pink grapefruit marmalade ice cream

The second recipe that I created for #bakingwithmackays isn't technically "baking", but who could say no to ice cream? Definitely not me!

One of the jars that Mackays sent to me was their Pink Grapefruit Marmalade. Now, anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVE pink grapefruit. So, when I had the idea to make ice cream with one of the Mackays products, I immediately reached for the pink grapefruit.

The final product was really creamy (Paul couldn't believe I had made it from scratch) and it had a nice, light vanilla-grapefruit flavour, with spikes of grapefruit "bite" from the peels that were in the marmalade. This is a perfect ice cream for the summer, but if you're like me...really, ice cream is a year-round treat

kawartha dairy - 2013 edition

Last year I had the ambitious notion that I would try every flavour on the Kawartha Dairy menu board. Boy, was I wrong! I only managed 14 flavours...but I loved every minute of it.  :)

This year I wasn't really thinking about trying the ice cream wall again, but we've been spending more time up in the Kawarthas and a few people have already asked how much Kawartha Dairy ice cream I've eaten this year, so here I am again! I'm pretty sure I won't be able to cross every flavour off the board, but I think this is a great idea to force me to try new ice cream flavours instead of eating the same one all summer long.

So far, between me and Paul, I've managed to try six flavours:

A few weeks ago, we kicked off the summer with our first trip to Kawartha Dairy (in Peterborough). I ordered the Wolf Paws, one of my favourites - "vanilla ice cream with chocolate butter fudge and soft brownie pieces" (YUM - I love brownies). Paul picked Banana Boat, "marshmallow and chocolate in a banana flavoured ice cream". Both were really great - but the banana flavouring of the Banana Boat was especially good. I never though ice cream could be so banana-y!


Our next visit to Kawartha Dairy had us craving colour! Ever since I was a kid, I've always been partial to Bordeaux Cherry (my dad's favourite). This one is described "a rich and full-flavoured cherry ice cream loaded with big pieces of sweet black Bordeaux cherries". Paul went even brighter and chose to have the kiddie-inspired Blue Bubblegum, "pink coloured gum pieces in a bubblegum flavoured ice cream with a bright blue colour". I LOVED the Bordeaux Cherry, while Paul's Blue Bubblegum was definitely bubble gum flavoured (and BLUE!), although I've never been fond of the gum pieces inside ice cream.


Finally, this past weekend, I chose to have the Mango, "a distinctive Mango colour and flavour", while Paul had his favourite flavour, Mint Chip, a "cool mint flavoured ice cream with semi sweet chocolate chips". The mango flavour was subtle, a little too subtle for my preference, but Paul was really happy with his Mint Chip.


I think we've gotten off to a pretty good start knocking off the flavours, but I'm still hoping to beat my "score" of 14 from 2012. :D

granita di caffe con panna

The Missing Ingredient Challenge: coffee

One of our favourite discoveries we travelled to Rome for the first time last year was the Tazza d’Oro, a small coffee shop that sits by the Pantheon and is famous for its coffee. There were some wonderful coffees on the menu, but Paul and I only had eyes (and taste buds) for one - the Granita di Caffe con Panna (coffee granita with whipped cream).

Consisting of layers of thick whipped cream and coffee granite (made with a deep, rich espresso), we had this almost every day that we were in Rome and it was one of the first things that Paul tried to create in our kitchen once we returned home. After a few tries, he's come up with a recipe that's pretty darn close. It's super simple to make, but still manages to be an impressive dessert - perfect to end a a meal on a warm summer evening.

gelato for breakfast? it's ok, i'm an adult now

As a kid, I always thought that one of the coolest things about "growing up" would be that I could eat anything I wanted...whenever I wanted. Like ice cream. What kid doesn't dream about eating ice cream for breakfast, lunch and dinner?

Although I'm well into adulthood now, I don't think I've ever actually eaten frozen desserts instead of my daily meals, but on our recent trip to Rome, I did have gelato instead of a meal at least twice! My excuse was that it was so incredibly hot that I needed the frozen treat to cool me down and keep me hydrated! Haha! Wait, why did I need an excuse? I'm an adult! Bring on the gelato!

Before heading to Italy, I think I've had gelato a whopping total of three times in my life. I was too busy eating ice cream...or sherbet/sorbet, if I wanted something "different" from the frozen desserts menu. So, what makes gelato different? Check out this helpful infographic for more info on the differences between gelato and other frozen scoopables.

When I tell you that there are gelaterias everywhere in Rome, I'm not exaggerating. They're EVERYWHERE. So it was easy to indulge in gelato pretty much from the moment we stepped outside of our hotel until we turned in for the night. (Really, did I need another reason to love Rome?)

