Homemade ice cream is SO easy to make with an ice cream machine. I don’t know why I don’t make it more often. Maybe it’s the fear of then having to eat it all! But seriously, if you use a no-cook recipe for ice cream, throwing the ingredients together and pouring them in the machine takes no time at all. Then let it do the hard work for you while you take care of other business.

If you’re blessed with a great harvest of fresh strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries and currants like we’ve been, you need something to go along with them for a quick, simple desert. I can’t wait for the apricots, peaches and plums to ripen, though. I’m dying for some more cloufouti! (Wait, did I spell that right?)

Easy No-Cook Vanilla Ice Cream

Prep Time: 45 Minutes
Ready In: 45 Minutes
Servings: 32

INGREDIENTS

• 2 quarts half-and-half cream
• 1/2 pint heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 pinch salt

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine half-and-half, cream, sugar, vanilla and salt in freezer container of ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.

It’s been a few days since that monstrous box arrived with Mackenzie’s new high chair in it. Compared to everything else on the market right now, we think we got a great deal. We paid 60 euros for this one at Tchibo and it compares to other chairs starting at 100 euros.

The high chair pieces sat lurking near the kitchen, just begging to be assembled – and I finally made the time for it today. It was as hot as an oven in the kitchen but I powered through. I actually expected it to be a little more complicated but any professional IKEA furniture assembler like myself could never be stumped by a chair like this.

Right after I finished putting it together, I strapped Mack in for a test drive. It’s a perfect fit, don’t you think? The cushion is velcroed on so it’s completely washable – which is a very good thing since we’ve already gotten it dirty.

We started off with a course of pureed nectarines and strawberries. Since it’s been really warm, I think the cold, fresh fruit was very refreshing. She seemed to be enjoying it even if it didn’t always stay in her mouth.

Since that didn’t seem to be enough, I brought out a course of frozen fruit and let Mack get her hands dirty. Once she’d been chewing on it a bit, the pieces would break off and we thought she was definitely going to get brain freeze, but apparently she’s mastered eating sorbet already.

Clearly we’re going to need a lot more tiny Mack-sized popsicles to get through this summer. It’s shaping up to be an incredibly hot one. We even had to surrender one of our fans to Mack tonight because it’s just that hot. Almost 90F in the house is just not going to cut it.

Today was a big day of deliveries here – some for business and some for pleasure. One of them included Mackenzie’s new high chair which I’ll be talking about more very soon. What I found really interesting about the various packages is how efficiently some of them were packed, while one in particular was absurdedly oversized.

The high chair came from a place called Tchibo which has new items every week from a particular theme. Sometimes it will be baby stuff, another time Italian cooking and then they’ll throw in something like women’s clothing. Unable to fight off the impulse buys, I purchased a couple of other things along with the high chair and wondered what the box would be like when it arrived. I was not expecting this:

The box is seriously big enough for a Newfie nest. It actually even makes Ayla look small. That is exactly how everything was arranged when I opened the box too – nearly a foot of headspace. How in the world did all that stuff stay put in there? Or was that meant to be part of the fun? Normally we get boxes that have been cut down to size or adjusted in some way so this just really surprised me. I knew it would be a big box but wow…

So unless the Newf decides she MUST HAVE the box (which considering how warm it’s been lately she’ll probably give up rights to it), we just might have to save this thing for Mackenzie’s first fort.

Morning dog friends,

I need some help. My mom is totally confused about what is up with me these days. The humans suspect I’m in heat but I barely leave any blood so that’s the least easy way for them to confirm. They’re also not too good at identifying swollen vs. non-swollen anatomy, especially when it’s as furry as mine. But I’m howling, barely eating, more interested in male dogs than usual, stealing Mackenzie’s toys to make into my baby (boy did I get yelled at for that this morning) and otherwise just making my mom insane. All of these clues (especially the howling) are things I do when I’m feeling frisky.

The last couple days I’ve just been sitting in front of my humans, panting, whimpering, begging for assistance – but then we can’t seem to communicate what I really need. Like now for example; I have water, access to the outside, have gone for a walk (although it was only a fraction of one since I didn’t want to go any further), have been fed breakfast (which I didn’t eat), don’t want ice cubes, don’t want to lay on my side of the couch or in my chair (even with the fan directed at me)…I just want to make my humans crazy as they wonder if I’m ok and if there is anything at all they can do to help. I will say that licking their bare skin is a major help, though. They’re like my own wandering salt licks.

