka...crush the fibers a bit), your kale will not be bitter!  It's a miracle.  The Mister took a bite of his salad last night...and was amazed as he saw kale, but didn't taste it.  I did remove the thick ribs, and just served us the leaves, but I am, from this point onward, massaging my kale every time.

So, eat your beets and kale, people.  They're good for you and tasty too!

Thanks for reading.

Heather

Awesomeness, pure and simple

Please refer to my re-named blog www.beatinghearth.blogspot.com and this post for a revised and better version of this yogurt recipe

Homemade Greek Yogurt.  How amazing is that?  Why would I make homemade yogurt?  Because I can and because it's completely awesome.

My oldest declared that she "never tasted anything like it" and "it's the best yogurt I've ever had" and "It probably took you a lot of work to make it"

Thank you darling. 

2 ingredients.  Yeah...I love a recipe that calls for only 2 ingredients....that and some time and some unusual equipment...aka a bath towel or blanket and something for straining: paper towels, cheese cloth or a clean dish towel.

Ingredients
8 Cups Milk (any fat percentage of your choice, I used 1% because I like a little fat, but not whole fat and make sure that it isn't Ultra pasteurized.  Just pasteurized is what you want.)
3 Tbl. starter (this is also known as any Greek yogurt you currently have in your fridge, as long as it has live and active cultures, as that's what you need to reproduce and make your yogurt yogurt)

Other Necessary Equipment
Candy Thermometer
Cheese Cloth, Paper Towels or Dish cloth for straining
Heavy Bottom Pan
Ceramic casserole dish with lid
Strainer
Large bowl that the strainer fits in
A blanket or bath towel

Pour all but 2 Tbl of your milk into a heavy-bottom pan.  Put the 2 Tbl of reserved milk in a bowl and back in the fridge. Stick a candy thermometer in the milk in the pot.  You need the candy thermometer.  Go and buy one if you haven't already.  If you read this blog at all, you will know that a candy thermometer is an essential piece of equipment!  Over medium heat, bring the milk to exactly 180 degrees F. 

Make sure your milk doesn't scorch!  You will want to use a rubber scraper quite religiously during the cooking of the milk.  One benefit of making your own yogurt, during this cooking process your house smells soo good.  Kind of pudding-ish.  Getting it up to temp does take a few minutes, so be patient.

Once you have achieved 180 degrees, immediately remove from stove and pour the heated milk into a large ceramic casserole dish. Put it on a wire rack for cooling. 

Take your reserved milk and to it add 2 to 3 Tbls of your starter...aka some yogurt you have in your fridge.  I would hazard a guess that you want to use a brand of yogurt that you enjoy eating.  My personal favorite is Greek Gods, it's mild and creamy and sooo good.   Mix the milk and the yogurt thoroughly and then put it back in the fridge.  You have to wait for your cooked milk to cool now on the counter top.

Now let it sit WITH THE LID OFF until the temperature comes down to between 105 F and 110 F.  The picture above, if you can see is where I let my temp come to...I would say it was 109 F.  Okay, the reason you keep the lid off, is apparently you need the good bacteria fairies to start working their magic....don't think about it too much.  Lacto-Fermentation is awesome, just let it be. 

Now while your milk is cooling, and mine took about 30 minutes (my house is really cold), you want to turn your oven light on.  This is going to be your heat source.  Yeah...I said the light in your oven.  Don't think I mean that I want you to turn your oven on at all...no.  Just the light bulb and you will keep it on for like 8 hours or over night.  I started my yogurt making process at about 8:30 pm and at about 7:30 am was when I removed it from the oven.  Just to give you a little timeline.

Now that your milk has cooled, whisk in the reserved milk and starter so that it is thoroughly combined.  If you feel tempted to add more yogurt thinking it will give you a more yogurty product, don't.  Apparently the bacillus (which is what the bacteria is called) likes to have plenty of room to do their thing and if there is too much then your yogurt will end up watery and off-tasting.  I used 3 tablespoons but think next time for fun I will use 2 just to see if there's a difference.

Lid on.

Make the dish cozy by wrapping it in a towel.  Don't look at me like that.  Wrap it in a towel.  Put it in your oven and leave the light on.  Close the door and walk away.  Please make sure that your towel is not anywhere near the light bulb though...you don't want to start a house fire in the name of homemade yogurt.

