coffee ice-cream

I have a secret to share.  A secret about making the best homemade coffee ice-cream.  Now you're curious, right?!

.... it's using real coffee grounds.  Maybe some of you have already figured this out, but if you haven't and you like coffee, you need to try this.

There's no real recipe to the coffee ice-cream I made.  You can use any kind of milk/cream/yogurt/sweetener combo you like, making the amount of base your ice-cream machine can hold.  My ingredient list looked something like this:

+ 1 cup whipping cream
+ 1 8oz. container vanilla bean nonfat yogurt
+ some melted vanilla ice-cream (is it cheating to put store-bought ice-cream into homemade ice-cream?!)
+ a little bit of vanilla almond milk
+ some 2% milk
(total was enough milk/yogurt to get me to 4 cups of milk base)
+ 1/4 c. sugar
+ 1 T. vanilla
+ ~1 T. Starbucks coffee grounds
+ chopped chocolate chips

Stir together and pour in an ice-cream machine and let church until frozen (I add the chocolate chips when the ice-cream is almost done).  Enjoy before it melts!

Oh, and I have learned something about making homemade ice-cream.  The base tastes sweeter than the finished product (which makes sense, due to the air in the ice-cream)... so keep that in mind as you make your base.

And if you don't have an ice-cream machine but want something that tastes like this?  The fast version is to put some vanilla ice-cream in a glass, sprinkle in some coffee grounds and chocolate chips, pour in a little milk and stir.  It makes a thick milkshake consistency and it's delicious.

it's a mystery....

So let's talk about the mystery of the missing cell phone.

It all started the day I lost misplaced my cell phone... oh wait, that was yesterday.  It is quite a mystery because I was home all day and only left the house to take the boys for a walk.  I'm very puzzled and am still hoping it will be recovered.  Here's the facts:

1.  I used my cell phone to txt a friend in the morning, I checked the weather before our walk, and took a picture of C right before our walk.
2.  I had the thought that I was going to take my phone on our walk b/c I always do, but can't really remember putting it in the stroller.
3.  I got a water bottle out of my car for our walk.
4.  I did not use my phone on our walk.
5.  I do not remember taking my phone out of the stroller after our walk.
6.  I folded up the stroller and put it away shortly after our walk.
7.  An hour or two after our walk I remembered my cell phone and realized I didn't know where it was.
8.  I checked the stroller first.  Not there.  Humm... weird, but I'm sure it will show up.
9.  It rained all afternoon (oops if my phone is outside).
10.  Chad drove the route of my walk when he got home and didn't see it.
11.  I ran the route of my walk around 9p after church and didn't find it.
12.  We have looked all obvious places and lots of not obvious ones.  No luck.

So.  There you have it.  The missing cell phone.  Thoughts?  Suggestions?  Any missing cell phone experts out there?  Has anyone thought they lost their cell phone only to find it in a very random location?  I'm starting to get a little discouraged.  How long to I hold out before I dub it lost??  This is kind of driving me crazy...

And if you need me in the meantime, an email might be your best form of communication.  :)

things I dislike

So after I wrote that warm fuzzy post about all those things I like, I started thinking about things I dislike (very productive of me, I know!).  I'm sure there are more than this, but these are the things that came to mind first.  Am I alone on these things?

• wire hangers.  frustrating little things.  they go in the trash as quickly as possible after they sneak into our house from the dry cleaners.
• changing the crib sheet.  although this has gotten better with practice.  but talk about an aggravating task.  I think babies know this, because it seems that Creighton spits up in his crib shortly after I change the sheet.  thank you sweet baby, thank you... you might just have to sleep in that spit up a couple times.  :)
• people that drive under the speed limit.  I always suddenly wish I was in a bumper car and I could ram them from behind, letting them know they need to speed up!  I cannot for the life of me figure out why people drive too slow.  
• paying $ for mediocre food.  nothing like ordering food at a restaurant and thinking that you can make much better food at home.  I haven't had this happen too much lately, but I can safely say that I do not enjoy my meal when it does.
• sunburns.  I mean, who does, right?  they are uncomfortable and bad for your skin.  but there is something about getting a sunburn and knowing that you could have prevented it by just applying more sunscreen that eats away at my brain until it goes away.  just apply more sunscreen next time Heather, how hard is it?
• nubbies.  those bally things that you get in the armpits of a sweater, or babies get on the fronts of their pants from rubbing the crib sheets... the pillows in my living room have them (they were cute but a bad purchase).  hate them.  they are gross and I have to refrain from throwing things away the instant they get nubbies.  ok, they can be removed with razors or other little gadgets, but who wants to do that?  and they will just come back, right?  oh the nubbies... 

3 months

The 3 month mark has come and gone already.  And why is 3 months significant?  Half way to being done breastfeeding! (well, my version of it, which is pumping and bottles)... if I make it to 6 months, which is the goal.  That was my goal with Beck, so it's my goal again.  And I think babies come to life around 3 months too.  Creighton's smiles and babbles are so adorable, we have conversations about life all the time.  ;)

Other than the smiles and coos, he's not doing much.  Some kicking, clasping his hands, all those normal things.  No rolling... I think we are still a ways from that.  Much more interested in his toys on the play mat, which keep him entertained for a little while.  Overall, every month that goes by I enjoy him and being at home with the boys more and more.  I'm thankful.

I love the feeling...