The hot summer days aren’t really helping either. It’s been 80 degrees F by 8am in the morning when we go for a walk. Right now it’s 85 in the house and still a bit cooler outside but really humid all over. Maybe I should suggest a wading pool to mom…or a sprinkler.

On the other hand, perhaps I’m doing quite well considering how warm it is. Yesterday when I was out walking with Mom and Mackenzie, we ran into Amelie (a Golden Retriever who lives arounbd the corner.) Her mom was out scrubbing the INSIDE of their car from top to bottom. It seems that Amelie likes to sleep in the car from time to time and she had a bit of stomach troubles overnight. She emptied her bowels all over the new car’s interior and even managed to splatter the windows a bit. Mom almost gagged while she was standing there talking about the incident. NOT a pretty smell.

Do your humans do anything special for you when it’s warm out? My mom used to make frosty paws and other ice treats for me but I don’t really eat them anymore so she’s given up.

I’m going to go lay on the couch in front of the fan. Hopefully the baby will take a nap soon cause her and her toys are LOUD! How’s a dog supposed to relax around here? At least the sun isn’t out today so hopefully it won’t be too hot.

Stay cool pups!

Kisses,

Ayla

We just got back from Hagebau a few minutes ago. We needed some building materials for the pump house we’re going to build in the courtyard to finally get our water system in the garden hooked up. We had the hose and 2 custom cut pieces of plywood in one regular shopping cart and grabbed a second for the tile laying supplies we needed for the outdoor patio/canning kitchen we are building in the courtyard. I parked the cart with the hose on an aisle while I was looking for Stefan (who had wandered off to locate something else we needed) and went to grab some Drano and fly catchers for the house. I just stuck them in the cart then went off to search for Stefan, leaving the cart waiting on the aisle since it’s not always easy to through a sea of people with a baby strapped to your chest.

Stefan and I reunited near the flat-bed cart with all the tiling stuff and I turned around to grab the other cart just a few aisles away…but it was GONE! We combed the store looking for our cart with the neon orange hose and plywood pieces, me thinking I must have just pushed it somewhere while looking for something or that someone needed something behind the cart and had just moved it. But we weren’t able to locate it. We even checked the baskets of people leaving the store since it was the last hose of its kind in stock and 20% cheaper than the other hoses they had in the store. Nada.

I did find the Drano and fly traps sitting on a box near the carts last scene location. Even considered that one of the lethargic employees got inspired and overzealous, thought the cart had been abandonded and started putting the contents away, but why would they leave those items just laying off to the side? No, it seems to me that someone decided they needed exactly those 2 60×40 cm pieces of plywood and our garden hose. Guess they were planning on the same project as us for the weekend? That’s another euro we’ll never see again either since they took the refund money we used to get the cart too. It just stings. I mean really – what is WRONG WITH PEOPLE these days?

For those who have never heard of (or forgotten) what the K.I.S.S. method is, it means: Keep It Simple Stupid. Since the day we started feeding “solids” to Mackenzie, it was apparent that she wouldn’t be settling for jarred baby food very long. The only boxed thing she tolerates are some of the cereals…and I usually mix in some pureed fruit with them also to make them more interesting and add real flavors to them. As I’ve mentioned before about baby food, the stuff tastes horrible (aside from the fruits which are acceptable but still don’t taste as good as real, fresh fruit) and completely lacks flavor and appeal. I know, I’m an adult and I have more developed taste buds; but I want Mackenzie to know what food is supposed to taste like as well. She will know where fruits and vegetables come from, how they are grown, how to prepare them – and she’s going to learn it first-hand, not just hear about it on TV or read it in a book.

Baby food companies go to great lengths to hook you on their products, showering you with freebies and literature trying to convince you that their organic, bio-dynamic food is the best for your baby. Unfortunately, recent tests here in Germany have shown that baby foods are not as healthy or organic as they’d have you believe. And although we have yet to have e-coli breakouts here in Europe, I’m sure it’s only a matter or time before something hits the baby food markets in the U.S.

