Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with Peach Crisp

My son Maxime was going to a 'Peach Party' tonight and we decided to make together a Peach Crisp. It was fun to be able to spend the afternoon together, in the kitchen, to prepare the dessert. The peach crisp turned out really yummy and he said that his friends enjoyed it. We prepared three small crisps for us to taste before sending the dessert over. Yesterday I made Vanilla Ice Cream, for the first time, and it was so good with the crisp. Making Ice Cream was easier than I thought it would be. I have a Hamilton Beach ice cream maker and followed the recipe for their Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream. It takes two days to make. You need to prepare the custard, let it cool overnight, and the next day you finish the ice cream. It was good, better than any ice cream in stores but next time I will try David Lebovitz Vanilla Ice Cream. He uses only eggs yolks and a bit more cream. In his recipe you will find vanilla extract but also real vanilla bean. I think that will make a bit difference in the taste.

I have to share that if you go on the Food Network Canada website and click on Pic of the Week you will see my picture of my Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes.  That made my day.  Thanks Food Network!
(Edited:  It was during the week-end.  You will not be able to see it anymore)

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Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes - Rebar

One cookbook that I use over and over again is Rebar. If you are not familiar with Rebar it is a nice little restaurant in Victoria on Vancouver Island. I had the chance to eat there and tried their Three Sisters Burrito filled with roasted squash, pinto beans, corn and served with a mesa red sauce. It was delicious. The staff is very friendly and the place fills up fast during the week-end so expect a lineup.


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Cherries, Blueberries, Raspberries Crumble

Tonight I was in 'Dessert urge' mode. I really had to have dessert. After reading all of my favorite food blogs I could have eaten a whole pan of brownies or a chocolate cake by myself. But my waistline would not be happy with me. I decided to settled for a crumble. Some people eat crumbles only in the Fall, I like them all year long. During my shopping trip, this week, I bought a big bag of fresh cherries. They are great on their own but it's still nice to experience with them. I pulled out a recipe that my mom had gave me for apple crumble and did some modifications. I used pitted cherries, blueberries, raspberries instead of apples. I had fun pitting the cherries. I don't own one of those cute cherry pitter so I had to use a very sharp knife. Couple minutes later I had pitted a full bowl of cherries. They were pitted in many little pieces, my nails were red but it worked. Someday I will treat myself to a real cherry pitter. It is one of those kitchen gadget that you don't think of buying until you really need it. My mom recipe did not say to mix the fruits with Maple Syrup. I think that it adds a nice sweetness to the fruits. I also wanted more oats so I did use less flour and did triple the amount of oats. I used Extra Thick Rolled Oats from Bob's Red Mill that I had bought during my trip in the States. The crumble turned out to be delicious and I was surprised at how good are cherries in a crumble.




Fruit Crumble

• 3 cups apples, peeled and diced (or any fruits)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup oats
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup brown sugar

Peel apples. Pour real Maple Syrup on top of apples to taste (1 to 4 Tbsps). Mix well.

Melt the butter and mix in all the remaining ingredients. Spread the mix on top of the fruits.

Bake at 350F for 30 min.


Source: my mom
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