Magic Vanilla Ice Cream

serves 4

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 ounce white chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
pinch salt
1/4 cup sour cream
1 1/4 cups cold heavy cream

Microwave sweetened condensed milk and white chocolate in large bowl until chocolate melts, stirring halfway, about 30 seconds. Let cool. Stir in vanilla, salt and sour cream.

With electric mixer on medium-high speed, whip heavy cream to soft peaks, about 2 minutes. Whisk one-third of whipped cream into white chocolate mixture. Fold remaining whipped cream into white chocolate mixture until incorporated.

Place in airtight container and freeze until firm, at least 6 hours or up to 2 weeks. Serve.

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From NPR. Really good! I successfully made lavender ice cream with this recipe. I attempted to chocolatize it, but it didn't have quite the effect I wanted. I have a few other recipes I'll try involving custard, but this is definitely a keeper because it is quick, easy, and delicious! I used vanilla yogurt in place of the sour cream.

Cucumber Avocado Soup

makes 5 servings

2 pounds soft-skinned cucumbers
6 ounces watercress, arugula, OR cilantro
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 small jalapeño pepper (use more if it's very mild)
1 large Haas avocado (7 ounces)
1-2 teaspoons sea salt

Trim the ends off the cucumbers, taste each end, and trim off any bitter part. Cut the cucumbers into cubes. Wash the watercress, remove any heavy stems, and chop it roughly. You should have about 2 cups.

Combine half the cucumbers and most of the lemon juice in the container of a blender or food processor and puree. The cucumbers will soon be a liquid, and you can then easily add the remaining cucumbers, watercress, garlic, and jalapeño. Puree until everything is smooth, working in batches if you need to.

Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, peel the avocado, and cut the flesh into cubes; you should have not quite 1 cup of diced avocado. Add the avocado to the cucumber puree, along with a teaspoon of sea salt, and process again. The mixture will become thicker and creamier. Stir everything together in a bowl and taste. Add more lemon juice and more salt, a bit at a time and stirring thoroughly each time, until the balance feels right to you.

Chill the soup well. Serve it in small bowls, and drizzle each serving with a little olive oil, then scatter a few tomato cubes and croutons on top.

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This is a wonderfully refreshing summer soup--and a great way to eat more raw veggies.

Notes from The Splendid Table: Long, soft-skinned cucumbers, called English, Armenian, or Persian cucumbers, are best for this soup because they can be used with skin and seeds. If they are very large, check for mature seeds and remove them, but a slender cucumber of this type generally has tiny, soft seeds that puree perfectly.

Watercress adds a little bite to the mild cucumber and avocado. Arugula can be used instead, or a bunch of cilantro, but choose one — don't mix the flavors. This recipe is based on proportions for one large avocado and can easily be doubled.

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Smoked Salmon and Dill

1 1/2 tbsp butter
1 cup onions, chopped
4 cucumbers, peeled, halved, seeded, cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices (about 5 cups)
1 8-oz russet potato, peeled, cut into 1/2-inch dice
3 1/2 cups chicken broth
3 large fresh dill sprigs
6 tbsp fresh dill, minced
1 tsp salt to taste
1 cup crème fraîche or sour cream
3 oz smoked salmon, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Melt butter in heavy large pot over medium heat. Add onions and sauté until slightly softened, about 3 minutes. Add cucumbers and potato; stir 1 minute. Add broth, dill sprigs, and salt. Increase heat and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer until cucumbers and potato are tender, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes. Working in batches, purée soup in food processor until smooth. Return to pot. Cool 15 minutes. Whisk in 1/2 cup sour cream and 4 tbsp minced dill. Cover and chill until cold, about 4 hours. Serve with a dollop of sour cream in center of each bowl; sprinkle with smoked salmon and remaining minced dill.

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Another excellent recipe from epicurious.com that did not taste at all like I expected. Apparently crème fraîche is like fancier, whippable sour cream. Also take note of the pureeing the soup in BATCHES; I have a bad habit of overfilling my food processor and leaking liquid whatever all over the place. The smoked salmon goes really well with the dill and everything, although if you leave the leftovers mixed together in the refrigerator as I did, the soup sucks all the flavor out of the salmon and you get slices of tasteless, very oddly textured orange stuff instead. Not terrible, but it was surprising.

Avocado, Tomato, and Corn Salad

makes four servings

1/2 avocado, chopped
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
1 cup fresh, frozen, or low-sodium corn
1 lime, juiced

Combine and toss. Wow, that was easy.

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The original recipe (from who knows where, my mom sent it to me) didn't say to halve the tomatoes, but I went ahead and did it. After poking around a bit, there's a recipe on foodnetwork.com that does say to do that, and has a fancy dressing with cilantro and olive oil and stuff. Really, the lime juice was just fine. They also added red onion. Meh. I put this in our lunchboxes with some leftover lime chicken my mom made and the vegetable remains from the cow bento. Might've been some flatbread too. Yum!

Garden Gazpacho

Makes 4 servings

2 lbs large ripe tomatoes, seeded, and diced
1/2 orange bell pepper, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 tbs red wine vinegar
2 tbs mild çayenne pepper sauce
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 c vegetable juice
3/4 c fresh corn kernels
2 green onions, chopped
2 tbs thinly sliced fresh basil

Put half the tomatoes, peppers, and cucumber as well as all of the vinegar, pepper sauce, oil, garlic, and salt in a blender. Purée until smooth and transfer to a large glass bowl or container. Stir in the remaining tomatoes, peppers, cucumber, vegetable juice, corn, and green onions. Cover and refrigerate until the flavors are blended, at least four hours. Continue to check flavors periodically as soup chills. Ladle the soup into chilled bowls and sprinkle with basil.

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This recipe is actually a Glad advertisement in issue 43 of Everyday Food that I picked up in the South Bend airport. It's not too hard to make, evidenced by the fact that I managed to make it without having a clue how to dice tomatoes or use the food processor or anything. I hard boiled some eggs to go with it (it's for lunch tomorrow) and managed to crack most of them. *sigh* On the daily cooking scale, today might be about a 5. But at least lunch will be tasty if nothing else.

P.S. This is the beginning of my make-my-parents-lunch-every-day phase, as it is summer. This means I'll be updating a lot more and hopefully learning something in the process. My parents are my test-tasters, so I'm hoping they can give me some feedback such as MAKE IT AGAIN PLEASE or ....maybe let's have that other thing again. =)