Baby books everywhere encourage parents to try making baby food themselves. You’ll know just what is going into the food, know it doesn’t contain preservatives or flavorings and can be confident that you’re helping your child eat healthy. But what I don’t understand is why they’re only pitching for parents to buy produce (organics or otherwise) instead of mentioning that they could actually grow the stuff in their own back yard!

But I digress. This post is to encourage parents everywhere to stop being scared of making baby food and just let yourself enjoy it. Think about the good you’re doing for your child and remember that you’re helping your little one grow and flourish with every bite. If you already have a food processor, you don’t need to buy anything else. If it has a small 2-3 cup container it works best since you don’t need to make 5-6 cups of baby food at a time (where would you store it all in the freezer??) I make about a cup of food at once which currently gives us about 6 servings. I saved most of the baby food jars from our testing experience and just reuse them for the food I make now. If you don’t have any small Tupperware containers or glass jars, you can also just use an ice cube tray to freeze the food in portions.

A lot sites will tell you to cook once a week for your child or prepare special dishes. To be honest, I’ve just been taking a small bit of what I’ve cooked for our own dinner and pureed it. Before I add chili or lots of pepper, I just reserve a bit of meat for the baby to create her dinner with. If we’re having a dish with rice or pasta, I throw some of that in there for her. If it’s BBQ ribs or chicken (she LOVES BBQ) I cook a potato in the microwave (I know – she’ll probably get radiation poisoning from that or worse), mash it up and add a bit of BBQ sauce with the pureed meat.

For breakfast I make fresh fruit concoctions of whatever we have harvested from our garden or whatever I’ve picked up at the store that is in season. This morning I made her an apple and nectarine puree; yesterday we were eating apples, nectarines & grapes; next week we may be back to raspberries, strawberries & bananas.

Great first fruits for babies: Avocados, Apples, Apricots, Bananas, Melons, Cherries, Papaya, Mango, Kiwi, Grapes, Peaches, Pears, Berries and more. Hold off on citrus until the first year or so because of the high acid content. Some of these fruits even have different dietary effects and could help with your baby’s digestion.

Vegetables for babies to try: Asparagus (did you know it’s high in protein?), Beans, Carrots, Cucumber, Eggplant, Peas, Potatoes, Squash, Sweet Potatoes. Hold off on Broccoli, Cauliflower, Spinach and other high fiber veggies until baby is about 8-10 months old; tomatoes until she is 10-12 months. You can even add cooked mushrooms, onions, peppers, celery or leeks to baby’s meals once he’s reached 8-10 months old.

Introduce foods individually first or with something baby has tried already and not had an allergic reaction to. That way if she does break out in a rash or have other allergic symptoms, you can pinpoint what the problem was.

Every baby is different and sometimes a food that they loved one day will be hated the next. Just keep trying them and don’t give up on introducing a healthy diet to your baby. Don’t let yourself get trapped into cooking a separate meal for every person in your family at dinner just because they aren’t thrilled about what you’ve prepared for the family. The key is to start them young and enjoy the foods yourself. If you steer clear of fruits or reject certain veggies, you can’t expect your little one to fall in love with them either. They look up to you and take a lot of their cues from your actions, so start them off on the right foot.

A fantastic resource on making your own baby food (including recipes for cereals, fruit mixes, veggie suggestions, first combo meals, dairy and more) visit www.wholesomebabyfood.com. I’m in no way affiliated with them but always find myself wandering back into their site for more info. Included are suggested age ranges for starting foods as well.

They say deaths come in threes. But rarely have they all been such well-known celebrities like the last three: Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.

Ed McMahon was an institution on the television when I was growing up. Always there beside Johnny Carson, the two of them created the basic of late night talk shows and no one has ever done it quite as well (sorry Dave!) And you could hardly turn on the TV without seeing him advertising something and trying to make us millionaires.

Farrah Fawcett, a fellow Texas girl, stole the hearts of many. Many remember her as one of Charlie’s Angels. Others rejoiced when she finally graced the pages of Playboy at the ages of 48 and 50 (which went on to be two of their top selling issues.)

But the most significant of these departures for me is Michael Jackson. I wasn’t one of the crazy ones willing to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars to see him perform in London but that doesn’t make me less of a fan. I’ve always appreciated his music and any child of the 80’s can’t deny that Michael Jackson was an icon. You could barely listen to the radio without hearing hits from him. He was everywhere!

