Homemade Peanut Butter Ice Cream

One of the local restaurants that we go to occasionally has peanut butter milkshakes in the summertime. After having a couple of those milkshakes I decided to try my hand at making peanut butter ice cream at home.  I have had a Cuisinart Ice Cream and Yogurt maker for several years but have never used it until now. I chose to use it for a couple of reasons: it requires no salt or ice and it makes a smaller portion than the large ice cream freezer. The counter top ice cream maker makes 1 and 1/2 quarts of ice cream whereas our large ice cream freezer makes 5 quarts of ice cream.  Unless we have a crowd, the smaller ice cream maker is much quicker and easier to use.

With the exception of the Reese’s cups I had all of the ingredients on hand.

I used Splenda instead of sugar but you could certainly use either. I also used skim milk. Notice that in this recipe  I used evaporated milk, not sweetened condensed milk, just regular canned milk.

It helps the ice cream freeze a little quicker if the ingredients are cold before putting them in the freezer. I just put everything in the refrigerator for a couple of hours before mixing. I mixed everything before putting it in the ice cream freezer so that the peanut butter would be incorporated well. The ice cream freezer takes about 20 minutes. I chopped 6 or 7 snack size Reese’s cups and added them after 20 minutes then let the freezer continue to work for 5 to 10 minutes. As you can see by looking at the photo, the ice cream is very creamy and not frozen hard. If you prefer hard ice cream you have to transfer the ice cream to another container and place it in the refrigerator freezer until it reaches the hardness that you prefer. My family is so anxious to eat it that we can’t wait for additional freezing time!

I hope that you will enjoy this recipe as much as my family has! I think I have it fixed where you can click on the recipe and print it.

I’ll be linking to Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style.

Updated Heirloom Tool Caddy

After seeing all of the beautiful tool caddies in the blogosphere I had to get on the bandwagon.

Let me show you how it started out. While doing some cleaning in the garage, I ran across this, two of them, in fact.

Quite a work of art! My kids got little wood working kits with tools for Christmas one year and this was one of the projects that they completed. One of them even has a name written on the bottom that I won’t be painting over! I wish that they had dated them too. My kids are now 22 and 23 so these are more than 10 years old!  I added some little knob feet and small wood embellishments and painted away.

I use it to hold flatware when we are having guests at our summer cottage. Occasionally, I use it for seasonal décor.

I love being able to use this “family heirloom!”

I hope that you have a great first week of fall. I have a very busy next three weeks but hope to get some great photos to share with you!

I’ll be linking to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps On The Porch and to Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style.

How to Reverse a Refrigerator Door

A Little Change That Makes A Big Difference

We were given this refrigerator for our summer cottage basement by a friend. It is in very good gently used condition and serves the purpose very well. The only slight issue was that the sink and counter are on the right and the door opened to the left. I was told by my friend that the door opening could be changed with a few simple screws. I began by removing the snap on grill at the very bottom of the refrigerator. This allowed me to access the hinge and screws at the bottom of the door.

Next I removed the buttons on front for the handles. If you look closely you can see the little buttons on the right side in the photo above. Those buttons will pop off if you gently place a screwdriver behind them.

The photo below shows the hole after the button has been popped off.

The handles also had a little plastic cover at the bottom that I gently pried off. Next, I opened the door and unscrewed the hinges.

When the hinges were unscrewed from the refrigerator, I discovered that the door has an opening for the hinge pin on both the left and right side. Also, the refrigerator itself, has identical holes for the hinges on the left and right side. I simply flipped the hinge upside down and screwed it into the appropriate holes on the other side of the refrigerator.

The additional holes for the hinges did have screws in them so that its not just an empty hole but you can tell by looking at the placement that this is where the hinge fits on the other side. The top of the refrigerator has holes on both sides for the hinges too. After making the change I replaced all of the screws into the empty holes.

It is much more convenient this way! I love it when a plan comes together!
Just a note, the blog will be on autopilot for the rest of the month as I expect to be unplugged with little to no internet access! I will probably suffer withdrawals, no blog hopping, no pretty pictures to look at, no online shopping and browsing, no pinning! But I will be back with posts of my adventure that I have been preparing for during the month of June.