You will leave it here for around 8 hours, or over night is convenient (which is what I did)

This is what you wake up to.  See, it's yogurt.  But it's not Greek yet.  So put your casserole dish in the fridge and let it cool for at least 2 hours.

Line your colander with whatever straining item you are using and put the colander in a dish that is big enough.  Now my colander has short stubby legs and because I didn't want my yogurt swimming in it's own whey (which is what you are straining out of the yogurt by the "whey"), I propped my colander up on an inverted bowl so that it would be above the whey.  I used a dish towel for my straining, but I had doubled it up and maybe feel like a single layer would have been plenty.  Scoop your yogurt in and put it back in the fridge for about an hour.

Okay, so after an hour you need to dump your whey and squeeze your yogurt to get the moisture out and then put it back in the colander for another hour of straining at which time you will be surprised again by the amount of whey you get out of it.

Anyone in the whey market?  I got a bunch.  This is only half too!

And now your yogurt is complete and should be thick and tasty.  Sweeten as you like.  We do it with a drizzle of honey and some fresh fruit.  Jam would be nice.  Even some brown sugar would give it a yummy mapley flavor.  Try this.  Especially now when to buy Greek Yogurt is like 6 bucks for 32 oz, here it took half a gallon of milk and so cost....$1 maybe.

Yay for homemade yogurt, you'll feel like a champ and true human being if you do.

Granny Square Pic of the Day

Gratuitous I got a cute kid pic of the Day

My baby on Thunder Mountain Railroad during our DisneyLand vacation.  Too big!  She loved it!  We rode it 3 times.

Thanks as always for reading!

Heather

No Popcorn Popper, no problem

I don't have a popcorn popper.  Does this stop my family from enjoying their favorite snack on a weekly basis?  I don't think so.  Does this mean that we have to use microwave popcorn and risk getting popcorn lung and worrying about what chemicals are inside it?  No! 

Yes, this is how much popcorn I keep on hand at all times!  Heaven forbid I ever run out.
Look, it is no big deal to pop popcorn without any fancy equipment.  All you need is a large dutch oven with a lid, vegetable oil and popcorn kernels.  Plus whatever toppings you prefer.

Put 3 Tbl. oil in bottom of pot.  Add 1/2 C Popcorn kernels.  I turn my stove to high.  Be careful as you want to avoid burning your popcorn.  I swirl the kernels around in the oil periodically and wait.  Not very long either.  As soon as the oil gets hot, the kernels are popping.

Once the first kernel pops, I turn my heat down to medium.  I swirl and shake the pot every few seconds and then put it back on the heat for a few seconds.  Ensuring that the popped kernels do not stay on the bottom for very long.

Make very sure that you are holding tight to your lid.  You do not want to flip your popcorn and have your lid fly off, that would be a problem.  If you find your lid gets too hot, you can use a hot pad to protect your fingers, I am usually okay without one though.

Pay careful attention to the popping.  Once the popping has simmered down and a couple of seconds pass by without any additional popping, it's time to be done. 

Remove from heat.  Take off lid and add butter and salt.

 I like 4 Tbl of butter for this amount of popcorn.  As soon as I start making the popcorn, I put the butter in a smaller pan and put the heat on low and just let it melt as I am popping the corn.

I would say I use approximately 1 1/2 tsp of salt.  Salt to taste.  Stir, serve and enjoy!  A lovely bowl of popcorn without any additives and no extra equipment that you have to store and drag out every time you want popcorn.

They were too busy eating popcorn and watching a movie for Family Movie Night to even look at me and give me a smile.  We love popcorn in this family.  Often times I will add a candy like Junior Mints or M & M's and give everyone and individual-sized portion as we watch a movie.  This is a weekly tradition and one that we all love.

