Autumn Apples Week {Day 4 ~ Apple Pie Ice Cream}

Welcome to Day 4 of Autumn Apples Week! Don't forget to enter the giveaway {Day 1} for tea & muffins and link up your apple recipes or posts {Day 3} if you have some! Hope you're having fun celebrating Autumn this week!

 
Apple Pie. Still one of the top pies in America. Most people would agree that the best way to eat apple pie is "a la mode." And it is delicious. So I thought to myself...why not just combine the apple pie and the "a la mode" into one dessert? Mmmmm...and so I bring you Apple Pie Ice Cream.

Apple Pie Ice Cream

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup Apple Salsa
1/3 - 1/2 cup crumbled Pie Crust Chips
1/3 cup Buttery Cinnamon Sauce

In bowl, whisk together milk and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Add heavy cream, vanilla, and cinnamon. Whisk until combined. Turn on ice cream maker and pour mixture into freezer bowl through spout. After 18-20 minutes {mixture should be fairly thick}, add Apple Salsa and crumbled Pie Crust Chips through spout. After additional 3-5 minutes, turn off ice cream maker. Transfer ice cream to another bowl and gently swirl the Buttery Cinnamon Sauce into the mixture. Can be served immediately or frozen to harden more for a couple of hours. This recipe is for a 1 1/2 quart ice cream maker.

I highly recommend serving this with pie crust chips on the side - such a delicious combo. My family agreed that this ice cream is best right after it's made. We prefer it with the soft and creamy consistency. But it's still yummy after it freezes solid!

Bonus - awesome use for the mini pie tins that have been in my cupboard forever!

If you didn't have time to whip up all the ingredients, but you just happen to have some apple pie - I say chop up a slice and throw it in the ice cream! That would be an awesome shortcut!

Come on back tomorrow for Day 5 of Autumn Apples Week and another giveaway!!

What's your favorite kind of pie? Favorite kind of ice cream?

This post linked to:
 ~ Chic & Crafty Party at The Frugal Girls
 ~ I'm Lovin' It at TidyMom

Want to connect with me?

Click here ---> to subscribe by E-mail.

Click here ---> to Like my Facebook page.

Click here ---> to follow me on Pinterest.

Click here ---> to follow me on Twitter.

Click here---> to follow me on Google+.

Have a blessed day friends!

7 Favorite Frozen Treats

Did you know that July is National Ice Cream Month? And National Ice Cream Day was Sunday! Summer is the perfect time to enjoy frozen treats!

I wanted to share my favorite frozen treats with you! Don't worry if you don't have an ice cream maker - most of these recipes don't even need one.

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Mocha Granita Parfait {posted at Pennies & Blessings}

Peppermint Chocolate Ice-Cream Pie {posted at Pennies & Blessings}

Creamy Root Beer Freeze

Watermelon and Lime Granita

Chocolate Malt Ice-Cream Cake {He's about to turn 13 now...sniff}

Frozen Chocolate Mousse

What's your favorite ice cream or frozen treat? Have you "celebrated" National Ice Cream Month yet?! I wouldn't want you to miss out - maybe you better have a frozen treat right now to make sure. :)


This post linked to:
 ~ Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
 ~ WFMW at We Are THAT Family
 ~ Chic & Crafty Party at The Frugal Girls
 ~ I'm Lovin' It at TidyMom
 ~ Sweet Tooth Friday at Alli 'N Sons

If you enjoyed stopping and smelling the chocolates with me, I'd love it if you click to Subscribe to Stop and Smell the Chocolates by Email or RSS!


Have a blessed day friends!

10 Exciting* Things Happening This Week

1.  I'm actually posting on my blog!  LOL - if that isn't exciting, I don't know what is.  My Dad was visiting last week and that kind of threw me off schedule.  I know you missed me (didn't you???) - sorry about that.

2.  Notes to Aspiring Writers ~ Your Dream, God's Plan ebook is launching - today!!!  So excited for my friend Brooke!  You've got to stop by the site because the launch day giveaway package is huge and amazing and includes a Kindle!

3.  My hubs has a birthday this weekend - so this is of course his birthday week!  He seems to be under the impression that I should be doing fabulous things to celebrate each day (er, maybe because I insist on it during my bday week - heh).  I pointed out that I had neatly folded some clean clothes for him, but that apparently lacked the "wow" factor he was looking for.  :)  Love you honey!!

4.  Speaking of birthdays, my best blogging buddy Kim from Homesteader's Heart has a birthday this week!  Happy Birthday my friend!!  Be sure to stop by and tell her Hi and Happy Birthday!

5.  I get to have a root canal this week!  Oh, that's not exciting for you?  Come to think of it, I'm not too excited about it either.

