Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

What could be better than Homemade ice cream!  I am not an ice cream eater.  I don't hate it, but I don't love it like my husband and kids.  We spend a fortune on Schwann's ice cream.  So I thought it would be fun to experiment with the flavors we love.  I do like cheesecake ice cream, so my next adventure will be trying to make cheesecake ice cream.  This chocolate peanut butter ice cream was so good, it sold me on liking ice cream. 

I got this recipe online and changed just a little bit up.  It is a video if you want to look at it to see how it is made.  I don't add the ribbon of peanut butter at the end.  Just the peanut butter during the end of churning. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG9-2zvcsVM

INGREDIENTS:

4 egg yokes

1/4 cup white granulated sugar

1/3 cup powdered cocoa (good quality)

2 cups milk (i used 2%)

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla

1 cup heavy cream

3-4 Tbls of Peanut butter

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Mix the 4 egg yokes and 1/4 cup sugar in a bowl until well combined.  Then add the cocoa powder, mix and set aside. 

Bring the 2 cups milk and 1/2 cup sugar to a simmer. 

Pour a little bit of warm milk into the egg mixture to temper the eggs, whisking at the same time.  Keep pouring in and mixing at the same time.  You don't want scrambled eggs, so this step is important. Mix about half the mixture into the egg mixture.

Then pour the egg mixture into the sauce pan with the rest of the warm milk and cook on low for around 10-15 minutes stirring at all times. 

Take the sauce pan off of the heat.  Add 1 tsp vanilla and 1 cup heavy cream.  Stir until blended.

Pour chocolate mixture into a bowl.  Cover with cling wrap, have it touch the top of the chocolate so when it cools it won't form a film on top of it. Refrigerated until COMPLETELY cold.

Take the cold chocolate mixture out of the refrigerator and give it a stir.

Use an ice cream maker

 Pour the chocolate mixture into an ice cream maker per manufactures instructions. 

When the ice cream is almost done in the machine, spoon in 3-4 Tbls of peanut butter and let the machine mix it in.

Pour the chocolate peanut butter ice cream into a freezer safe container and freeze until hard.

enjoy this delicious ice cream.  

TIPS:

1. Make sure your ice cream container from the machine is frozen.  At least 24 hours or even more. 

2. Make sure your custard is COLD.  It you fail to do these 2 tips, you will get melty ice cream and be frustrated and never make it again.

3. You can eat the ice cream right out of the ice cream maker it will be soft serve.  Or put it in the freezer and it will be hard to scoop out which i think is better.  My ice cream was frozen in a deep freeze for around 5 hours. 

Chicken, Ham, Tomato and Zucchini Alfredo Lasagna

This recipe I made up using my Better than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce Recipe. I used ingredients my daughter loves when she makes her own Calzone. I also used the no boil noodles I had on hand in my pantry.  I usually make my own homemade noodles, but I was trying to clean out my pantry.

RECIPE:

1 pack 9 oz no boil Noodles (I used Archer Farms Oven Ready Lasagna Noodles organic from Target) 

1 cup Chopped cooked chicken

1 cup Chopped cooked ham

1 cup diced fresh tomatoes

1 cup diced zucchini

Cottage cheese

Better Than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

Make the Better than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce.  Get your chicken, ham, tomatoes and zucchini ready in a separate bowl. 

Pour a little bit of the Alfredo sauce in the bottom of a square baking pan.  Layer on top the pasta noodles.  I used 4 noodles. 3 noodles fit and I had to break the 4th noodle into 3 pieces to fill in the hole. 

Spread some Alfredo Sauce on top of the noodles

Next Spread some cottage cheese on top

Next Sprinkle the Chicken, ham, tomatoes and zucchini on top

Repeat layers until you used all the noodles.

End with Alfredo Sauce on top.

Now i used the no boil noodles so they where dry, so i poured some milk on top, about 1/2 cup to moisten the dish.  If you used cooked noodles or fresh noodles you don't have to do this.  

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Better Than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce

RECIPE:

• 3 tablespoons sweet butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 (12 ounce) box angel hair pasta

Start out by putting the butter, olive oil and garlic in a hot pan and cook for just a few minutes.  Don't burn the garlic. 