We always stuck to the medium size (not sure why) and generally, a medium gelato ran us between 2.50 to 4 Euros. I love that the price was relatively the same, but the quantity and quality definitely varied!

When ordering gelato, you can actually choose more than one flavour for your "scoop" (unlike the ice cream stores here in Canada), and some places will also dollop some nice fresh cream on top of your gelato.

The first gelato we had in Rome was from the Blue Ice chain of gelaterias. Not exactly what you would call "high-end" gelato...but we were walking by and they were very "not-intimidating". This is one of those places where they stick "examples" of the ingredient on top of the gelato so that you can visually see what flavour you may be getting. Since this was our first taste of Italian gelato, it tasted fine to our yet-uneducated taste buds. I had Limone (I had already decided before our trip that my first gelato would be lemon-flavoured) while Paul opted for the ever-popular Pistachio flavour.

After this first introduction to run-of-the-mill gelato, our second scoops were from I Caruso Gelateria. We walked quite far from our hotel for this, but as soon as we heard about this place we knew we had to visit it no matter what (I mean, Caruso)! What a difference! This is the real deal - ral artisan gelato. There's a guy in the shop window MAKING GELATO! And the flavours are listed up on a board. If you look down, there are no colourful flavours or ingredient clues - in fact, the gelato is all covered up with lids. Since the ingredient board was in Italian and the server didn't speak any English, we were on our own.

I opted for Caffe while Paul tried the Amaretto (two words we actually recognized). The gelato was sooooo good. We sat outside the gelateria and after we finished, we went back in for a second scoop. Mine was Ananas (Pineapple), while Paul had Fior de Panna (a vanilla cream). Out of the four, the pineapple really wowed us. In fact, I think it was our favourite gelato of the entire trip (although I did try a close second later on at San Crispino). The pineapple flavour was incredibly fresh and the gelato was smooth and creamy. We would have headed back here again during the trip if it wasn't so darn far from our hotel!

After reading some reviews online, we had two more gelato shops we wanted to check out - Giolitti (said to be the oldest gelateria in Rome) and San Crispino. Both of these are generally at the top of any "Best Gelato in Rome" lists we found, both online and in guidebooks.

kawartha cravings in peterborough

Last week I had four glorious days off from work so Paul and I scooted up north to relax and do nothing (well, Paul continued building a deck, while I relaxed). In between the sunning, napping and general laziness, we actually went to Peterborough a couple of times, including a trip on Saturday with Paul's brother, Mike, and our future sister-in-law, Alex. I was happy to discover that there was a Kawartha Dairy store in town so (of course) we headed there so I could continue my conquest of the Kawartha ice cream menu board!

I already had my next flavour chosen before I got to the counter (although I still had to take a look at everything on offer). I only went with one scoop this time and tried Muskoka Mocha - "mocha flavoured ice cream with mocha fudge sauce, mocha crumb, and chocolate fish". Yes, after the little chocolate turtles from the Caramel Snappers, I went with little chocolate fish this time. This ice cream is a nice subtle taste and the chocolate wasn't too sweet, with a hint of mocha. Loved it.

Paul ordered a scoop of Black Raspberry Thunder - "a smooth white chocolate ice cream with the tangy taste of black raspberry marble and white chocolate chunks", which I've been told is a very popular flavour. We can understand why. This flavour is now one of our favourites - a nice, strong raspberry flavour with the softness of the white chocolate. Definitely one that we'll be ordering again in the future!

Mike couldn't resist ordering his absolute favourite flavour, Moose Tracks, but was kind enough to also tack on a second scoop of something I hadn't tried before (see the sacrifices my family makes for my blog?). Seeing how he loves his chocolate and peanut butter combo, his second scoop had to be Chocolate Peanut Butter - "chocolate ice cream with peanut butter cookie dough pieces and a ripple of peanut butter". Moose Tracks is still number one. After an initial hit of peanut butter, the rest just didn't have enough PB taste to really leave an impression. Verdict? Moose Tracks is still #1 for him.

After taking a look at the choices, Alex settled on Heavenly Hash - "marshmallow ice cream and chocolate ice cream combined with chocolate covered peanuts". Not exactly the same as other Heavenly Hashes on the market, the chocolate covered peanuts really stand out and make this an enjoyable flavour. For all your purists out there though, this definitely isn't the same as the traditional Heavenly Hashes.

Of the four new flavours we tried, Paul's Black Raspberry Thunder was definitely my favourite of the day and is also one of my favourites overall.

