Chicken Pot Pie (Little Sister Style)

Date Prepared: 01/02/12

Source:  This recipe was an adaptation of a chicken pot pie recipe obtained from Betty Crocker's Cookbook "New and Revised Edition" Copyright 1978. General Mills, Inc. Mpls, Mn. 

Mini Chicken Pot Pies in Crescent Roll Crust

Recipe:

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk
2 cups chicken, chopped
1 package frozen peas or vegetables

3 - packages of crescent rolls (8 rolls per package)

*Alternative pie crust recipe:

2/3 cup shortening (+ 2 Tablespoons)
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons celery seed
1 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons water

 To Serve:

Cut 2-3 chicken breats into 1/2 pieces. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and cook in a nonstick pan until cooked through. Cool the chicken and coarsely chop. Set aside.

In a nonstick sauce pot, melt butter. Add flour and whisk constantly allowing the raw flour to cook some and forming roux. Add onion, salt, and pepper. Cook onions until soft and semitranslucent. Slowly whisk the chicken broth and milk into the flour and butter mixture. Slowly heat wet mixture until slow boil, constantly whisking. Add chicken and vegetables. Allow pot pie filling to heat until thickened.

While the pot pie mixture is cooking unwrap crescent rolls leaving them in squares (two crescent rolls per square). On a lightly flowered surface, roll the cresents to seal the seam and stretch the dough. Place one square of pastry in each of 12 muffin cups, allowing the excess to hang over the sides. Add pot pie mixture to each cup and pinch together the excess dough to enclose the filling. No egg wash or extra butter is required to glaze these pies. Cook at 350 degrees Farenheit until the pastry is baked brown 30-35 minutes.

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Difficulty: Easy - This recipe is a prep-and-serve and requires very little culinary expertise.

Accessibility: Common - There are very few ingredients required for this preparation, all of which can be obtained at a typical grocery store.

Visual Appeal:  These pot pies have a particularly cozy appearance. They are smaller even then mini pot pies you might buy in the freezer case. They aren't particularly fancy to look at and there is little color contrast to laud. However, the beauty of the basic cresent roll dough is clearly apparent. The pastry puffed nicely and provided a beautiful brown color. Through a couple of chives over the top or a sprinkle of chopped parsley and you'll achieve picture perfect results...in a sense.

Overall Taste: The taste of this version of the recipe is hit and miss. The mouthwatering aspect of this recipe is the natural butteriness of the crescent roll dough coupled with the homemade chicken and gravy filling. It tastes much better than it can be described. Where this version falls short is in the lack of a traditional pie crust, which seems to be somewhat lighter, flakier, and offers the option of adding celery seed baked right in. The flavor of the pot pie filling is basic and really hard to screw up.

Overall Experience: If I had all the time in the world, I would much rather have a traditional pie crust as a vessel for this very good chicken pot pie filling. It was fun to make these pot pies because my girlfriend and I got to both work on them together.

What I found most disappointing, however, was that the crescent roll soaked up virtually all of the liquid from the filling. When the pie was cut open, there was little of the traditional oozing you come to expect with a good pot pie. I might try this version again if I were to use large muffin cups instead of the traditional size. This variation might provide for a better crust to filling ratio and restore the natural pot pie order of things.

In addition, cooked crescent rolls do not reheat particularly well. Reheated the crust/dough became more chewy that flaky and particularly soggy.

Additional Notes: As made, it does not appear that docking the bottom of the crescent roll doigh is necessary. An alternative crust or vessel for this filling is egg roll wrappers, which was an idea presented to me by my little sister who is just learning to cook in her own home. It was very inspiring!

*The recipe and instructions for this recipe have been reported to maintain the original instruction and is not an original recipe and belongs to the source indicated. This post has been prepared as a review only and with no intention to take credit for this recipe. This recipe has been reviewed without instruction or influence by the parties or companies mentioned therein.

Year 1 Reflections and Year 2 Predictions

Just over a year ago, I had the "ambitious" goal of starting my own food blog. Not for profit and not for fame. Rather, I just wanted a reason to eat more GOOD food. Unfortunately, as with many new things, I pursue them fervently for a while -almost zealously- and then suddenly become bored and burned out.

