Ice Cream

I don't know really where this post came from. I guess I'm just craving some good ice cream so I'm thinking about it alot right now.

In my family we ALWAYS had ice cream in the freezer. Not one of those little half gallon containers, but the BIG ones. And sometimes we had a couple of those in the freezer at a time. So basically we all grew up eating ice cream and are therefore addicted. Pretty sure we'll never have osteoporosis.

There's alot of memories in my life that have to do with ice cream. Ice cream is one of those positive association things for me; anything to do with ice cream is good.

One of my first memories was always going to Farr's in Ogden with my Grandma, aunt and cousins on Memorial Day after visiting the cemeteries. At first we all got the bubble-gum ice cream, then I tried play-dough and that's been the kind I always get when we go there now. I loved the green walls and sitting outside on the bench and looking at the temple across the street.

My family would walk to Bowman's alot on family night just to get ice cream. We would sometimes get a half gallon and some plastic spoons then go the the park and eat the whole thing.

Sometimes we would go to Arctic Circle and get ice cream cones there. My favorite was the twist.

My grandma always has ice cream at her house too and she makes the best ice cream cones EVER. She always puts a tiny little scoop in the bottom of the cone and then fills the rest up. The last bite of the bottom of the cone is always the best since Grandma put the ice cream down there to make it all gooey and soggy.

On Sundays it always seemed like we ate ice cream. Either sitting around the table after dinner or while watching a musical. My mom always stirs hers so it's nice and smooth. Chase does too.

My family would go camping alot up Logan Canyon while we were all growing up. So of course we had to stop at Aggie Ice Cream on the way home and get some. I remember pulling into the parking lot with our tent trailer and we would all walk in feeling gross and dirty from camping, but the ice cream was great. My favorite for a long time was cookie fudge, but now it's lemon custard on a sugar cone. It's the best!

After moving to college, we would hit Charlie's quite frequently. My favorite there is the hot-fudge brownie shake. The oreo-peanut butter is pretty good too. Chase and I go there alot for date nights when you can get the shake of the month for 2 bucks. Can't beat that.

When Chase and I lived in California we went to this awesome outdoor mall when we first got there. We went into Coldstone to get some ice cream since we were dying of heatstroke and there realized that EVERYTHING in California is much more expensive than here. No wonder there weren't prices on anything. 13 bucks for a dish of ice cream? Yeah, but it was fun and we never got ice cream there again.

Last summer my family went to St. George and we went to Coldstone and ate outside around the table. Cake batter remix is for sure the thing to get there!

My family has alot of birthdays in the summer so we would have the whole extended family over and make homemade ice cream. There's nothing quite like homemade ice cream. When I was really little I remember having ward ice cream parties where everyone would bring their ice cream mixer so we'd have gallons of ice cream to go around.

Sometimes we would walk down to Jake's and get their HUGE shakes there too. We'd usually have to split them since they were ginormous! I remember the first time I went to Jake's in Ogden. We met Grandma and my aunt and cousins at the hospital where she worked and went to Jake's. I was so excited! That was the first time I ever got a grasshopper shake.

It's a good thing I married into a family that has close ties to a dairy. Reed's dairy chocolate milk and ice cream is to die for. When we go up to Idaho we usually come back with a gallon of ice cream. Mud Pie is Chase's favorite and I like Gavin's Mess. Yummy. I like sitting out on the bench with Chase's family or Ben and Christie eating it. They're really nice to and stock up the freezer when we go to visit.

Chase and I have also made our own homemade pizzookies. Very good. These were instigated while we were dating and we still have them occasionally. Nothing like ice cream over cookie dough.

One of my favorite things is going home and eating ice cream. It's like being little again. :)

I Like this Too

I think I want a saw for my birthday.

Picture from here.

Key Lime Cheesecake Bars

I made these for dessert yesterday and man were they yummy! I'm thinking that I need to try this with lemon jello too.

Ingredients

* 6 squares low-fat honey graham crackers, finely crushed (1/2 cup) (I just used a pre-made pie crust because it was lots easier.)
* 2 Tbsp. margarine, melted
* 1 tsp. sugar
* 1 4-serving-size pkg. sugar-free low-calorie lime-flavored gelatin
* 3/4 cup boiling water
* 1 16-oz. container fat-free cottage cheese (1-3/4 cups)
* 1 8-oz. pkg. fat-free cream cheese, softened
* 1 8-oz. container frozen fat-free whipped dessert topping, thawed
* Key Limes or limes, cut in wedges (optional)

Directions

1. In small bowl combine graham crackers, margarine, and sugar. Press crumb mixture in the bottom of a 2-quart square baking dish. Refrigerate while preparing filling.

