Date Night

No, Lou and I did not go out on some romantic evening. He left. He and Murf went to Spokane on Sunday afternoon and came back Monday evening. Frannie and I took the Daddy free time to our advantage and went to see Mr. Poppers Penguins and made gelato. Frannie is in the dress yourself stage (sometimes) and decided to accessorize for the movie. We had a great time seeing the Big Movie and spending time holding hands and laughing at them.  Last night, we made gelato and walked to Jefferson School to play on the playground. Frannie wanted to ride her bike, but I wanted more hand holding and talking as we walked to the school. She also got to spend some Murf free time with her chicken and we let her walk around the yard while we ate dinner outside. Good news, Frannies Peas are blooming and she is so excited! She took JuJu Bee over to show her and explained how special the peas were to the chicken. So lesson to me, spend some time with your children outside of the norm and do something simple. Frannie will have some adjusting to do in the next few weeks once the baby comes and I hope to do more simple things with her and enjoy the time we have together while we have it. Date night with Frannie is just as good as Date night with Lou. Sorry, but it is true-I love them both more than they know.

Stracciatella Gelato

I made these with the farm fresh eggs I get from a co-worker so the gelato was very golden in color but yummy and custard like. Lou said it is good, but not like gelato. I'll be trying other recipes here shortly and give the scoop as we try to find the perfect gelato recipe...you have been warned. I also could not find a vanilla bean in town (didn't exhaust every resource) so I substituted milk. I thought that was an excellent idea and was very happy with the outcome.

You can make the custard base a day ahead for this chocolate chip gelato.

6 servings

• PREP TIME: 30 minutes
• TOTAL TIME: 3 hours (includes chilling and freezing time)

Recipe by Sarah Tenaglia and Sarah Morrow

May 2011

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 5 large egg yolks
• Pinch of kosher salt
• 1/2 cup chilled heavy whipping cream
• 1/3 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
• 2 tsp. vegetable oil

Preparation

• Place milk in a medium saucepan. Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean; add bean. Bring to a simmer, whisking often. Whisk sugar, yolks, and salt in a medium bowl until well blended, about 1 minute. Gradually whisk hot milk mixture into yolk mixture. Return to saucepan; stir over medium-low heat until custard thickens and a thermometer registers 170°-175°, about 5 minutes (do not boil). Strain into a medium bowl. Stir in cream. Chill custard until cold, at least 2 hours.
• Stir chocolate and oil in a small sauce-pan over low heat until melted; let cool.
• Process custard in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. Slowly add all but 1 tsp. melted chocolate during the last 30 seconds of churning (chocolate will form small chips). Transfer to a bowl. Drizzle remaining chocolate over gelato in zigzag lines. Serve immediately.
  
  
  Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/05/stracciatella-gelato#ixzz1Qa8iK7IM