Easy Homemade Ice Cream Recipe - No Ice Cream Maker Needed

Determined to eat better/cleaner food without all the weird added stuff (I read my daughter's ice cream carton ingredients. Y'all... that's not ice cream) I recently went on the hunt for a simple, homemade recipe that doesn't require an ice cream machine. I found several versions so I made up my own version based on what I found. No ice cream machine needed - just a standard hand mixer. 

•   2 C. heavy whipping cream 

•   1 can sweetened condensed milk

•   2 tablespoons vanilla (or any extract of choice)

Whip cream in a bowl with a hand mixer until medium peaks form. Fold in condensed milk and flavoring, then mix until stiff peaks form.

Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap with extra to fold over the top of the pan. Fill the pan with the ice cream, smooth it flat and lay the top section of plastic wrap directly over the ice cream like a seal. Fold the opposite length over the top. This prevents any ice crystals.

Freeze 8 hours or overnight for best results. 

Peach Rum Sauce Recipe

I recently posted on twitter/X: 

Looking for a new way to preserve fresh peaches, I found a water bath canning recipe for Peach Rum Sauce. 😍  

So, now we all know what I'll be up to tomorrow. 😎😏

So yesterday I rounded up what I didn't have (Captain Morgan Gold Rum) & today made this recipe from Bernardin, a trusted Canadian canning site.  (I took some liberties with this recipe and used the zest of an entire lemon, which is more/less the same amount called for). 

There was a wee bit of peach syrup leftover so I canned that up for immediate use.  Except we've all tasted it, and it'll be gone in absolutely no time! 😂 The golden rum & ripe peaches just really explode with a wonderful flavor of summer.  

This recipe utilizes canned peaches as fresh fruit toppings for desserts, but they can be used in so many ways. Add-ins for oatmeal, yogurt or smoothies, toppings for pancakes or waffles intead of syrup or just eaten alone the same way you'd enjoy any other fruit sauce, like apple sauce. 

This is just another great way to preserve fresh stone fruit you have easy access to.  

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Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you've enjoyed what you've read here, and if you have any thoughts or questions please feel welcome to leave a comment. 😊

Garden 2026 Update #3 - Weather Extremes, Pest Pressure & Shifting Gears

It's been a wild start to the gardening season of 2026. From the first day I transplanted all of my seedlings grown indoors until this week, it's been one thing after another. 

Extreme Weather

For about the last 2 months now, it's been quite literally one extreme or the other. Either unseasonably hot, or cold, or wet, or windy, etc. It's been all of them, and nearly all of my indoor grown seedlings have suffered. I had to replace about half of all my tomato seedlings after they were planted outside. Most of my peppers survived but the plants are just now starting to thrive and really put on fruit so they're weeks behind where they would have been in more seasonal and ideal weather conditions. 

New Urban Pest 

For the first time in the decade+ I've been growing in this space, I had a very hungry ground hog show up and help himself to my immature cucumber plants.

I wasn't sure he was the culprit until I saw him on the back yard cam the same day I discovered my cucumber plant's leaves had been utterly consumed.

Not a coincidence, they love cucumbers as much as people do! Thankfully he moved on that very same day, and most of my cucumbers recovered, and are putting on new growth. 

But as of the end of July they're pushed back nearly 3-4 weeks from producing any fruit. So my cucumber harvest this year isn't looking great, similar to the peppers.

Similar to the tomatoes, cukes and peppers, I had some sort of pest help itself to the garlic I planted last fall. I only ended up harvesting about 10% of what I'd hoped for.  All that to say, I'll be purchasing a lot more from the local farmer's markets this year to process and put up all my family favorite canned goods. Sometimes, it just works out this way. I like to grow what grows well here, and what my family consumes the most of. For us, that's tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic & cucumbers. The only thing not bothered by any pressure this year so far, are the green onions. They're doing fantastic. 😂 Everything else I'll be shopping local for. 

Shifting Gears & Downsizing the Garden

Speaking of family favorite canned goods... I haven't fully decided yet exactly how I'll do this, but as the kids all grow up and move out, there are less and less people here under my roof every year to provide for. So after this gardening season, I'll be changing things up a bit as I plan for next year's garden and the amount of space & seedlings I'll be needing. I have a few fun ideas in mind so I'm kind of looking forward to this upcoming new season and this new chapter in life too. 

Here's a few shots from around the garden in the last few days...

Harry the Thinker Duck (a gift from one of my kids) hanging out in the pepper patch. 

My faithful Garden Assistant - Mr. Noobies 

A lovely volunteer pansie in the Spearmint pot. 

This year's Cayenne peppers for the all the spicy, home canned treats💖

The view from the back deck. Many more pops of color this year! 

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you've enjoyed what you've read here, and if you have any thoughts or questions please feel welcome to leave a comment. 😊

Unexpected Delightful Garden Blessings ♥

This time of year in the very early summer, I like to take a walk around the garden in the early evening with my notebook & phone to make notes & take pics of what sort of things need to be done. New places to plant things, plants that need some additional support, and things like that. Simple, evening garden chores. 

This evening while attending to my normal routine, I had a guest at the feeder just a few feet away.  I took an outrageous number of pics to get this one and the Mourning Dove never flinched once. I was about 4 feet away. 

After all that I very, very slowly walked backward toward the house and away from the feeder. The Dove remained the entire time. 

It's so cool to be in a wee bit of harmony with some of God's other creatures. Even if just for a few seconds. 💖