Productive Weekend

I do enjoy a productive weekend.  Because in crafting, this means that my family mostly stayed home and I was able to do stuff and it was relaxed and lovely, and the kids were good and my loving Husband, Mr. Because I Can took the kids to the aquarium for a Daddy Daughter Date and Mommy got to stay home and attach the binding to her quilt that she had cut and sewn the night before!   There was bbqing and I was informed that any time I bring home steak, not only will Mr. Because I Can cook the dinner, he will also do dishes...I am thinking that steak is going to be my #1 go-to dinner item from now on!  Not to mention that my oldest who is a meatasaurus would love it too.  My Youngest who is a carbasaurus will have to be force-fed, but I think I can manage.   The gutters were cleaned (not by me).  I wupped my Sister at  California Speed (after much gloating and bragging from her that she beat her husband and he only had 4 cards to play, there was much rejoicing on my end after she got smoked!)  So good times.

I will start with the BBQ.  This is what I had and my Youngest had.  It's a portabello burger.  Yum!  With Jarlsberg cheese, spicy mayo grilled onion on a toasty grilled bun.  It was marinated in some olive oil, balsamic vinegar and spicy mustard Very tasty!  I did have a bite of steak too to be honest.  It was slightly difficult though with My Oldest consuming every morsel she could lay her hands on.

This is the raw asparagus salad we had as a side dish, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.  It was tasty, but Mr. Because I Can said he only liked the bites that had plenty of pine nuts in it.  It also had pecorino cheese, lemon juice, olive oil and salt and pepper.  I thought it was good, and fun, but maybe not my favorite salad of all time either.

This is me attaching my binding to a Queen-Size quilt...yeah, that's a major under-taking.  I had a massive pile of quilt all over the place....it's quite tricky to maneuver.

400 inches of binding all for me...yes please.    - Puss

Hi-yaaaa!  Mine.      -Puss

Chicken Pin Cushion.  For my Mom's B-day.  I used some of my precious gooseberry fabric.  It's a family thing.

And lots of yellow on the other side.  Yellow and Orange are her favorite colors!

And the Grand finale!  My Chubby Stars quilt.  Thanks TraceyJay for the lovely pattern for the Chubby Stars.  I improvised the rest after I used 6 of my original Chubby Stars to make my delicious niece a baby blanket.  I pretty much love it.  More to come on this quilt tomorrow.

Pick your Battles

I'm a little irritated.  Yesterday I had a lovely blog post all about my home-made bread and the goodness and loveliness that it has brought to our lives...of course it was almost ready to post when Blogger decided to go kapoot.  And kapoot went my post.  So, here's something a little different...a little more angry as I'm in a feisty mood.  I'll get to bread tomorrow.

I try to give my kids the best.  The best I can afford.  The best of me.  The best education.  The best nutrition.  Nutrition is a huge on my priority list.  I am so grateful that my kids live in a time where I have been able to educate myself about what good nutrition is.  Forever people have debated what kind of diet is best and I'm guessing that it's not about to stop any time soon as everyone has their own opinion.  But I do feel that we know some good basics.  Gone are the days when all fat is bad.  Gone are the days where bread is bad.  Gone are the days when juice was just as good for you as water.   Everything in moderation, right?  We've all heard it.

I don't hate on sugar.  I don't typically have a lot of sugary or processed items at my house, so my kids normally only get a sugary treat at the grocery store or if we're on an outing.  Except in the summer when I feel a daily popsicle is the only proper way to help beat the heat.  They get cereal that has sugar in it...Raisin Bran, Honeynut Cheerios, Frosted Shredded Wheat and their oats.  The reason I feel that these sugar cereals are acceptable is because I feel their high grain and fiber content is valuable.  I try to avoid giving them anything with artificial sweeteners.  I do feel natural is best, I'm a little leery of chemicals.

I am not a fan of corn unless it is corn in cob form.  Our country is obsessed with putting corn in everything.  I don't know how many people realize that so much of what we eat has corn in it.  Check the label.  Of course Corn Syrup and High-Fructose Corn Syrup (by the way the corn industry is trying to change the name of high-fructose corn syrup to corn sugar, I guess they figured it's gotten such a bad rap that it needs a new name.  Tricky tricky).  Dextrose or Dextrin, Maltodextrin, Ascorbic Acid, Calcium Lactate, Calcium Stearoyl, Citric Acid, Glucose, Polydextrose, Xanthan Gum...all are corn derived.  And I feel that in many cases this is just adding extra carbs and sugars that we don't need in a sneaky way.  We had a box of Corn Flakes that I had used to make Company Potatoes and my oldest had decided that she loved Corn Flakes and that was all she wanted to eat.  Luckily for her not too long ago Daddy was making breakfast and he gave her a bowl as Mama is a hater and wouldn't think of it.  Not two hours later she was desperately hungry.  That corn cereal did not stick with her where the oat or wheat-based cereals will keep her full until lunchtime. 

