2 Winners, A Break, and a Treat

First of all, the winners of the Gumzoobo giveaway are (drum roll, please) Hobby Baker and Scrambled Hen Fruit! Congratulations! Enjoy your game and be sure to tell all your friends how awesome it is!




I knew when summer started that it would be a very short summer. So much going on with kid activities, camps, chores, plus a new baby on the way, that I knew it wouldn't feel relaxing. I was right. And now I'm feeling fall breathing down my neck. Time to start on my school related chores - sorting through books, ordering new ones, trying to get life organized enough so I won't cry myself to sleep the first month of school. And I want a break. I want a vacation.

Right now I'm not inspired to blog. I still bake, I still eat, but my family looks at me strangely because I'm not compulsively taking pictures of everything before I serve it. I've got lots of recipes and photos in the queue, but my brain is strangely silent about them, so my time between posts is getting longer and longer. I think I need to take a break.

Because I don't generate income from my blog, it doesn't really matter if I go away for a while. Perhaps my two loyal readers might suffer withdrawal, but they can always email me. I'm going on a blog vacation. I'll be back in a while, when I feel like it. When blogging sounds fun again. When I'm bursting with new things to share with you. When taking the time to read other blogs is me time, rather than chore time.

So, to tide you over, I'll leave you with an ice cream recipe. It's wonderfully rich, creamy, and delicious. You'll be so busy enjoying the ice cream, you'll hardly notice I'm gone.

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
- adapted from Taste of Home

Makes about 2 quarts

1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 tbsp all-purpose flour
Pinch salt
4 cups whole milk
4 egg yolks
4 oz. cream cheese, cubed
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1-1/2 cups mashed fresh strawberries

1- In a heavy saucepan combine sugar, flour, and salt. Gradually add milk till smooth. Bring to boil over medium heat. Cook and stir 2 minutes until thickened. Remove from heat; cool slightly.

2- In a small bowl whisk the egg yolks. Pour a thin stream of the warm milk into the eggs, whisking constantly. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly. Cook until the mixture coats a spatula.

3- Remove from heat and stir in the cream cheese until melted.

4- In a large bowl combine the vanilla and cream. Place a sieve over the bowl. Pour the custard through the sieve and stir well to combine. Cover the custard and chill overnight in the refrigerator.

5- Stir in the strawberries and freeze in an ice cream freezer according to the manufacturer's directions.

Note: My ice cream maker will only accommodate 1-1/2 quarts, so I poured the leftovers into popsicle molds.