Oh, and the ice cream we will eat

Ah, yes.  There are two givens in Texas.  Extreme heat and ice cream for my birthday and the 4th of July.  Last Saturday, we drove out west to pick up the girls from camp.  On the way home, we stopped in Weatherford, TX at the Farmer's Market.  We bought tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, seeless watermelon, and yellow meat watermelon.  The main reason we picked this Farmer's Market was because we were in the Peach Capital...so we bought peaches, too.

Every year, we make homemade ice cream.  In th beginning, we made large batches of one flavor, but over the years, we have morphed to smaller batches of more flavors.  Recently, it has become the Homemade Neopoliton, 2 quart batches of each.  Steve willingly spends the entire afternoon in the garage making batch after batch.  It usually ranges around 100 degrees, and that my friends is how I know he still loves me.

I am using my tried and true recipes for the chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, but I've been searching for the perfect peach recipe.  I have narrowed it down to two.  One uses eggs just like my other three recipes, along with cream, but adds cornstarch...and I am supposed to cook it in the microwave, which I've never done with the other batches.  The other recipe uses condensed sweetended milk and no eggs, so no precooking is necessary.  I prefer the precooked style recipes because it makes a custard-like base.  The egg-less recipe also uses twice as many peaches.  Decisions, decisions, decisions...the winner is the egg based recipe, but with more peaches.  I really hope that works!

This afternoon, I am going to blend and precook all the ice cream batches.  They need to be very cold before we freeze them, so will just sit in the refrigerator and wait until Saturday. 

As if I didn't have enough to do

My favorite pasttime hands down has to be cooking.  I find that cooking is theraputic and relaxing.  It allows me to think through my concerns and rewards me with savory or sweet goodness when I do.  I can cut and chop, and catch up on dvr'd programs.  I can blend and stir, and still here the latest story from one of my daughters.  Besides a completed project somewhere inside the house, I can't think of anything I do consistantly that brings me such satisfaction as a happy, full family.

I plan menus each week, or most weeks, and I am always looking for new and interesting things to prepare.  I know that many of my Facebook friends could care less what I am cooking, but some of them like to cook as well.  I decided to create another blog that I can, on occasion, put up my latest food finds.  For those of you that take the time to look, I hope it inspires you to find new foods, too.

I have been working on my upcoming menu for the Independence Holiday weekend.  My birthday is the 3rd of July, so as you can imagine the 4th is my favorite holiday.  In years past, I have planned international themed menus, traditional menus, and simply fun menus to correspond with the days before and just after the 4th of July.  Every year, my best friend, Steve, and one of my three favorite daughters, Renata, make homemade ice cream for me.  Typically, we have chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry.  Steve's favorite homemade ice cream is peach, so this year he gets to make himself ice cream, too.

Friday, July 1, we will have margherita pizza and garlic parmesan boneless chicken wings.  I love the simplicity of margherita pizza-fresh mozzerella cheese, basil, and tomatoes. I am planning to let Renata help me make the pizza dough, and Kegan will help dress it.

Saturday, July 2, we will have fish tacos, black bean salad, and red velvet cupcakes.  I was watching the Food Network last Thursday and one of the shows was about fish tacos.  She fried them and that is not my favorite. It sparked a memory of the fish tacos at The Oasis on Joe Pool Lake.  They are on flour tortillas and the fish is seared on the griddle.  I made them Thursday night, and I liked them so much they are on for this weekend. 

Sunday, July 3, we will have brisket, potato salad, old fashioned macaroni and cheese, grilled corn on the cob, and all the fixins' for eating the brisket as tacos or as bar-be-que (pickles, onions, jalapenos, pico de gallo, cheese, etc).

Monday, July 4, we will have a lot of leftovers, I'm sure.  Just in case, I will have burgers and hot dogs on stand by.

I will shop on Tuesday, start prepping on Wednesday and Thursday, and hopefully, start blogging the recipes, pictures, and thoughts on Friday.  I hope that I can make it sound good enough to try it yourself.