This was an achievable goal, but I just couldn't stick with it. That said, I did enjoy my initial experience. Looking back on the posts I presented, I would say I appreciated some of the pictures I took far more than the actual recipes. Food presentation and/or styling has always been fascinating. My girlfriend appreciates a museum full of paintings, but I appreciate images of food...the colors, the contrast, the height and depth, it is edible art!

But I digress...

I plan to loosely continue my blog, posting interesting recipes and any beautiful pictures I can manage. The content will almost definitely stray from the original purpose but, hopefully, it will still give me a medium to express my passion and fascination with the things we eat, where it comes from, and how beautiful it can look.

I wish you all the food you might want this year. May it bring you peace, comfort, intrigue, and daring.

Food Montage

Date: 08/28/11

At the beginning of this year, I set a goal for myself. I wanted to write about all the good stuff I was going to cook and bake this year. Unfortunately, as will many things, I am completely and totally invested for a couple months and then lose my ambition. The work becomes too time consuming and other things begin to take priority. Ironically, because of my initial enthusiasm, I am pretty close to my goal of 1 post per week. However, there are some other "projects" included in this mix and not just recipe reviews.

I admit that I have been neglecting my duties of maintaining this log. However, I have neglected my goal of eating much less. New recipes continue to make it into my kitchen and onto the plate but just not onto these pages. As a result, I do have a couple of pictures to share with my comments. However, this post will dilute the formality even further.

Most recently, these are the dishes that have found a temporary residence on my table:

Source: http://www.marthastewart.com/355292/chile-sauce

Chili Barbeque Sauce

This sauce was a recipe I found early in the summer. The weather was nice and it just sounded good. I am not much of a fan of spicy foods but it just sounded that good. Like most barbecue sauces this one is a combination of a lot of different flavors with sweet and sour and some heat and depth from Jalapenos, dried chilies, and molasses. It was a nice change to bottled sauce. Some of the sauce was used to marinate steaks and some to flavor grilled chicken. Good stuff. Definitely want to try it one some of my brother-in-law's ribs!

Source: http://www.marthastewart.com/340853/mediterranean-chickpea-burgers

Mediterranean Chickpea Burgers

I like burgers. It doesn't have to be a beef burger and, in fact, bean or veggie burgers are often my preference. However, new recipes for burgers always peak my interest. It seems that the word burger allows for so much creative license, there are very few burger recipes that are the exact same.

I've not cooked with chickpeas too often and -beyond hummus- am not a big fan. They typically seem more mealy or grainy than other beans, granted they are probably different family or species or whatever. I'll have to look into this. In any case, my inexperience with this ingredient led me to try this preparation.

The concept is good, but the delivery is a bit odd. Even after pureeing the chickpeas thoroughly, the texture of the burger is slightly dry and coarse. The fresh veggies and sauce do provide some moisture but not much in the way of flavor. Not my favorite burger but an interesting dish nonetheless.


Source: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/linguine-with-avocado-and-arugula-pesto-recipe/index.html

Avocado and Arugula Pesto with Toasted Almonds

 A good friend and foodie sent me the recipe for the Avocado and Arugula Pesto. It is a very nice summer dish. The absence of olive oil is fabulous. I'm am not a big fan of pesto because they always seem to be dripping in oil for me. Granted, I've not made my own pesto before, so I get what I pay for.

This preparation combined avocado, arugula, and a lot of basil (I had to buy my own plant!), and lime juice to make a bright and light pesto. The flavor was interesting and refreshing for me.

The "difficult" part of the dish is figuring out the temperatures. The pesto is more or less cold but the pasta is hot (or warm anyway). Personally, I didn't have much of a problem with lukewarm pasta and the cool pesto but my lady likes things to be one way or the other...understandable. The flavor seemed to change drastically when the pesto was reheated and not altogether enjoyable.

There were reviews of this recipe online where other cooks didn't feel the pesto held up well for leftovers. I must have put extra lime in because my sauce was as bright and green as it started. It was still pretty good the second day, but the lime was pretty strong. It bordered on being too acidic to unenjoyable.

Toasted nuts are always a good addition and the toasted almonds were no exception. The crunch was important to provide some contrast to an otherwise soft dish.