When I was in elementary school, we used to love hanging out at the skating rink. There was a DJ who would play requests…and at least one song from Michael would always be played. But it was even better than that. Every time I was at the roller rink (and it was OFTEN) there would be a break while they turned down the lights, gathered everyone at the end of the rink, rolled down the movie screen and blasted “Thriller.” I have to admit that the video STILL gives me the creeps. But how about those awesome dance moves?

Now I especially love the hits from the Jackson 5. “I’ll Be There,” “ABC,” and one of my absolute favs — “I Want You Back.”

Even Mackenzie has been captivated by his spirit and dance moves. Stefan recently found out that Michael’s famed hand grabs and other gestures get her giggling and laughing like nothing else. But I guess we’ll never get a chance now to take her to a concert.

His story was a complicated and rather tragic one, from his difficult childhood until the day he died. Despite the mistakes he made financially and the attacks brought against him, the world stood by him and he was way ahead of his time in so many ways. I hope now that Michael Jackson is in peace, happy with himself and his accomplishments. He touched the lives of millions, could be recognized just by his white glove and his moonwalk, was passionate about saving the earth (even when he was a kid with the Jackson 5) and his memory will live on for generations. We lost a legend last night. MJ was the King of Pop who revolutionized the music  industry and taught us how to dance. Rest in peace, Michael. You will be missed.

Dear Mackenzie,

I glanced at the calendar on my watch yesterday and thought, “Woah! She’s 7 months old already?? Didn’t I just write her 6 month letter a few days ago?”

Indeed, the time is continuing to fly by. I fear it will only get worse and move more quickly when you start crawling and walking. I’ll be following you around and everything else around here will fall behind even more. But I wouldn’t give up this opportunity to be here with you, watching you grow up. I’m truly blessed to be able to do so…and hope your daddy can start working from home in the future too. Some of the most exciting moments of your childhood are approaching and I don’t want him to miss a thing.

As the pictures portray, you are really starting to master sitting up. In the last few days, you’ve been balancing yourself for at least 10 minutes before you topple over. We just have to be extra careful about where we sit you down so you don’t knock yourself out when gravity takes control.

You’re drooling more than ever. Ayla must be so proud. Sometimes there will be a nice long string of it from your mouth down to your shirt.

And the front upper half of your shirt is often drenched from you sucking on it or trying to eat your buttons. Needless to say there’s been a lot more laundry to do around her lately!

No teeth are poking their heads out yet but that’s not slowing you down much in the food department. You’ve eaten everything we’ve put in your mouth, and tried to eat a few things we didn’t put there. Thanks to your expert sucking skills, you’ve figured out how to eat fresh strawberries and raspberries without us pureeing them. From the vine to your mouth – just the way we all like it.

You LOVE playing with your spoons. But I’m not brave enough to let you feed yourself yet. Your crazy parents still haven’t managed to buy a high chair yet for you. I’m not sure what we’re waiting for but I think it’s a matter of not having fully explored all the options yet. You should know that we have put tons of thought into everything from your crib to baby monitor – and since this piece of furniture is going to be with us for a while, we probably should make it worthwhile.

Your expressions and personality are incredible. You have so much concentration and determination already. Although sometimes you just make us laugh with your looks of wonder. How are you ever going to get that whole block into your mouth?

You’ve been spending more time on the floor hanging out in your rain forest or on a big blanket. But you’re learning to roll yourself all over the place so we can’t turn our back on you for a second.

There’s so much more that I could say, but the words just won’t come together.You’ve enriched our lives and you make encourage me to be more, to be better. Seeing your smile makes any rough day seem instantly better.

Your daily naps change weekly – it always keeps me guessing. Lately we’re trying out an awake 3-4 hours pattern with a 1-2 hour nap. At least I’m getting in some gardening work while you’re resting up for more fun. I probably should be storing up my energy too, but somehow we learn to live on less sleep as we get older.

We’re looking forward to so many firsts with you in the next months and years. Thank you for letting us remember to be kids again too and relive all those first moments again.

Sweet dreams, tiny one. Even though you’re growing by leaps and bounds, no matter how old you are – you will still be our little girl.

Note: Those reading this via email may need to visit the website to view all photos. Sorry for the inconvenience but Feedburner seems to be doing strange things these days.