I will be sharing with Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch and with Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style.
Have a great July!
I'm also linking to Tutorials, Tips and Tidbits at Stone Gable ( linking at 30,000 feet!)!

Pretty in Pink

I recently hosted a baby shower for my niece who will soon have a baby girl. It was fun putting together a pink party.

Instead of a traditional tablecloth, I used 4 yards of pink minky cloth and tied white bows to the corners. The fabric will be used later in the baby’s nursery.

The centerpiece consisted of fresh flowers, mostly pink and white roses, with the umbrella hanging from the chandelier.I had to explain to some of my family members that the umbrella was for the “shower” and the crystals were “rain drops.”

I fixed one of my niece’s favorite treats, peanut butter Ritz crackers dipped in candy coating. This time I used pink candy melts instead of the usual chocolate.

I was able to find some little “it’s a girl” picks for the mini cupcakes. The pink icing was called Pink Lemonade.

We had pink lemonade for our beverage.

For the door decoration, I put a few small soft toys on a grapevine wreath and added some rosettes made from baby socks. I also added pacifiers to the ends of the tulle bow.

My pink Knock Out tree roses did have a few blooms for additional color at the entry.

We are ready to for the arrival of baby Hannah. We are praying for her health and for an easy delivery in a couple of weeks!

I will be linking to Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch.

$50 “NEW” Dishwasher

I hope to soon be finished with my kitchen update. As part of the update I changed out the appliances. You can read about the microwave here. And, you can read about the refrigerator and range here. I was able to update the dishwasher for less than $50!

It was really hard to take a picture of the stainless steel because of the glare. Here’s a look at the old dishwasher.

Not a good picture, but you get the idea that it was black. I remembered when I purchased this Bosch, which I really love, that the salesman told me that it was designed so that the front panel could be switched out if my taste changed.  Then I had a brainstorm!! I decided to look for a stainless steel wall shield instead of ordering a new front panel from Bosch. A wall shield goes above the range to protect the wall from cooking splatters.

I purchased this one at Lowe’s for less than $50. It was larger than the front of the dishwasher so I took it to a fabrication shop and had them cut it to the correct size. (According to my research, cutting stainless can be very tricky so I decided not to try it myself.) The outside trim of the dishwasher can be removed by removing 6 screws.

I removed the screws, put the piece of stainless on top of the black front, then re-attached the trim piece with the 6 screws.

I left the protective plastic on until everything was finished. Because my dishwasher is in a corner of the cabinets, I had to take it out to the middle of the floor to be able to reach the screws on the right side. However, the dishwasher had to come out for new flooring any way so I did get two birds with one stone.  Here’s a look at the finished product.

Another baby step of progress. I am very pleased with the results!

I will be sharing with Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch and with Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style.

New Appliances and $394 In My Pocket

I am currently in the process of updating my 25 year old kitchen. It has served me well but needs a little facelift. As part of the update I have replaced several appliances. You can read about my experience with my microwave oven here. I also replaced the range and refrigerator. I spend much time laboring over a decision before I make it because I tend to keep things a LONG time.  I finally decided on this Samsung model.

Then I chose this range, also by Samsung.

I love the oven. It has 3 racks which will be great for baking. It also has an oven divider so that I can have two different temperatures in the oven at the same time. I can’t wait to try this out. Also, the bottom drawer is a warming drawer. It should be great when I have to cook a BIG holiday meal. After deciding on the models that I wanted, I spent a considerable amount of time researching prices at the stores in my area. HHGregg and Best Buy were very close in price but in the end I went with Best Buy due to some promotions. At the time of my purchase, Best Buy gave a 15% discount if you purchased 2 or more appliances so I qualified for the discount which put the Best Buy price a little lower than HHGregg.  When I asked my salesman about price matching, he assured me that if I found a lower price within 60 days that I would get the difference back. Being the tight wad excellent financial manager that I am, I checked prices weekly. Finally, on Presidents Day weekend I hit the jackpot! The prices at Best Buy were $150 cheaper on both appliances! I took the receipt into Best Buy to get a credit of $339!! Also, we had recently upgraded a tv which I also found for $50 cheaper at Walmart! So, we also got a $55 credit for the tv! Needless to say, I was delighted with the excellent customer service that I received at Best Buy and I had $394!

