Monday Weigh-In and Blackberry Icecream

Weigh-in was 220.4lbs. (-0.6lbs). Only to be expected. I didn't have time for exercise most days due to some stressful and busy things going on. I barely got any sleep for three days last week and was too exhausted the other days to do anything. However - at least, I did not gain. That is good!!

My car died in the middle of a main thoroughfare in my city during during the after-hour rush on Friday! Scary!!! I did eventually, after several tries, get it started and into a parking lot. After it cooled down a bit, it managed to make it home - running at under 25mph. It had been running rough before it died like that. Anyway, the catalytic converter needs to be replaced. Estimate was $1200 because my stupid car has TWO catalytic converters. Goodness knows why!!! GRRRRR!!!! Don says he'll take a look at it and see what can be done. If it's too much work for him, then he'll take it to a mechanic. Hopefully it's something he can fix. I am hopeless at car stuff. However, since I met Don, I now know how to jack a car up, change tires and change batteries. He told me he'd teach me how to change oil, but I haven't got around to that yet.

The weekend was good. I did a bunch of cleaning, dusting, polishing and scrubbing at home. That was the only exercise I got this weekend. On Saturday, we went to a friend's for a potluck dinner. We stayed talking till well past midnight. She has a wonderful covered outdoor patio separated from the house and in the middle of her yard. It was beautiful outside and we ate and drank and talked and were happy. I am grateful every day for my friends.

Lentil-Quinoa-Kale Salad, Cold Pesto Pasta Salad, Broccoli Quiche, Munchies, Ginger-Peach Iced Tea
There was chcolate zucchini bread to follow for dessert

At dinner, my friend who has Type-1 diabetes, and has refused to let it bog her down (she eats everything she wants to - just smaller quantities), asked if I had made any icecream lately. Back when I had just purchased my icecream maker, I was making a different kind of icecream every week. I realized then that since my diagnosis of diabetes I had not made any icecream. She reminded me that I could eat icecream if I wanted, and I could make icecream without the sugar if I wanted to. I had been talking about how I was picking blackberries nearly every day for dessert, so I decided that I would make a blackberry icecream next.

Adapted from Ree Drummond's recipe on Food Network. Click here for original recipe.

INGREDIENTS
2 pints blackberries
1/2 lemon
5 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1.5 cups whole milk
1.5 cups heavy cream

METHOD
Pick or buy 2 pints of blackberries. I picked 6 pints and then made enough syrup to last me for three iterations of blackberry icecream making. I thought I'd freeze the r est of the syrup and thaw it out after blackberry season to make this icecream.

On medium-low heat, heat blackberries, 1/4 cup of the sugar and the lemon juice. Mash the blackberries with a potato masher or back of a spoon to release the juices. When it thickens, remove from the hear. Cool. Then strain it using a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. I reserved the seed/pulp to add to oatmeal or smoothies (sorry didn't take a pic).

Heat the whole milk on medium-low, stirring occasionally. In the meantime, beat the 5 egg yolks until pale. Add a little bit of the warm milk to the egg yolks and whisk. Repeat this a few times and then add the yolk mixture to the milk and continue to stir constantly. (Adding the egg yolks directly to the hot milk might cook them right away, so make sure you warm the eggs up by adding a bit of warm milk at a time.) Then, add the heavy cream to the mixture and continue to stir constantly until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon, about 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat. Add the blackberry syrup to the milk mixture and continue stirring until mixed well.

Chill overnight. Then add to your icrecream maker per instructions. Here it is while still churning:

And twenty minutes later, voila!!!

Thick and creamy

And here it is all ready to go into the freezer.

I added slightly over half the sugar called for in the original recipe. I also added whole milk instead of half and half, and it turned out quite good - creamy and rich. Overall, I liked the taste of it. However, one thing I would change is the lemon. I think it diminishes the flavor of the blackberries. I want to make (and freeze) more syrup and the next time, I won't be using the lemon. Other than that, it is a wonderful icecream.