ENTERTAINING: SUMMERTIME 2016

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by Mary Canovas

Pretty soon, most of us will have a little extra time to try new recipes and crafts. My ice cream recipes can be made anywhere you can find a freezer – no ice cream machine needed. They are incredibly delicious, quick and easy to prepare – especially the Frozen Yogurt. You will love making them for family and friends this summer but I know you will be making them all year long.

I´ve also included two absolutely basic homemade recipes – peanut butter and Nutella. You can´t imagine how much money we have saved at home but most importantly how healthy these spreads are in comparison with the originals and most importantly without any additives. They are the easiest recipes ever, but you must have a processor. I found a Philips Processor on Amazon for 70€ and cooking has been a breeze since then.

Nowadays the quality on some of these products is really great and the price can´t be beat.

All that´s best, Mary

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No Churn Cheesecake Ice Cream 

Get ready for a taste sensation! Lemon Cheesecake Ice Cream. And it´s so easy to make – you don´t even need an ice cream machine. I´ll bet you it will rival any other ice cream you´ve tried including Ben & Jerry´s etc. And you´ll save big time. Best of all – no additives or artificial anything.

Ingredients
• 2 cups – 480 ml. double cream or heavy cream – from the fridge – really cold
• 14 oz – 420 ml. sweetened condensed milk
• 8 oz – 240 gr. cream cheese – Philadelphia style cream cheese at room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp sugar (or more to taste)
• 8 drops lemon extract  (You can substitute 1 teaspoon lemon zest and 2 tablespoons lemon juice if you haven´t got extract.)

Directions
• Whip very cold heavy cream in a large bowl. Midway add sugar and continue beating till stiff peaks form. Place in fridge.
• In another bowl beat cream cheese until very soft, add sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract and lemon extract or substitute (see ingredients) and beat until well mixed.
• Fold the cheese mixture into the whipped cream gently with a spatula. You definitely don´t want a lump of cream cheese in the mix. Folding, not beating, is essential to maintain the volume of the whipped cream.
• Pour into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the freezer about 8 hours or until frozen. (Time depends on the freezer). YOU DON´T HAVE TO CHURN IT EVERY 4 HOURS. IT WILL COME OUT PERFECT. I PROMISE.
• Remove from freezer about 10 minutes before serving –depending on the temperature in the room. If it´s hot, less time, if cold, more.

Blueberry Yogurt Ice Cream – No Churn – 3 Ingredients

Frozen yogurt ice cream. This is the easiest and most versatile frozen yogurt recipe you can imagine. Just 3 ingredients, no ice cream machine, no churning and you can change the flavor by adding different fruit marmalades. No additives or preservatives and healthier than regular ice cream. We made ours with blueberry marmalade but you can use any jam you like.

Ingredients
• 350 gr – 12 oz sweetened condensed milk- not evaporated
• 500 gr -17. 6 oz plain Greek yogurt or plain yogurt
• 200 to 300 gr – 7 to 10 oz jam to taste

Directioons
● Greek yogurt is preferable -it is denser than regular yogurt and makes a creamier ice cream. You can use more or less condensed milk depending on how sweet you prefer ice cream (300 to 400 g).
● Whisk the condensed milk and yogurt by hand or with electric mixer at very low speed about 3-4 minutes.
● Fold in the jam. You can opt for streaks of marmalade in your ice cream or one color. For just the flavor beat in the jam. Or you can fold in the jam in streaks without mixing it in completely.
● Pour into a bowl, preferably metal, but you can use plastic, glass, etc.
● Cover and freeze until completely frozen – from 4 to 6 hours. No intermediate churning!
● Before serving take it out of the freezer a few minutes to achieve the right consistency.

Make Homemade Peanut Butter

Making your own peanut butter is so easy, economical and healthy that perhaps you´ll never buy the processed stuff in the store. The texture might be slightly different – not super soft but your peanut butter will not have a drop of hydrogenated fat or additives. You will be able to reduce the amount of salt or make it sweeter. You vary the texture by adding a little bit of honey for smoother or sugar for regular. You can even make it chunky.

Only one hitch: you definitely need a food processor. Blenders will not work.

If you are allergic to peanuts or don´t care for them, you can use the same process with any nut – almonds, hazelnuts, macadamia nuts etc. and make almond butter, etc.

You won´t believe the taste. Now you can always have fresh peanut butter on hand for toast and baking recipes.

Ingredients – Makes 1 ½ cups
• 2 cups – 250 gr fried skinless peanuts salted or not also honey if you like.
• 1/2 tsp salt or more to taste if unsalted
• 1-2 tsp sugar to taste
• Food Processor
• Container with tight lid

Directions
• Place peanuts in food processor. Add salt and sugar.
• Process at least 2 minutes. With a spatula scrape down the sides.
• Keep processing until the mix turns into a ball. This is normal.
• Scrape sides and keep processing – you will see the mix start to become more liquid until it reaches the creamy state you are looking for.
• If you want chunky peanut butter, grind some peanuts into small pieces in the processor before making the peanut butter and put aside. Once you have made your peanut butter, add these to the peanut butter in the processor. Process the mixture just enough to incorporate the chunks.
• If it´s not soft enough for your taste add 1 teaspoon peanut or sunflower oil (not olive) before processing.
• You can also add 1 tablespoon honey for a very rich flavor instead of sugar but the peanut butter will be runnier.
• You can spread it right away, you´ll get a better texture if you put the peanut butter in a container with a tight lid and place in refrigerator 1/2 hour before serving.
Shelf life: 3 to 4 weeks in the refrigerator.
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How to Make Nutella at Home

Is there anybody left on the planet that doesn´t love the chocolate and hazelnut spread we know as Nutella? Only one problem: an excessive love of this kind could seriously bankrupt us.

Kidding aside, even though it´s delicious, heavenly Nutella is definitely not cheap.

But did you know you can actually make it at home so easily, in about 10 minutes, with no cooking and at about half the price? Most of the people who have tried our recipe say it is at least as good as the original. But I beg to differ, I believe our home-made is even better. Do try it and write in a comment.

Besides the savings and eliminating all artificial additives, you can tweak it to adapt it to your own taste. For example: increase the chocolate flavor by adding a little more cocoa or use your own special brand of cocoa or quality hazelnuts to make it truly distinctive. You could even make a chunky Nutella – now wouldn´t that be awesome!

Ingredients
• 8 oz. – 250 gr. Skinless roasted hazelnuts
• 1/4 to 1/3 cup – 30 to 40 gr. cocoa powder
• 1 3/4 cup – 220 gr. or 1 cup icing or confectioner´s sugar or 200 gr. white sugar. (I definitely recommend confectioner´s sugar.)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil – recommend sunflower (not olive) – or hazelnut oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp salt (pinch)

Directions
• Remove all skin from hazelnuts as possible.
• Optional: heat the nuts in the oven at 375 ° F – 190 ° C for about 3 minutes – do not preheat the oven. (Baking releases oils that enhance the flavor of hazelnuts.)
• Place the hazelnuts in a processor – The processor is necessary for texture to unless your blender has a lot of power.
• Process until they become hazelnut butter. Check out peanut butter spread instructions above.
• Add cocoa and sugar. If you want to add more chocolate flavor add 40g cocoa. If you prefer more hazelnut flavor only add 30 gr. cocoa. Keep processing until all ingredients are well mixed.
• Use silicone spatula to scrape down sides.
• Add the oil, vanilla and salt and process until completely smooth.
• Pour into a re-sealable container.
Expiration date: approximately 1 month – if it lasts that long.

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Featured image by Alex  Borland, PD

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