I spent 2 hours cutting grass with the scythe, pulling weeds and pruning bushes in the garden Friday. The grass was 1-3 feet tall back there and just getting out of hand. Mackenzie was kind enough to sleep through the entire thing which allowed me to really get down to business. I was covered in sweat when I was finished and not only from the slighty warm temps! I couldn’t believe how sore I was for about 2 days – all the up and down action plus swinging the scythe and using garden sheers to cut grass elsewhere. Few people remind you just how physical work in the garden really is – but I’m very pleased with the progress. And hopefully I can invest a hour or two every week now to maintain the beast before it gets out of control again.  It was really starting to look wild back there so at least now I don’t have to dread running into our neighbors who see that garden all the time.

We also harvested a few handfuls of raspberries and strawberries. There are more berries to be harvested, but we got a bit worn out by the chore. As much as I enjoy the fruits of our labor in the garden, harvesting can be very tedious. And with a baby strapped to your belly, picking strawberries is just not fun; especially with all the up and down action.

One of our main problems when it comes to harvesting is that we never have baskets nearby and sometimes even lack the tools we need to get the job done (like knives for cutting thick stems) . Carrying everything back and forth from the kitchen in the house to the garden is just terrible, especially since I’m usually carrying Mack as well. So when I saw this gardening bench for harvest time in a Mother Earth News article, it got me thinking.

I know, like we need yet another project, right? But something like this is really quite brilliant. What I would ideally want is a closed in space for baskets so they don’t get wet in the rain…or a place in our garden where we could protect the table from the elements. And a drawer to stash knives and other small hand tools in would be a must. An old sink or bucket is recommended for giving an initial rinse to veggies. When you’re finished, the water can be used for your plants and the dirt sludge you collect can be thrown on your compost pile. Or you hook up a hose to the sink and let it run wherever else you like. The article also suggested keeping a cooler or ice chest in the garden with you during harvest, loaded with ice packs (or ziploc bags filled with water, laid on their side and frozen) to keep everything cold and fresh while you continue harvest during the day. This saves you time going back and forth to the house where you might also get sidetracked from the task!

Just a little food for my thoughts. Like I said, not on the top of the projects list anytime soon. Instead we’re finally going to start working on our outdoor kitchen so we don’t have to heat up our house when it’s time to start canning. The potato fields are slowly starting to turn yellow which means they spuds are almost ready…and lots of other veggies will be growing and ripening as well. We certainly don’t want to be building this when we should be harvesting so we better get going finally.

Ever on the quest for new recipes, I was flipping through my cookbook Southern Living: 30 Years of Our Best Recipes and came up with the following meal: Balsamic marinated chicken with beer rice and sugared carrots. The balsamic chicken browned beautifully while cooking and had a really nice flavor of rosemary and balsamic. Nothing overwhelming and I think it would have been very moist still if we hadn’t let it sit for a while until the munchkin was in bed.

The beer rice also exceeded my expectations. I picked it because I had no idea what to cook with the chicken aside from some carrots we had in the fridge that needed to be used up. So as I flipped through the cookbook, the beer rice recipe caught my eye. Actually it was the note about the recipe stating how important it is to have a good rice recipe that is versatile which really got my attention. The flavor ended up being similar to the boxed Rice-a-Roni chicken stuff but SO much better. I think you could also use wine instead of beer and give it a really nice flavor. This rice dish has definitely found its way into our meal rotations and can be used as a side for tons of things. I found both the chicken and rice recipes to be extremely easy to prepare and cook with very little time demanded from the cook which is always a plus when cooking during the week.

Balsamic Marinated Chicken

Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 pounds chicken breasts, thighs and legs

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a large heavy-duty zip-top plastic bag or tupperware box. Add chicken. Seal and marinate in refrigerator 2 hours, turning occassionally.
2. Remove chicken and place in a lightly greased 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Pour marinade over chicken.
3. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 45 minutes or until done, bastic often with pan drippings.

Beer Rice

Servings: 4

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup butter or margarine
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 cup uncooked long-grain rice
• 3/4 cup beer
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt butter in a saucepan and saute onion in it over medium-heat until tender.
2. Dissolve bouillon cubes in boiling water; add mixture to onion in saucepan.
3. Stir in rice, beer and seasonings. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat and simmer 30 to 40 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and rice is tender.