So one day, a while ago, I randomly started thinking about things that I like the feeling of.  It was fun to think about and I started writing them down and created a list.  It's a interesting way to think about some of your favorite things in life.  Here's some of the ones I wrote down, in no real specific order:

I love the feeling...

of being in the presence of God
of loving and being loved by my family
of being unified with Chad
of helping people
of waking up after a nap in the sunshine
of watching my kids learn new things & be excited about new experiences
of crossing a task off my list (but who doesn't... do those people exist??)
of a great idea
of finding someone the perfect gift
of making things clean & organized
of connecting with people through great conversation
of anticipating and getting excited for the next big trip, date, etc
of being really into a good book
of trying something new
of creating new and tasty food combinations, using ingredients on hand
of throwing things away
of repurposing something
of a good back massage
of being efficient
of being surprised with a thoughtful gift or planned event
of making music in a large group (singing or instrumental... yes, I do secretly wish I was part of an organized musical group and just might miss show choir and band from back in high school.  But don't ask me to sing for you... I have a "group voice," not a solo voice, and some might question that.  Beckham may or may not tell me to stop singing on occasion. :))
of being energized and ready to face the day after a good workout
of satisfaction after eating super delicious food
of a morning run while the world is still quiet (although it can be hard to remind yourself of that while still in bed!
of new things... which can get me in trouble... but they're so nice and clean and pretty!


Ok, that list got long... and there are many more I'm sure.  So what are your favorite feelings?

the best kind of friend

College friends are the best.  You know, the ones that are your forever friends that you can go months without seeing or maybe even talking, but when you do see each other you pick up right where you left off and conversation flows for hours.  Always comfortable together, never awkward.  They are special friends and hard to come by.  Something about living together during the life changing years of college develops a deep bond that doesn't change.

So I got to hang out with one of those above described friends of mine, Brandy, and her slew of kiddos.  It's always super fun and a treat to see her and her fam.  I tell her that she is my... oh what is the word... inspiration?  reality check?  at times when I am overwhelmed taking care of my kids.  You see, I have two kids, ages 2 1/2 and 3 mos.  Brandy has four kids, ages 3 1/2, 2, almost 2, and 3 mos.  That makes my two not seem so hard. ;)  But her little crew is so cute and well behaved and she handles it like a pro.  We had a fun and noisy couple days together.  Luckily B and I were able to slip away for a dinner just the two of us, thank goodness for grandmas!

Here are some pics of the kids.  You might notice B and I aren't in any of these... maybe the fact that we hadn't showered, were in our lounge clothes, had been running after kids and probably smelled like spit-up made us not feel very photo ready?!

Beck's little buddy Annaika.  They ran around together and made lots of noise!

Norah has the best cheese face! 

Georgia's growing up so fast and was quite the mother, wanting to help with Creighton & hold him.  It was very sweet.  

gotta see the picture of themselves

Seeley boy (as he is called by his fam) and Creighton.  B and I were both due on 4/10 and both had our boys on 3/28.  Kind of crazy.  Yes, it was a full moon.  So these two little guys are destined to be friends we decided.  :)

Annaika and Beck loving on the boys...

healthy "brownies"

Pinterest.  Oh how I get sucked into pinning all sorts of yummy looking food.  Lately I feel like a lot of what I have pinned has been "healthy desserts."  Food that satisfies your sweet tooth, but cuts some calories.  Who doesn't love that?

It's a funny trend to me.  I've been making "healthy" desserts for a while... before Pinterest made them cool.  But healthy desserts to me meant things like subbing wheat flour for white, adding some flax, using banana or applesauce as natural sweetener, or yogurt for butter or cream cheese.  Not things like beans in cookies and brownies, avocado in frosting, or dates as chocolate.  I was a little skeptical when I started seeing these recipes.  Really?  I mean, Really?  You can't taste the beans or avocado in them?  I'm all about cutting calories, but I still want my sweet things to taste good... not earthy (although I have used beets in a chocolate cake and that was delicious).  So I was a little slow to jump on this band wagon.

But then a friend of mine made some black bean brownies that I thought were very good, so I decided I should give it a try.  The result:  I didn't like mine as much.  I could taste the beans.  Maybe b/c I made them and watched the beans being processed?  So I tried to redeem them and turned them into black bean brownie/chocolate date balls and Beckham thinks they are chocolate.  Fantastic, because I still don't really like them. :)  Something is off with the texture and I think they still taste like beans.

Next I was just too curious about the whole avocado/chocolate frosting thing.  I found this recipe on Pinterest and gave it a whirl.  I halved the recipe and followed it to a tee, except for I accidentally used only 3/4 of an avocado instead of 1 1/2 - 2, so the cocoa was too strong and I had to add more sweetener.  But it still made plenty of frosting, so the full amount of avocado seems like it would be too much.
Overall these are pretty tasty, but lets just say that they should not be called brownies (although the first time Beck saw them he called them brownies :)).  They are really nothing like brownies except for the fact that they have chocolate frosting.. which I am a fan of.  I think the avocado gets lost completely in the cocoa.  The texture of the "brownie" part is nothing like a normal brownie, as the chia seeds add lots of crunchiness.  But overall they were tasty and a fun treat to keep in the freezer.  I felt pretty good about eating them, with so many healthy ingredients and all.  They tasted the best after they thawed out a little bit but were still cold and firm.

the brownie

I ate most of the brownies without sharing with Beck, but then one day he noticed me getting it out of the freezer and had to have some.  He Loved them and instantly commanded control of the fork, letting me have a couple small bites. ;)

So the point of all this?  I'm still trying to decide what I think of this whole new world of healthy desserts.  Some turn out great, but if it's a flop I'm stuck eating a bunch of so-so mock dessert something (or giving it to my kid), which I will likely slather with peanut butter or nutella to improve the flavor... b/c who throws away food?!  I will likely stick to my version of healthy desserts, being more adventurous and trying new things here and there but skip on the beans... I'll save those for my savory food where they belong. :)

And if you are curious, chocolatecoveredkatie.com is a site that posts all kinds of healthy desserts, sometimes using fairly unique ingredients in them.