6.  I have a cookbook review to post this week for you - interesting concept for a cookbook which is why I wanted to check it out.  I'll have it posted in the next day or two.

7.  I'll have a post over at Pennies and Blessings this week - I'll let you know when it's up.  Do stop over there and look around.  There's so much good info from such friendly people - you'll enjoy it!

8.  It's National Ice Cream Month.  Yum.  And Tina at Mom's Crazy Cooking has an ice cream linky party all this week!  Go check out the ice cream links and add your own!  And can I have a bite?  I'm trying to avoid dessert this week.  Sigh.  That is n.o.t. exciting.

9.  I think I have an idea for a blog series.  I've never written a blog series so that's a little strange for me.  I would love to have the first post up this week, but we'll see.  Try to contain your excitement.  ;)

10.  I'll be playing with my new smart phone.  OK - I've had it for more than a week, but I'm still learning.  So by using the smart phone, will I get smarter?  Hmmm...  And I've yet to find an app that will do my housework for me.

What exciting things are happening for you this week?  Do tell!  You know what else is exciting?  Hello - Top Ten Tuesday at Oh Amanda!  Go check it out.

* The word Exciting has a broad definition according to this writer.  Not responsible for lack of excited feelings when reading above statements.

Have a fabulous day friends!!

Tasty Tuesday ~ Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

Oh this is such a yummy recipe!  But I have to tell you a story first (isn't that always the way with bloggers?).

I was recently getting ready to make a cheesecake (this one) and needed a few things from the grocery store.  Hubs and son were forced decided to go into the store for me.  I had asked for 3 packages of Philadelphia cream cheese.  They called me while they were in the store and asked if I could use 1 more package.  Of course I could find a use for 1 more package of cream cheese, but why the 4th?  Hubs told me that son had spotted an offer - buy 4 packages of Philly and get a free cookbook.  I told them to go for it and assumed I'd be sending some proofs of purchase for a booklet.  But out of the store they came with this:

An actual cookbook!  And a nice one at that!  It's full of yummy recipes!  It's called Spread a Little Joy - OK I will - LOL!  Well yes I did look at the dessert section first and saw this recipe and knew I HAD to make it, especially since a few ladies would be coming over to my house and could taste test it for me (they all loved it)!  :)

I like this ice cream recipe because you don't need an ice cream maker!  It's very simple to make and it is SO rich and delicious - you only need small servings!  You might want to serve some at a holiday gathering.

Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream

1 pkg (8 oz) Philadelphia cream cheese, softened
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled (I was able to get fresh at the store, but you could try frozen whole strawberries partially thawed if fresh aren't available)
3 honey graham crackers, coarsely chopped

Mix cream cheese, condensed milk, whipping cream, and lemon zest in bowl with mixer until well blended.  Freeze about 4 hours or until almost solid.

Beat frozen cream cheese mixture with mixer until creamy.  Put strawberries in blender and blend until smooth (my old blender had a hard time; could also try a food processor).  Add berries to cream cheese mixture along with chopped graham crackers and mix well.  Freeze 8 hours or until firm.

Take ice cream out of freezer about 15 minutes before serving.  Let stand at room temperature so it will soften a little before scooping.  Makes about 4 cups of ice cream.  Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are you going to try it?  It really is simple and anybody that you serve it to will be oh so impressed with your culinary talents (while you chuckle to yourself at how little you worked making it)!

I'm linking this up to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, where you can find all kinds of yummy recipes!

Have a tasty day friends!

Would You Like Chocolate With That? ~ Ice Cream is Better With Chocolate

Happy Independence Day! Since it's the 4th of July, I'll keep it easy - no difficult recipes. In fact, I won't even give you a recipe today - just ideas for adding chocolate to your ice cream. We already have parades and barbecues and fireworks to think about today without worrying about dessert!

When I was a child, I regularly had my very favorite sundae at our local ice cream parlor (it's closed now - sad). I almost always ordered it, though once in a while got my #2 choice. #1 was called "The Governor's Cup" - I have no idea why, except that maybe it was the Governor's favorite? Anyway, it was French Vanilla ice cream with dark cherries over the top, then covered in hot fudge topping. Yummy! You can find canned dark cherries, get some good hot fudge topping (or make your own) and recreate this sundae for an unusual new treat.

I guess I better let you in on my #2 choice from that ice cream parlor. It was called "The Black & White". Vanilla ice cream with half chocolate topping and half marshmallow topping - Mmmmm. Maybe you should try that, too. And maybe you should share some with me.

What are your favorite ice cream and chocolate creations?

Don't forget to link up something about chocolate below. Need ideas? Look here.