LOOK! A RECIPE!
Have you noticed that I don't share recipes with you on this here blog? That would be for your benefit.
You're welcome.
Cooking and I don't go hand in hand naturally. I informed Rick of this fact on our first date. He still fell for me. What a sucker!
Our second date consisted of Mr. Wonderful cooking a tasty dinner for moi. I was sold at that point.
Within two months, we were engaged. And our prenuptials stated that Rick would handle the cooking, and I would take care of all cleaning.
No, we don't really have prenuptials. But we did make the cooking and cleaning very clear to one another. He didn't want to starve, and I didn't want to live in a pig sty.
And it worked for 7 years. About two years ago, however, I began feeling convicted that I should really be trying to pull my weight in the kitchen. Why should Rick work away from the home all day and come home to slaving away at the stove?
I began slowly by cooking easy meals, such as spaghetti. Over time, I've expanded my repertoire considerably.
But that doesn't mean that it's been an easy transition. There was a period of time where, I swear, the stove screamed at the horror of seeing me. There were numerous burned meals. Too many to count.
But the stove and I have made amends, and we get along much better now. I am a far cry from being an expert, and that is why I don't share recipes with you. I'm sure most of you are much more experienced in the kitchen, and I wouldn't want to insult your cooking intelligence.
Anyway, I mentioned yesterday that we enjoyed fried fish and homemade vanilla ice cream on the 4th. Yours truly tried her hand at making ice cream for the first time ever! (I did not, however, fry the fish. That would have been classified as overachieving.)
I was very nervous about making ice cream. I told my sister-in-law and brother-in-law that if it didn't turn out correctly, I would run to the store for some Blue Bell. Some of you are probably saying, "Oh, come on, it's so easy." Could you please humor me and pretend to be impressed?
For those looking for an oh-so-yummy homemade vanilla ice cream recipe, here it is. Drum roll please.
Ingredients for a 6 quart ice cream maker:
6 eggs
3 3/4 cup sugar
3 cans evaporated milk
1/2 gallon milk
6 3/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp salt
1 can Eagle brand milk
Directions:
Beat eggs until foamy. Add sugar gradually. Beat until stiff. Add remaining ingredients and mix extremely well. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze using rock salt and ice according to your ice cream maker's directions. (You didn't expect me to spell it all out for you, did you?)
We added chocolate syrup and sprinkles. The house was silent while 8 adults and 7 children devoured a large heap.
Let me know if you try it!
In case you're wondering, I still handle the cleaning, as well. The day I hand that over to Rick, you can go ahead and commit me to the asylum.
The 4th in a Nutshell
I don't know about you, but I need a long weekend to recover from my long weekend! I'm worn out from all the late nights. Because fireworks don't begin until 9:30, two hours after I turn into a pumpkin, the 4th of July really puts a kink into my beauty rest. And what's the 4th of July without fireworks on the 5th of July, too?
Instead of giving you a blow by blow of our long weekend, I'll sum it up by saying we spent some fun times with Rick's family on the 4th and 5th. Fun times included fried fish, homemade vanilla ice cream, swimming, fireworks, a baseball game and more fireworks.
If fattening food, fireworks and baseball aren't American, I don't know what is.
The cousins adore one another.
The 5 of us. We adore one another, too. Most days anyway.Anyway, that's our 4th in a nutshell. Hope you enjoyed your holiday weekend too.
Now, I'm off to catch up on some beauty sleep.
Friday Funny
I've given my old cell phone to the boys, and they've spent much of this week playing with it. At one point, Jack dropped it, which caused the battery to fall out. I offered to help him replace it, but he insisted he could do it. I watched him work at it for several minutes, and he actually did figure it out. He was extremely proud of his accomplishment and ran to tell his brothers the good news. "Boys, I'm amazing!"
Yes, you are, in more ways than one.
Super Woman or Super Tired?
Do you ever have one of those days where you feel super productive?
Today, we have done the following:
- held preK class for Jack and Garrett
- held kindergarten class for Liam
- painted some masterpieces
- played outside
- eaten 2 good meals
- and I've washed, folded, and put away all laundry.
- I'm Super Woman.
- I'll need to go to bed at 8pm.
A side note: Yes, we are having "summer school". We began school this week, because summer in Texas is only good for swimming and air conditioning. Our skin can only handle so much sun and chlorine, which forces us to find many indoor activities. But summer school will allow us to finish our school year in April and enjoy our refreshing spring next year.