I'd make this again, but perhaps as a cold dish with short pasta noodles (Rigatoni or Penne).

Source: http://www.thaikitchen.com/Recipes/Rice-and-Noodles/Easy-Chicken-Pad-Thai.aspx

Semi-homemade Chicken Pad Thai

There is nothing too remarkable about this recipe at all. In fact, I included it more just because I thought it was a pretty good picture more than an endorsement for the dish. At the time I had been wanting Pad Thai from work for a few weeks. At a loss for something to make for dinner, I decided to take the easy road and buy Pad Thai sauce and rice noodles. Not a particularly cost effective choice in the long run but convenient, anyway. The recipe was right on the label for the sauce. Scrambled eggs, peanuts, cilantro, and some added chilies for heat.

I like noodles, so this was fine. The sauce lacked something and the meal seemed a little "one-note." It was food in my stomach but probably won't make it onto my table again soon. I found it -ironically- boring. I put some heat in the dish which was unwelcome the second time around as leftovers.

But my purpose was fulfilled in my dish, expanding my culinary horizon to different flavors. Next time, however, I will make Pad Thai with fresh sauce and skip the canned sauce.

Source: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/07/blackberry-buttermilk-cake

Magazines have a way of making things look particularly appetizing. I have never been much of a blackberry fan but couldn't convince myself to substitute other berries...this time. In hindsight I would have absolutely substituted blueberries or raspberries. I did get to use the 10" spring form pan that has been sitting in my cupboard for years, which made this even more exciting.

The finished product had a nice golden top (which ends up being the bottom) but the middle was slightly underdone. I wasn't sure if the softness was due to not enough baking time or because of the berries. The sponge was nice and moist, but blackberries have such hard seeds (for me) and it really kept me from fully enjoying this dessert. I'd make it again but with a different selection of fruit: strawberries and rhubarb, thinly sliced lemon or raspberries. Good concept but the execution didn't stand up for me.

Tuna California Pizza

Date Prepared: 07/15/11

Source:  Whole Living [magazine]. August 2011, p66
Also available at http://www.tunathewonderfish.com/cookbook/recipe.php?id=50

Tuna California Pizza with Feta, Red Pepper, Artichoke, Onion, Basil

 *Recipe:

1 can (5 oz) drained or 1 pouch (2.5 oz) tuna
1 large prepared pizza crust
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 jar (6 oz) marinated artichoke hearts
1/2 red bell pepper, sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 cup Feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup fresh basil chopped

To Serve:

Preheat oven to 450° F. Place pizza crust on baking sheet. Heat olive oil in small skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté 30 seconds (do not burn). Spread sautéed garlic oil over pizza crust. Spread flaked tuna over crust evenly. Top with red peppers, artichokes, red onion and feta cheese. Sprinkle with basil. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Serves 4.

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Difficulty: Easy - This recipe is a prep-and-serve and requires very little culinary expertise.

Accessibility: Common - There are very few ingredients required for this preparation, all of which can be obtained at a typical grocery store.

Visual Appeal:  There are several colorful components in this preparation which provide contrast and improve the look of a plain pizza crust and the dull color of cooked tuna. If cooked long enough or under a broiler, the feta gets a nice caramelization.

Overall Taste: I had mixed feelings about the taste of this dish. Generally, it was light and fresh. However, the taste of canned tuna is quite distinct and not always particularly appealing to me. In fact, as far as the taste goes, I would prefer it without the tuna, if made it again. A vegitarian version of this might have been more enjoyable.

Overall Experience: This was a fun, easy dish to make. Homemade pizza is always exciting to make, and this is a different combination of ingredients than I would typically use. I was pleased with the overall product made even though it seemed so simple. I suppose it was appropriate after having not logged too many dishes as of late.

Additional Notes: I decided that a prepared pizza crust was too much bread for this type of pizza with very little sauce. As an alternative, I chose to use naan bread. Naan is an unleavened flatbread which seems like a perfect vessel for individual sized pizzas. Ashamedly, I purchased the naan and did not make it. (I'm not really that ashamed. In fact, I hadn't even considered it).

*The recipe and instructions for this recipe have been reported to maintain the original instruction and is not an original recipe and belongs to the source indicated. This post has been prepared as a review only and with no intention to take credit for this recipe. This recipe has been reviewed without instruction or influence by the parties or companies mentioned therein.