I’ll be linking to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch and to Wow Us Wednesday at Savvy Southern Style.

Farewell to Winter Tablescape

I put together this little tablescape as a farewell to winter.

The cheerful colors brighten my day.

The cute little snowman mugs were a gift from a family friend and are some of my favorite things!

The mugs pair well with the cranberry plates and glasses that I purchased several years ago from a local gift shop.

The square white plates were purchased at Homegoods.

I have a weakness for vintage silver plated flatware. I can hardly walk past it without purchasing more.

 

I have a nice collection of Remembrance by Rogers Brothers. The quilted placemats were ordered from Neiman Marcus several years ago.

I used a single blooming orchid for the centerpiece.

The tall orchid is elegant without obstructing conversation.

I’ll be linking to Tabletop Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch.

What Not To Buy!

 

The first item on my project list for 2012 is updating my kitchen and I have gotten started. I will be doing a full post when the job is more complete. As part of the update, I am switching from a countertop microwave oven to an over the range microwave. My current microwave/convection takes up a lot of counter space and the range hood was in dire need or replacement.

Because I keep things a looonnnggggg time, I wanted to make a good decision. I promptly paid for an online subscription to Consumer Reports to read the reviews. While I don’t need a lot of whistles and bangs I do need quiet operation because I use the microwave for much more that popcorn and reheating. I actually use it for cooking quite a bit. I purchased a GE over the range microwave for our summer cottage a couple of summers ago and was happy with that model. So, I looked up the number and checked Consumer Reports. The ratings were fine and the “noise of operation” was rated “very good!” I proceeded to purchase and install GE model JVM1540. Upon completion of installation I turned on the microwave to try it out. Much to my DISMAY, it was VERY LOUD!!!! It sounded like the vent fan was running on “high.”  Thinking that something was wrong, I sought help from the owner’s manual only to find out that the fan is on an automatic setting that operates whenever the microwave is in use! Excuse me, but I would like to be able to hear myself think while I am cooking. I was appalled at the noise and I am very disappointed in Consumer Reports.

Knowing that I could not live with this noise issue for the next 10 years, the hub and I proceeded to uninstall the microwave and box everything back up in its original packing material and drive back to HHGregg where we had purchased it. Customer service at HHGregg was great. They were very sorry that I was not happy with my purchase and promptly issued a refund, no questions asked. Next, I went to the telephone directory and started calling stores that sold appliances. I told each one that I was looking for a microwave but wanted to hear it run before I made a purchase. One of the other local big box stores was of absolutely NO help. The salesman told me that none of them were hooked up and that all of them made a lot of noise and that I would not be able to find a quiet model. Not to be deterred, I continued to call. I called a locally owned furniture/appliance store and explained my dilemma. The salesman quickly told me that his microwaves were not hooked up but that he would be happy to get an extension cord and plug one in so that I could hear it. Now that is customer service. We drove to the store and he had the extension cord waiting! It took me less than 30 seconds to make  a decision.

I chose Whirlpool model WMH1163XVS and I could not be more pleased. The Consumer Reports rating for this model is only “Good” but I beg to differ. The difference in this model and the GE model is night and day. In fact, this Whirlpool model runs more quietly than my expensive countertop model.

It does not have a rack or a probe but I have never used those features in my current model. Just in case you are wondering, that is a sweet potato for the test run.

I am so glad that we did not have to pay someone for installation then have to pay for uninstallation for a purchase that I was not happy with.

Now I am a happy camper cooker!

I was not paid to write this post LOL!! ALL opinions expressed here are mine alone!

I will be linking to Metamorphosis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch and to Wow Us Wednesdays at Savvy Southern Style.