Strawberry Ice Cream

I promise to show some "footage" from our ski vacation last week, but I'm still working on a video clip.  In the meantime, tonight was Mason's dessert night... he chose homemade strawberry ice cream.  This recipe is our absolute favorite - every bit as good as (if not better than) Blue Bell (which we DO finally have up here)... but since we can make it at home, who needs Blue Bell?!

I will say that there are certainly easier ice cream recipes out there - ones where you just dump ingredients in the ice cream maker and turn it on... where you don't have to cook anything.  But in our experience, those always leave a filmy aftertaste on the roof of our mouths.  Yuck.  This one takes a little longer but it is SOOOOOOO worth it!  I'm a firm believer that taking the shortcut on many recipes greatly sacrifices both the nutritional value and the taste... okay, so there's not much nutritional value in ice cream, but you get my point.  We like to keep things as natural as we can around here... as if you haven't noticed that already.  :) 

Strawberry Ice Cream
(Note:  our White Mountain electric ice-cream maker can handle 1-1/2 times this amount, but this was the original recipe.  You may want to start with these amounts until you know for sure whether yours can take more.)

1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
1 cup half-and-half
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
2 cups fresh or frozen strawberries, thawed
1/2 cup whipping cream

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch.  Stir in half-and-half.  Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture simmers.  Cook 1 minute longer.  Remove from heat.  Slowly stir half of this hot mixture into beaten eggs.  Stirring constantly, pour egg mixture into remaining hot mixture; return pan to heat.  Cook and stir over low heat about 2 minutes or until mixture thickens.  Stir in corn syrup;  cool.

In a blender or food processor, process strawberries until almost smooth.  Add strawberries and whipping cream to egg mixture.  Pour into an ice-cream canister and freeze in ice-cream maker according to manufacturer's directions.  When it is completed, it is best to let it sit in the freezer for a few hours to firm up... if you can wait that long.  ;)

Downtown Denver

Sorry for the delay... we took a little family vacation (more on that later).  Last Thursday, the big boys and I went downtown again for our field trip.  We had gone the Thursday before, but didn't get to everything we wanted, so it called for another day.

This first photo is of the boys at the capital building.  We took a tour and enjoyed learning more about our beautiful state.  They are just beginning the process of redoing the gold plating on the dome.  It will take them 2-3 years to complete it... good thing it doesn't have to be done but every 20 years or so.

 As you know, Denver is called the Mile High City... and this is why:

This step of the capital building is exactly 5,280 feet above sea level... only it has changed a few times with the invention of more precise measuring devices.  The carved step below their feet is the original location, that gold dot between them is another try at it, and then I believe the final spot is a few steps further down, marked by another gold dot.  I may have those backwards, but in any case, SOMEwhere on these steps you will find yourself a mile above sea level.

On a different day, we did some walking around and happened upon this stone chap who had a very large nostril.

This last photo is of the boys in front of the Denver mint.  We toured it again even though we saw it a couple years ago.  They rush you through that thing so fast that you barely have time to read the placards.  They have guards in front of the group as well as guards in back who will scoot you along if you're taking too much time reading things.  You really need to schedule back-to-back tours so you can have a second shot at getting everything read!

Hey Mom, notice the vests?  They wear 'em all the time.  :)

Morgan's New Endeavor

As I mentioned earlier, Morgan has taken a keen interest in Taekwondo.  He had his first lesson on Thursday night, and he looked exceptionally well out there with his new crisp, white uniform!  He has learned the first 5 moves of the first form, and he is very anxious to go back and learn more.  Here are some photos I snapped of him working with his instructor.

Building a Quinzee

When we get this much snow, the boys love to build quinzees (snow houses).  They were taught how to do this in Boy Scouts, where they also had to SLEEP in them!  Here are a couple shots of a massive quinzee they have begun building.

That's Mason's foot sticking out - he has hollowed it out quite a bit already.  Below is Morgan working on another door at the top of the quinzee (it's being built on a small hill by our patio). 

 Later, it was back to seeing who could find the largest icicle.  Boys will be boys.  :)

Taekwondo

Yesterday, we went to a friend's Taekwondo demonstration... he was preparing to earn his black belt.  It was a lot of fun to watch and learn what Taekwondo is all about, and to make it really cool, they had all the kids get up and learn a couple of moves.  Open this post to see a short video of Maddox breaking a board!

The other cool thing is that Morgan has decided he'd like to give this a try!  So, starting tomorrow night, he will begin classes on a trial basis.  I'll keep you posted!

Echo Mountain

With all the snow we received, we were itching to get back on the slopes.  It's sad, really, but the big resorts got only a measly couple inches!  Echo Mountain, on the other hand, received quite a dumping.  We've never been to it, but Echo Mountain Ski Area is just a little place not far from our home... takes only 40 minutes to get there, and we don't have to deal with highway 70, which (as noted in a previous post) can get quite hairy with traffic.  So, yesterday we loaded up the truck and headed over. It really is a small place - only one chair lift, one magic carpet, and one tow rope.  But they have a bunch of terrain park stuff, which thrilled Morgan.  He, Mason, and Michael went off in search of tricks to perform... while Maddox and I puttered along together on the easy stuff.  Well, I take that back, we started on their green slope, but it was so narrow, that we found the blue to be much easier!  He could really do just about anything there - he proved it to himself on this trip, overcoming a little bit of fear and replacing it with encouraging self-confidence.  Here is another video of his skiing ability - pardon the shakiness of my camera... it's hard to take video when you're skiing - and I don't use poles when I ski with him.  While you're watching his controlled turns, notice, also, the GORGEOUS scenery!!

Quick note:  Last night was Maddox's dessert choice.  I didn't document it because it was simply strawberry shortcake.  I did make the shortcake from scratch (a sour cream pound cake), but I didn't feel it was interesting enough to document.  :)

Icicles

So what do you do on the day after a big snowstorm and the roads are still too bad to have friends over? 

You have icicle wars, of course!  Here they are choosing their weapons...

Michael needed two since he's outnumbered.

And if that isn't enough fun, you could always just have an ice popsicle!