Food as Art - A Friendly [Reflective] {Pie Making} Challenge

I mentioned at some point in my previous posts that although the original intention of this blog was to review recipes, I am unable to prevent myself from, at times, "free writing." I like to write. It is -arguably- the best way to extract the most honest answers from me. As such is this post: a subjective uttering of my inner contemplations.

Recently, a good friend of mine sent me a message, which suggested I take a look at a website called Pietopiacontest.com. The tag line for the blog is "What does your life taste like, in a pie." The concept seems pretty self explanatory, but continue reading to understand how I perceived the task or check out the actual website for a more complete answer.

As I interpreted the instructions, the author of the blog has offered a contest where individuals submit a recipe and a story to accompany it. The story links the pie to your present status/condition in this life. After looking over some of the past submissions and winners, it seems the assignment has very loose parameters allowing for true reflection. As you would expect with personal reflection, there is no right or wrong.

The idea was presented to me on May 22nd. My initial reaction was of dismissal. I don't remember the last time I baked a pie from scratch -or if I even have, for that matter. Frequently, I shy away from challenges where I am convinced I will not succeed. In itself, the idea has already has demonstrated something about my character that plays a big part in my life: lack of self-confidence. On occasion, I do rise to meet the challenge. I do not necessarily succeed in defeating the challenge but do give myself kudos for at least facing my fear. I respect my friend greatly and she has always encouraged my enthusiasm for cooking and was really the one that brought it to the forefront of my life. So, I felt a bit of obligation -of challenge, more so- to at least consider the Pietopia (TM) question, "What does [my] life taste like, in a pie?"

Up until the day of this post, I had signed no contract and had not even verbally committed to considering the aforementioned question. I still had an out. There was no reason for me to waste time and money on this project. There was no benefit to me. I will concede, however, that periodic reflection is a very health exercise. It can help to refocus our attention and direction on the things we want, or at least where we are right now.

For me, making the decision to complete this small project was relatively hard. However, deciding what to make was almost as difficult. The recipe developed as I began to answer the question and the answer to the question actually developed more as the recipe took shape.

When I really committed to figuring out how I could explain my life as a piece of pie I admitted to myself again that I am very indecisive. I have a passion for cooking, the mind of an analytical, and a heart for teaching. Currently, I am working in a laboratory using my mind for science 40 hours a week. However, I am also work in food service and do what I can to be close to good food. I cannot decide between my heart, my mind, and my passion. Ingredient #1: Indecision.

Even in my daily contemplations of my indecisiveness, I have to admit that I am blessed. I have a job, a home, and don't want for too much. Ingredient #2: Blessing/Sweetness.

But at the same time I can't help recognizing that there are things that are going on in my life that make things a little bit sour. A recent death in our family, legal troubles, problems at work. These are things that happen but are not typically welcomed. Ingredient #3: Sourness.

With these first three things in mind, I mulled over the idea mixing and matching flavors, textures, and preparations. I wasn't completely convinced that the combination I came up with would be profound or even turn out successfully, but it was somewhere to start...

The pie I put together was a blueberry lemon pie in a pecan graham crust. The flavor combination seemed reasonably complimentary and the crust simple enough. The pie I baked is shown below:

Blueberry Lemon Pie with Pecan Graham Crust with Soft Meringue

From the outside, everything looked perfect. The meringue was nicely browned. Had I left it at that, I would have been able to claim ignorance on how the pie looked and tasted. Yet, I couldn't help but be curious and cut into the pie anyway. The result was as follows...

The pie that I made really demonstrates how my life tastes right now. It is complete with indecision; this pie couldn't decide on one flavor profile so it compromised with being two different kinds with very little overlap. In my life, I can't seem to take the risk to be one thing or the other so I try to be more than one. There is not necessarily any particularly failings in flavor balance in this pie, but there are some questions about proportionality. Do I spend too much time working more than one job trying to figure out where to go and what to be? Is there too much meringue on this pie?

The texture and flavor are not great but they are not bad. Frequently I struggle with feeling that I am mediocre at a bunch of things and not really great at one thing. This was one of the attributes I gleaned from the finished pie rather than one of the ingredients used from the start.

