Revisiting: Homemade Ice Cream Right Now! {No Machine Required!}

Revisiting this post from last summer....

It is still as yummy and fun this summer!

Do the kids have a little extra energy to burn off today? Do you want a quick, simple treat that the kids can make themselves (with a little help from you)? Try this recipe for homemade ice cream that uses items you most likely have in your house right now!

I discovered this recipe somewhere either in a book or online a few years ago, and used it in my classroom as an activity for parents to do with their children at an evening meeting at the school. It was a huge success!

I decided to pull it out and use it with my own children today- yum yum!

I can't remember where the original recipe came from, but I've adapted it some so I think it'll be okay if I post it for you here.

 

You will need 4 main ingredients:

milk, vanilla, sugar, salt.

You will also need 2 ziploc bags (either a quart and a gallon, or 2 gallon sized bags), and ice cubes.

First, put 1 cup milk, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and 4 tablespoons sugar into a ziploc bag (the smaller ziploc bag, if you are using 2 different sizes).

Press any excess air out of the bag and zip or press it closed tightly.

Fill up the gallon freezer bag with ice 1/2 of the way.

Sprinkle in 6 tablespoons of salt (regular table salt, but you can also use rock salt).

Put the first sealed bag with the milk, sugar, and vanilla inside the bag with the salt and ice, and seal the outside bag.

Shake the bag around, up & down, back & forth, for 8-10 minutes. The milk/sugar/vanilla mixture will begin to thicken and solidify. When it reaches your desired consistency, just open up the bags and scoop the ice cream into a bowl (or eat it right out of the bag).

 

We sprinkled on some rasberries on the top of ours, and I must say I'm always surprised how quick and easy this recipe is! It may not be the creamiest ice cream you've ever had, but it sure is good, and a fantastic treat that even little ones can help with!

If you make this, let me know what you think!

♥

I haven't tried this recipe yet (no machine required either), but I'm going to! (It requires me to make a trip to the grocery store for some ingredients, but I plan to make it sometime this week).

Have a lovely day!

No-Sew Teepee, Great for Spring & Summer!!

Check out this great No-Sew Teepee Tutorial from the wonderful Sew, Mama, Sew!

A commenter who completed this project already said the total cost for her was under $20!

The bamboo stakes are $1.49 each at Home Depot, and she bought the grommets inexpensively at Walmart.  You also need 3 yards of adorable fabric to complete the project.

Or, design your own fabric at Spoonflower!!

Have fun!

If you complete this project, I'd love to see your results!!

♥

Summer Wish List

{Credit: Firefly Night, by yoote}

I read Be a Preservationist of Childhood Summers over at Little Red Hen, and I decided to share the list with you, with some of my own additions.  Not only does reading about the things on this list bring back great memories for me, it is also a great idea list to use with your own children this summer!  My additions are at the end of her list.....

"If I had to make an initial list of things to do this summer for the future lost tribe of childhood members it would go something like this:

Climb in a tree and hang out

Jump across a stream to a grassy bank on the other side

Capture (and release) frogs and salamanders

Jump into thick piles of fresh hay

Play hide and seek in the dark with a tribe of friends

Pick flowers and make bouquets

Build a fort

Pound some nails

Make a homemade toy

Make a paper airplane
Make a toy parachute

Ride a bike across the lawn with no hands

Skip rocks really well

Learn to tie a good knot

Make a lean-to tent from blankets

Camp outside under the stars

Walk with a flashlight in the night woods to spot deer and other nocturnal creatures

Gaze night sky and just try to make sense of those stars ( or learn the constellations!)

Run outside for hour and hours until exhausted

Fall into bed for a good night sleep after running for hours and hours

Learn to swim really well, without fear

Learn to canoe or kayak and paddle down a river or across a lake

Tube down a stream and get bumped around and holler with joy and fear

Have a pet (or many similtaneously)

Plant a small garden and tend it

Grow tomatoes and eat them fresh from the vine

Pick wild blackberries
Pick quarts and quarts of strawberries and eat your fill as you go

Have unlimited strawberry shortcake as a special summer lunch

Plan a neighborhood carnival with friends and family and build all the props from cardboard boxes. Donate the proceeds to a favorite charity.

Ride a bike down a soft grassy hill that end gently at the base (with one or two friends on the seat and handle bar)

Roller skate

Play with jacks

Master the game of marbles

Jump rope (double dutch)

Learn how to build a campfire

Fish (catch and release)

Hook a worm

Gut that fish (not me!)

Make a pie

Make a birthday cake

Make lemonade from scratch

Play barefoot in the grass

Dip toes into soft mucky mud or silt along a brook or stream

Slit grass and make a whistle

Pound rocks and sticks with no other purpose than to pound

Read a favorite book on the lawn, in a hammock

Make a good friend for life

Sleep for hours and hours late into the morning and awake to find a loving parent there to make you breakfast"

My additions:

Make and eat our own popsicles, using one of those Popsicle Trays like my mom used to use when I was a kid, filled with smoothies or fruit juices.

Make homemade smores over a real campfire, catching a few marshmallows on fire in the process (yum!), and go to sleep smelling of wood smoke.

Catch lightening bugs (fireflies).

Grill outside somewhere other than home, using charcoal and paper plates.

Leave the window open so you can go to sleep listening to the crickets.

Go down a water slide.

Go on a day trip to somewhere you've never been before: Just get in the car and drive and see where you end up.

Draw with sidewalk chalk.

Feed bread to the ducks at a pond or river.

Play in the sprinkler.

Roll down a hill and laugh with crazed dizziness at the bottom (we just did this a few days ago!)

Jump on a trampoline.

Fingerpaint.

Have a surprise family movie night and let the kids stay up late with popcorn and cuddles.

Go on a picnic.

Work in the garden.

Make homemade ice cream.

Go to an outdoor concert or drive-in movie.

Eat fair food.

Ride on a Merry-Go-Round.

See fireworks.

Hang the sheets out on a clothesline.

Smell like sunscreen and chlorine mixed together instead of perfume.

Wear a sundress.

Human-power a paddleboat.

Turn an old pair of jeans into shorts.

Eat cherries.

Take afternoon naps, in one big cuddly pile of arms and legs and paws.

Have things to add?  I'd love to know what is on your list!

♥