Vanilla Ice cream

A Simple Classic- no eggs necessary

     Last Friday Ellen came to visit while she was on her spring break from college. Ellen and my sister Marie have been best friends since they were two (when her sister Joanna and I met in Kindergarten). I'm glad that at a certain age it becomes cool to become friends with your siblings friends. It's much more fun that way. When the four of us get together, we play monopoly for old times sake, watch Elf at Christmas, relive hilarious elementary school memories, and catch up on life. 

      As true Portola Valley kids, we pretended to be mountain lions, and scavenged fruits and vegetables as we collected miners lettuce, sour grass, blackberries, plums and lemons from the tree.  We definitely baked plenty of sweets as well, and tried to make up our own recipes. Joanna and Ellen could eat cake for breakfast due to the high milk, egg and flour content. To my disappointment, my parents would not let us do the same. 

      Two years ago, the Ingebritsens brought us back milk chocolate covered macadamia nuts from their trip to Hawaii. When the label readers of the family turned the box over, the nutrition facts were blacked out in permanent marker replaced with the words "VERY HEALTHY, HIGHLY NUTRITIOUS."  It was clever enough to convince me. No matter what type of crazy cookie or pie we were creating, ice cream was always one food we all agreed on. So after I received this frozen yogurt ice cream maker, and I knew Ellen  was coming over, ice cream just seemed like the perfect thing to make. Note: This is simple ice cream, meaning it uses no egg yolks and is a bit more rich. I think the traditional ice cream with eggs would be even better, but this was a great start.

Ingredients- Makes 5 cups of ice cream

• 1 C whole milk
• ¾ C white sugar
• pinch salt
• 2 C heavy cream
• 1 T vanilla extract, or vanilla bean paste

Directions

• Use a hand mixer to blend the milk, sugar and salt until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. 
•  Turn on the ice cream maker; pour the mixture into the frozen freezer bowl and let mix until thickened, about 20-25 minutes. 
• If you are looking for a milkshake or soft serve consistency stop here. Ellen had hers with homemade peanut butter cups for a milkshake.
•  For true ice cream, transfer the ice cream to an airtight container and place in freezer for about 2 hours.