Snow Ice Cream

Do you have some freshly fallen snow? 

We seem to have plenty of it here in the Midwest and many schools are closed tomorrow so why not make a delicious treat and a wonderful memory at the same time? 

Homemade snow ice cream!

****Update: This year we tried ice-cream and sweet and condensed milk.
Success. A very sweet and creamy ice-cream.***

Ingredients:

4-6 cups of snow 

1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 sugar 

Learn for my mistakes and DO NOT pour the milk directly into the snow!!!!!

Instead, mix the milk, sugar, and vanilla together and THEN spoon in the snow and mix.

(In my opinion it is more of and semi melted frosty consistency than actual ice cream) 

My family are chocoholics and will only settle for chocolate icecream. So I decided to add chocolate....

Stir.

Scoop.

Serve. 

Yum!

Update: This year we tried ice-cream and sweet and condensed milk.
Success. A very sweet and creamy ice-cream.

Second note. To the person putting the notes on Pintrest in regards to snow ice-cream:

• "Even if you collect it in a bin there will still be a bunch of different environmental pollutants in it.... Regardless if it looks "clean" it really is not something that anybody should be putting into their bodies. Best idea would be to freeze filtered water and shave it yourself to make snow at home."
• 
  

  I say: 

  I'd rather do this than buy ice-cream full of processed chemicals! Eating snow is no different than drinking rain water or walking around in a city and breathing the polluted air. We've all survived this long. Let us enjoy the little things in life. The small bowl full that my child and I eat will not kill us and the memory we make will last a lifetime. All things in moderation.

Cinnamon tortilla chips (a little bit healthier and gluten free)

I am just like any other person, I love a good sweet sugary snack. Today I was craving some cinnamon tortilla chips. Thought I would take a moment to share with you how I make them just a bit healthier. 

Cinnamon sugar tortilla chips. 

You will need:

8 corn tortillas

Cooking spray

1/3 cup sugar

1tsp ground cinnamon

Also a knife, cutting board, and cookie sheet.

Before starting preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Take a pile of corn tortillas and slice them. I prefer to cut them into 8ths. I find that to be the perfect size for me. 

Mix cinnamon and sugar together.

Spray one side of the tortilla with PAM. Coat it well but don't drench it. 

(this is where my recipe strays from many of the others. Most call for dipping the tortilla triangles in butter. Yes, that may be yummy but adds much more fat and calories.)

Sprinkle the cinnimon sugar generously on the sprayed tortilla. 

(Side note, I used to do both sides if the tortilla but I now only do one side. It still tastes just as good but it saves you on calories and sugar intake.)

I prefer to maximize my work area and I spead them out, spray them all at once, them drench in sugar. 

Place them on a cookie sheet (I line it with parchment paper to make cleanup easier).

Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. Keep an eye on them the last few minutes. Undercook them and they'll be chewy, over cook them and they will burn. 

When you pull then out they won't feel super crispy. Let them cool about 5 minutes and then you should have nice, crispy, warm cinnamon chips ready to eat. 

I've heard if people making a cream cheese dip or making dessert nachos by topping with strawberries and chocolate. However you chose to eat them, enjoy!

Gluten Free Olliebollen (a real Dutch treat)

Oliebollen is a traditional Dutch treat and one of my personal favorites! 

You will also see it spelled 'Olie-bollen'. This is a dutch pastry similar to a doughnut. It typically is a deep fried pastry filled with raisins or apples and dusted with sugar. 

However, being gluten free I have missed out on eating this treat over the years, so I decided it was time to make a GF version.

First start by mixing up a gluten free flour base. Here is my favorite standby: 

Take 4 cups of the gluten free flour mixture.

Add 1/2 cup of sugar, 

        4 tsp baking powder, 

        1 tsp salt. 

Mix together.

Add 2 eggs

        1 1/2 cups milk

         1/4 cup canola oil.

Mix together by hand. 

The dough should be sticky and thick. (This gluten free version will feel different than regular batter.)

Chop up 2 apples (the smaller you chop them the better) and add 1cup of raisins.

Fold the apples and raisins into the batter.

Heat oil to 375 degrees in a large pan.

Drop a small spoonful into oil. Make sure the balls of dough are small. (Golf ball size) if they are too big the centers will not cook. 

When the Olliebollen are cooked, 2-3 minutes, take them out with a slotted spoon and put them on a paper towel. When they are cool enough to touch roll in a cinnamon sugar mixture. Traditional Oliebollen are dusted with powdered sugar but I love the cinnamon sugar. I think it goes so much better with the apple flavor.

Now eat and enjoy. They taste best fresh and warm. 
Try not to eat them all in one sitting! 😊