2. In large bowl combine gelatin and water. Stir until gelatin is dissolved. Set aside.

3. In blender or food processor combine cottage cheese and cream cheese. Cover and blend or process until smooth, stopping several times to scrape down sides. Whisk 1/2 cup of the cottage cheese mixture into the gelatin mixture. Whisk in remaining cottage cheese mixture until smooth. Fold in whipped dessert topping. Spoon filling over chilled crumb mixture.

4. Cover and refrigerate 8 to 24 hours or until filling is firm. To serve, cut in squares. Top with lime wedges. Makes 9 servings.

Recipe and picture from here.

Umm... How Pretty is That!

Found this dining set today with a friend at work from Knock off Wood. Take a look at Knock off Wood. If you're into building furniture for cheap, it has really great ideas! There's even furniture plans for less than $20 too. Can't beat that.

Quote For Today

"Don't get caught up in the thick of thin things."



"We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we’re doing, we may find that we have immersed ourselves in the “thick of thin things.” In other words, too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more important causes." -Thomas S. Monson

Found here. I really liked reading this post.

Don't like the Weather?... Just Wait Five Minutes

This was early this morning....


And this is now!


Two seasons in one day!

Spring Break

I'm sad that's it over. But I feel much better after having a week off! We didn't do much. We mostly just enjoyed being at home not having much to do, well, at least I did. I swear work and homework never end for Chase. But we did get to do some fun things.

Last Saturday we went and saw Sherlock Holmes. I loved the actors, they were pretty funny, but the actual story-line? Really dark and not that great. I did see Leap Year with my family on Thursday and it was great! Classic chic-flick, clean, and funny. I really liked it!

Chase and I went on a drive up the canyon a little ways last Sunday. It felt good to get out and see the sun!

We also got more movies from the North Logan Library. For a library, they have a really good selection! And they're free! The Logan Library is fairly good too.

We went down to see my family for my sister's birthday. She's 20, that seems weird. I remember when I turned 20. I got to go to Tai Pan with the girls and my nephews and got some daisies to make our apartment feel like spring.

I was seriously craving a taco for dinner on Saturday night so Chase was nice to take me to get one. That was weird since I usually crave shakes and Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers, not tacos, but man it was so good!

Both our families came for church and dinner yesterday since we spoke in church. it was a lot of fun to see them all!

Well, that's pretty much what we did all week! Bring on the last 6 weeks of school!

Get your FREE lip gloss!

I found THIS today! I love free stuff! :) You do have to buy something to get it, but they have gift bags and nail files for a dollar so that's much better than paying $7.50 for the lip gloss!
I tend to lose my chapstick wherever I go, so this was great.

I could save your life and one step closer!

I am now CPR and First Aid certified after just getting back from a 7 hour long training session. Last major road block before graduation! Yay!

Forgotten Pictures

I was cleaning up my flash drive today and came across these that we gave to Chase's parents for Christmas. Chase's sister posed us all and took them. I think they turned out really good!







Someday I would love to learn how to take really awesome pictures.
Thanks to my sister for letting us borrow their camera to take them!

Sometimes I wish I didn't enjoy eating so much

I've currently been reading this book for my nutrition class.



It's really interesting but it makes me not want to eat anything in a box from the store ever again. Pretty much the gist of the book is about how the Western diet is killing us. We were never meant to eat the kind of "food" that is available to us in supermarkets today. The author talks about this age of "nutritionism" where society is more focused on nutrients rather than foods as a whole. Makes sense especially when you see fortified cereals, bread and new products sporting health claims for vitamins, fiber and stuff.

Pollan also talks about how we are going through a "lipophobic" stage where fat is bad for us. We have all these low-fat foods but yet Americans are increasingly becoming more and more obese. It was funny how the invention of margarine was made to replace butter without having saturated fat. Well, what happened is they made margarine with trans fat which happens to me more unhealthy and deadly than the saturated fat it was meant to replace. Oops.

Basically what I am getting from this book is that packaged food and re-engineered "food" is NOT good to eat. The more basic, home-made from scratch you can get, the better. But we should eat all kinds of food, including fat (hooray for brownies and ice cream!), along with lots of fruit and vegetables.

I thought his mantra was funny: Eat Food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

I'm thinking that pretty much we've already had that advice for a long time now; can we say Doctorine and Covenants 89? Word of Wisdom all the way with moderation in all things. Being a public health major it's been a little frustrating with all these health claims saying you should eat this, can't eat that. But, I have come to the conclusion that ANYTHING can kill you in large amounts. So enjoy eating anything, just moderately!

Why I Sometimes Love Walmart

Because I can find really cute sweaters for $3!

Who doesn't love a cute, cheap sweater?!