Then add the heavy cream and pepper. Bring to a simmer and stir at all times. 


PRINTABLE RECIPE

 Add the Parmesan cheese and simmer sauce for 8-10 minutes or until sauce has thickened and is smooth.

 When sauce has thickened add the Mozzarella cheese and stir until smooth. STIR FREQUENTLY.

 While the sauce cooks, boil noodles for 3-5 minutes.

 Place pasta on serving plates and spoon sauce over pasta.

I make the sauce a head of time and store it into a tupperware until i have to use it.  It saves on time.

This picture above is of Fettuccine with Asparagus, Ham & Mushrooms.
Click on this recipe below to use this alfredo sauce in.  It is very delicious and full of flavor.  

Fettuccine with Asparagus, Ham & Mushrooms 

This Picture above is of Chicken, Ham, Tomato and Zucchini Alfredo Lasagna 

Click on this recipe below to use this alfredo sauce in.  It is very delicious and full of flavor.  

Chicken, Ham, Tomato and Zucchini Alfredo Lasagna 

Fettuccine with Asparagus, ham & Mushrooms

I originally got this recipe online and I modified it the way I knew my family would like it.  I added mushrooms and homemade Alfredo sauce. 

RECIPE:

 2-3 Tbls olive oil 

1 pound asparagus, thick ends removed 

1 cup sliced mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 cup Diced ham

1 pound linguine or spaghetti 

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup homemade alfredo sauce
Alfredo recipe

PRINTABLE RECIPE

First you wash the asparagus and snap off the woody ends.

 Next, cut the asparagus in bite size pieces. 

 Dice the ham in bite size pieces.

 Wash and slice the mushrooms.

 First you add some olive oil in a hot pan and add the asparagus, season with salt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes to partially cook the asparagus.

 Next add the sliced mushrooms and 1 clove of garlic minced.

 Add the ham and cook a few minutes.

 Add about a cup of home made alfredo sauce. See my recipe for Better than Olive Garden Alfredo Sauce. Alfredo recipe

 Stir until blended. 

 Add in Fettuccine noodles. I made these homemade.

 Stir until blended and season with salt and pepper and eat!

 The homemade Alfredo sauce gives it all the flavor. It is easy to make, so don't skip on this step.  I made the Alfredo sauce a head of time and put it in a tupperware and put it in the refrigerator until i used it in my recipe. 

Creamy Crock Pot Mac and Cheese

I found this recipe online from Paula Deans recipes.  My daughter really likes it, so I make it all the time for her.  It is really good with ribs or any grilled foods. 

RECIPE:

2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni

4 Tbls butter

2 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1 can cheddar cheese soup

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp dry mustard

1/2 cup sour cream

3 eggs beaten

PRINTABLE RECIPE

First you boil the 2 cups elbow noodles.  Don't cook them all the way, they will finish cooking in the crock pot.  So cut some time off of boiling them.  Drain the noodles and put in another bowl and set aside until later.

Next, in the same pot you boiled the noodles in, melt 4 Tbls of butter and 2 1/2 cups cheddar cheese until somewhat melted.  Then add in cheddar soup, 1 cup milk and seasonings.

This is the can of cheddar cheese soup you use.

Continue to cook until all the ingredients are mostly melted and blended before you put in the sour cream and eggs.

When the ingredients are melted together, turn off the heat and blend in the 1/2 cup of sour cream and blend until mixed.

Next temper the eggs.  You add a little bit of the hot cheese sauce to the eggs and blend them together.  This gets the eggs warm slowly so they don't turn into scrambled eggs.  

When the eggs are tempered, add them to the creamy cheese sauce and blend together.

Next add the cooked elbow macaroni to the cheese sauce.

Mix until all blended.

Spray a crock pot with pam spray and pour in the mac and cheese mixture.  Set the crock pot on high for 1 hour. 

After 1 hour on high in the crock pot, you can see it is starting to thicken up. 

 I go ahead and give it a stir and turn the crock pot on low and cook 30 more minutes.

You also can put the crock pot on low and cook it for 2-3 hours.  I have done this before, but my daughter always wants to eat it right away, so I do it the fast way.