Meringue was not especially necessary for this pie, just another example of making things harder or more complex than they need to be.

The graham cracker crust was somewhat of a cop out. Although I can justify that it is the traditional crust used for key lime pie, it was really only used because I was too scared to make pie dough from scratch. I've tried doing this with pot pie before an manage a tough, dry crust. Ironically, even though the graham cracker crust with ground pecans was supposed to represent my hearty foundation, it ended up soggy from all the indecision.

At the end of the day, I have a pie that I'm not crazy about but can live with and will enjoy well enough. I enjoy my life but am still searching for something more. I can't complain because the pie that might as well be my life is sweeter than many other peoples' pies. With tenacity, diligence, and help I might someday have a better balanced pie to share. The beauty of pie is that it takes so many different forms and we can try and try again until it tastes just the way we want it to.

I will concede that this reflection is, perhaps, a bit narcissistic in that I really am not considering the larger world that I live in but assert that it is difficult to understand the world and our place in it if we don't understand who we are first.

All that said, the toughest part of the Pietopia (TM) assignment is reducing my entire monologue to a 300 word abstract...

Graham Cracker Crust:

8-9 whole graham crackers, finely ground

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar, granulated

1/3 cup pecans, finely ground

9-inch pie plate

In a food processor, grind graham crackers, pecans, and sugar until a fine consistency is obtained. Slowly add the melted butter until graham cracker mixture is moistened. Press firmly and evenly into pie plate. Blind bake crust at 350F for 10 minutes, or until golden. Cool completely.

Blueberry Filling: 

1.5 pints of fresh blueberries

1/2 cup sugar, granulated

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

3 Tbsp. cornstarch

Rinse the blueberries and remove any stems. Place the blueberries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch in a medium sauce pot. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Cool completely.

Lemon Filling*:

4 large eggs, separated

1 - 14oz. can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup heavy cream

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel  

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar

Beat the egg whites until smooth and light in color. Slowly mix in the sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, and cream until smooth. Add lemon zest, if desired. In a separate clean, metal bowl whip the egg whites and cream of tartar until the volume increases significantly. Slowly add the sugar and beat until soft peaks are formed.

The pie is easily assembled. In the baked graham cracker crust, spread the blueberry filling evenly in the bottom. Cover the blueberry with the lemon and cream mixture. Bake the pie at 350F for about 25 minutes. Remove the pie and cover with soft meringue. Bake an additional 15 minutes until the meringue is lightly browned.

My life in a pie. Flavored with indecision with notes of sweet and sour and topped with imbalance. All-in-all a decent slice of pie.

In summary, just like most things in life, the beauty (or tastiness, as it were) of a pie is in the eye of the beholder. Our lives are what we bake of them...or not.

My reflection probably won't make me anymore decisive or view life much differently. But if I keep challenging myself to understand who I am and what I want, I might eventually make a change that is worthwhile. Just something to think about today.

*The lemon filling was based on the Key Lime Pie recipe from Eagle Brand(R). The original recipe can be located at the following link: http://www.eaglebrand.com/recipes/details/?RecipeId=3969&categoryIndex=7

Asian Chicken Salad

Date Prepared: 05/21/11

Source: Everday Food. March 2011, pp. 98.
Also available online: http://www.marthastewart.com/340687/asian-chicken-salad


Asian Chicken Salad

 *Recipe:

1/4 cup fresh lime juice (from 3 limes)

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 jalapeno, minced

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon sugar

4 cups shredded red cabbage (about 1/2 medium head)

1 cup shredded carrots (about 2 large)

1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves

1 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

To Serve:

In a large bowl, whisk together lime juice, soy sauce, jalapeno, oil, and sugar until combined. Add cabbage, carrots, cilantro, mint, and chicken, and toss well to combine. Serve immediately. 

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Difficulty: Easy - This recipe is a prep-and-serve and requires very little culinary expertise. The most difficult part of this recipe is preparation of the cooked chicken. Rotisserie chicken could be used as a quick and easy substitute.

Accessibility: Common - There are very few ingredients required for this preparation, all of which can be obtained at a typical grocery store.

