Today two of my nieces are hanging out at our house. As a teacher, I always feel the need to provide some sort of "activity" for the kids to be involved in while they are at my house. We do a lot of free play - legos, coloring, riding scooters/bikes, jumping on the trampoline, and just playing outside. But, I know the moment will come when someone gets left out or someone gets bored, so I try to have a trick up my sleeve. In the back of my mind, I knew that we could always do another egg hunt, since there are only 5623819 plastic eggs in baskets around my house, after this past weekend. But more than likely, that would not interest the older 2 kiddos. After the kids ate lunch, I could sense that the big kids were tired of entertaining the younger two. The youngsters went downstairs to play and suddenly my nine year old shouts, "That's what I want, Mom!" and points to the television. Trying to ignore him, I begin to clean up the kitchen, but I hear the commercial coming from the living room TV. He wanted the container that is shaped like an ice cream cone that you put ingredients in and shake up for a while, and then magically ice cream appears when you open the lid. LIGHT BULB! I knew it was time to show my son how he can make ice cream on his own, with a few ingredients and items that we usually have on hand. Have you ever made ice cream with your kids or grandchildren? If not, you should do it. It literally took about 2 minutes of prep time and about 5 minutes of shaking time. Here's how you can do it...
You will need:
1 quart or gallon ziploc bag*
1 sandwich ziploc bag*
1/2 c. milk or half & half
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla
ice (about 2-3 cups)
salt (about 1/4-1/3 cup)
* - I highly recommend using the actual Ziploc or Hefty brand bags. I have tried store-brand, and I have had a bad experience where the salty taste permeated the bag and the ice cream was inedible.
Put milk, sugar, and vanilla in small bag. Seal tightly. Then check the seal once more. :)
Put the ice and salt into the larger bag. Then place the smaller bag inside of the bigger bag. Seal the big bag. Now check the seal once more. :)
Now ShAkE! (I wrapped a hand towel around the bag, so that the kids' hands wouldn't freeze during this process.)
*What is with the deer-in-the headlight look, son? And, I guess I should've at least let you finish chewing that last bite of lunch before snapping a picture, huh?!
I put the timer on for 5 minutes, but you will be able to tell when it is ready. The ice cream mixture will get thick and almost hardened. The small bag will be tightly bunched up inside.
Remove the small bag and rinse off with fresh water and then dry off the outside of the bag. There will most likely be some salt near the seal. Just be mindful of this. In fact, I try to push the ice cream away from the seal before I open the bag. Salty ice cream is not pleasant, in my opinion! I opened the bag and quickly turned it inside out, scraping the ice cream off and into a bowl/cup. The kids helped with this and the ice cream literally stuck to the bag, so I didn't have to worry about it dripping much or falling out. Then the kiddos added their favorite toppings - chocolate syrup, caramel syrup, sprinkles, and I think my wild child added peanut butter to his (good choice, son!). It was certainly easy peasy and they loved it. (I even got ThankYous without prompting!)
I am gathering other ideas for fun things to do over Spring Break with my boys. So, if you're up to something good, let me know! :)
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