All I'm saying here is...this is getting ridiculous.  I don't avoid everything that has these ingredients in it, as that would be impossible, but I do make a conscious effort to take a look at what I eat and wonder why do we need all this added stuff?  Does my orange juice really need xanthan gum in it?   And is this possibly part of the reason our nation is reaching epic levels of obesity?

I have changed the way I look at food and hopefully will give my children a better relationship with food than I have.  I do not give them access to eat whatever they want, whenever they want to.  We have our 3 meals and then 2 snacks a day.  A snack for us is usually a string cheese or a banana.  We drink milk and water at home.  If we go to a restaurant...okay, they usually get milk there too, but on occasion I'll let my Oldest get a Sprite.  We have candy almost every weekend in our popcorn for Family Movie Night and usually a tasty dessert for Sunday Dinner...but that's about it.  I don't want them to be crazy about sugar like some people who never get to eat sugar are, but I don't want them to have unlimited access to it and crave it every minute like...me. 

Let's all try a little harder to make the right food decisions for our kids sake.

Beanify Your Life

People aren't eating their legumes.  Why is this?  I have heard tale, that beans cause intestinal discomfort...this may be true, but I personally think that the benefits outweigh the problem of a little excess wind.  Maybe you don't like the flavor....come on, if you don't want to, you don't even have to taste the beans.  They are very mild and a few spices and seasonings will fix that. 

Beans are cheap!  Especially if you buy them dry and rehydrate them yourself.  Of course, that takes some prior preparation which I'm not always able to do, so in that case I try and stock a good supply of canned beans in my pantry.  In these times when people need to stretch their dollar a little bit, I am telling you to take the simple step of adding some beans to your meat.  This will stretch your pound of meat into two pounds.  Which means you only have to cook once and get two meals and get the added health benefits that beans provide!

 Tonight we are having tacos.  I have 1.5 lbs of ground turkey, browned with an onion and a few cloves of garlic.  Add your favorite packet of taco seasoning or season to your own personal liking.  Add two cans of beans.  I am using black beans and kidney beans today.  I am including the liquid, though you could drain it off if you want and add water or salsa.  Let simmer 20 minutes.  Serve as you would taco meat.

Beans are an incomplete protein.  This is only a problem if you don't have any of the following in your diet: Dairy, meat, eggs, rice, corn, nuts, seeds and wheat in addition to the beans.  The dairy, meat and eggs are complete proteins on their own, but the rice, corn, nuts, seeds and wheat when combined with beans provide all the essential amino acids and become a complete protein.

Some of the health benefits provided by beans are:
     a. Antioxidants.  Kidney beans rank higher in antioxidants than blueberries.  How many of us are trying to  incorporate more blueberries in our diets to get these antioxidants that we've heard are so good for us?
     b. High levels of isoflavones.  These help prevent cancer, reduce the risk of heart disease and improve bone  and prostate health.  On this matter, I'm just going to remind everyone that heart disease is the number one killer of women in America.
     c. Fiber.  Because beans don't digest fully, they help clear out your innards, help prevent constipation and keep your colon in top form.

So, let's say yay for beans and try and include them in our diets more.  Some easy add-ins  are: taco meat, salads, soups, yummy dips and quesadillas...and that's just what I can think of right off the top of my head.

As a side note the rains may be over.  Let's all say a thank you to the weather man for listening to our desperate pleas and giving us a break from extended winter and bringing on spring.  These are just waiting to be planted in my little garden plot.  5 varieties (so far) of tomatoes, egg plant, pepper, cilantro, basil (2 of these babies) and parsley.  My poor husband who just got off work was informed that he gets to go plow the dirt and get it ready for me to plant tomorrow!  And of course it must be done now (it's going to be nice and sunny the rest of the week, I want to get them in as quickly as possible to start growing and thriving).  Luckily he humors me and my impatience.