Visual Appeal:  Visually, the dish offers vibrant colors as well as different textures. The deep red of the cabbage is contrasted with brightness of the shredded carrot carrot and cilantro.

Overall Taste: The flavor is equally as important as the visual appeal. The dressing is the star in this dish. Fresh lime juice really brightens the dish. An additional jalapeno was added on a whim. The heat was a welcomed experience but was by no means overwhelming. The dressing was neither too sweet nor too salty and seemed well balanced (as best I know).

Overall Experience: The decision to prepare this recipe was based on the day's weather conditions and my afternoon plans. It was overcast, soggy, and humid. After a planned workout, I didn't want something too heavy. This salad was a great choice. It was light and bright with citrus. Not to mention, light in calories. The dish was good but not particularly exciting. I wanted to add something. Ironically, I wanted to add cheese. If I needed something quick and fresh, I might turn to this recipe.

I realize this dish doesn't showcase much technique or even very deep flavors. But sometimes simply is good enough.

Additional Notes: The recipe calls for shredded carrots and cabbage. I managed to shred about half of the cabbage and was concerned that it would not have enough variety in texture. I finely sliced the remaining half of cabbage. This technique provided some variety in texture but made the dish somewhat clunky to eat.

*The recipe and instructions for this recipe have been reported to maintain the original instruction and is not an original recipe and belongs to the source indicated. This post has been prepared as a review only and with no intention to take credit for this recipe. This recipe has been reviewed without instruction or influence by the parties or companies mentioned therein.

Dark Chocolate Cardamon Ice Cream

Date Prepared: 05/15/11

Source: Epicurious.com

 *Recipe:

4 1/2 oz dark (70% cocoa solids) chocolate

Seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean

2 cardamom pods

3/4 cup whole milk

1/3 cup superfine sugar

3/4 cup heavy cream

To Serve:

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn't touch the water.

Split the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with the back of a knife. Then crush the cardamom pods with the flat of the blade of the knife.

Place the milk in a separate pan and heat to just under boiling point, then add the sugar, vanilla seeds, and cardamom pods. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Using a strainer to catch the crushed cardamom pods, pour the milk into the melted chocolate and stir. Add the cream, stir well, and leave to cool at room temperature.

Once cool, pour into an ice-cream maker and churn following the manufacturer's instructions. Keep in the freezer until required.

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Difficulty: Easy - There are no advanced techniques required for this preparation. However, an ice cream maker is required for easy preparation.

Accessibility: Common to Limited Specialty - Generally, the ingredients in this preparation can be located at a grocery store. However, whole cardamon pods and vanilla beans and 70% chocolate might need to be procured from a specialty store.

The Ghirardeli brand chocolate used for this preparation was available at the grocery store in the baking aisle.

Visual Appeal:  There is nothing especially appealing about the look of this dish. It looks like chocolate ice cream. For some people, I'm sure, just the sight of chocolate ice cream makes them drool. It looked creamy enough, which was all I really cared about for this dish.

Overall Taste: The final dessert is not cloyingly sweet and is borderline bitter. With respect to taste, the chocolate flavor was pleasing. Unfortunately, neither the cardamon nor the vanilla is particularly pronounced. Three white cardamon pods were used in the recipe, which was more than required for the dish. Unfortunately, neither the aroma or the taste really came through in the final sorbet.

Overall Experience: Ice cream is not my favorite dessert. Cakes, cookies, and pastries are my sweets of choice. However, my girl friend really likes ice cream, especially chocolate. Unfortunately, we were both disappointed by this ice cream. The texture was almost gritty and the flavor ordinary.

I will concede that the disappointment might be my own fault. I tried to freeze the ice cream before the bowl for the ice cream maker was completely frozen. As a result, the ice cream only partially frozen. Realizing that the ice cream was still soupy, the ice cream base was removed from the bowl and placed back in the refrigerator overnight while the bowl was freezing completely. Crystals could have formed undermining any creaminess that might have been achieved if done correctly.

Additional Notes: If you know anything about ice cream making, please let me know.

*The recipe and instructions for this recipe have been reported to maintain the original instruction and is not an original recipe and belongs to the source indicated. This post has been prepared as a review only and with no intention to take credit for this recipe. This recipe has been reviewed without instruction or influence by the parties or companies mentioned therein.