Whew! FOUR more flavours off the list bringing my total up to 14!

another weekend, another kawartha dairy scoop

We spent Canada Day weekend up by Pigeon Lake again and, as always, there was lots of eating, socializing and sunning to be done. Did I mention the eating? More than once, someone was heard to comment, "It feels like all we do is eat up here!" How true.

But, not to fret - in between noshing on Nathan's hot dogs, thick steaks and homemade chorizo, I did manage to convince Paul to take a quick trip to Bobcaygeon so I could cross another flavour off my Kawartha Dairy checklist (actually I crossed off THREE flavours!)

Bobcaygeon was full of people, walking around and enjoying the hot, sunny summer weather (apparently we had just missed the Canada Day parade). The only disappointment was that our favourite place to get butter tarts was gone (after years and years of business) and its replacement...well, let's just say that the price was still high, but the butter tarts were much smaller and not as good.

Good thing I had my double scoop of ice cream as consolation! This time around, I definitely went with a caramel theme and tried Caramel Snappers (on top)  - "caramel filled chocolate turtles in toffee flavoured ice cream twirled with thick English Toffee" and unLOCKED and loaded - "caramel flavoured ice cream complete with a milk chocolate ripple, chocolate coated peanuts and sugar cone pieces". Both were pretty good, but two scoops of caramel-flavoured goodness ended up being a little too much for me. The Caramel Snappers was really sweet (a little too sweet for me), but the caramel filled little turtles were adorable. I liked unLOCKED and loaded more, and Paul enjoyed the sugar cone pieces (although neither of us understood where the name came from).

Paul surprised me again with another unusual ice cream choice. This time he went with Mango - "a smooth and creamy ice cream with that distinctive Mango colour and flavour". I've had mango-flavoured ice cream before, and usually it's never as good as the real fruit. This one was pretty much the same - the flavouring is a little too artificial, although it did resemble mango. Definitely the least favourite of the new flavours we've tried so far.

Unfortunately I didn't get a shot of the Mango ice cream, but here's one of the adorable little chocolate turtles that were scattered throughout my scoop!

So, for those keeping track - here's how I'm doing with my Kawartha Dairy ice cream challenge!

ice cream fever

Last month I decided that I'd (foolishly) try to eat every single flavour of ice cream from The Kawartha Dairy - what's a summer without a few crazy goals, right? And if the summer goal involves ice cream - even better!

Since we're spending a lot of weekends up near Bobcaygeon, I figured it wouldn't be too hard to expand my ice cream eating horizons (Kawartha Dairy's head office is there). In the past we always ordered the same things from there - a Bordeaux Cherry scoop for me and a Chocolate milkshake for Paul. To be fair, their Bordeaux Cherry rocks and you actually see them scoop up the Chocolate ice cream to make their thick and creamy milkshakes...yummm...but there were so many other flavours on the menu and I had never tried any of them!

Technically, they do give out samples. If you ask for a "taste", they'll kindly give you a small spoonful of any flavour, but I think that's cheating. So, in order for it to count, I (or someone I know that will let me try from their cup/cone) needs to order and pay for the ice cream.

This past weekend, my initiation into the Kawartha Dairy menu board got off to a bang with FIVE flavours knocked off the list! Yes, FIVE! How did I manage that many flavours with just one trip? Well, I grabbed a double-scoop and then Paul, my brother-in-law and my future sister-in-law all gamely ordered different flavours so I could sample theirs as well. I'm glad I can always count on family to support my off-the-wall food urges.

My double-scoop (or, as Kawartha Dairy calls it, a "small") consisted of Wolf Paws (on the bottom) - "vanilla ice cream with chocolate butter fudge and soft brownie pieces" and Bear Claw - "a dark chocolate ice cream filled with chocolate coated cashews and swirled with luscious golden caramel". Both were really good, although I preferred the Bear Claw with its crunchy chocolate-coated nuts over the soft-brownie pieces in the Wolf Paws. Normally, I love brownies, but these pieces were a little too soft so they were more like chocolate "blobs" than brownies. Still, I wasn't disappointed in either scoop!

Paul (who still ordered his usual chocolate milkshake) surprised me by ordering Cotton Candy - "pink cotton candy flavoured ice cream with a blue ribbon twirl". It was sweet, but tasted a little more like bubble gum than cotton candy. Once in a while, Paul said he got a hit of cotton candy flavour, but the spoonfuls I had didn't really make me think of the light, fluffy carnival treat.

My brother-in-law ordered his favourite, Moose Tracks - "vanilla ice cream with chocolate peanut butter cups swirled with Moose Tracks fudge". Even though it's pretty much all he ever orders, it was new to me. Similar to the Wolf Paws that I had, but instead of brownies, this had peanut butter cups, which is a pretty amazing combination. The flavour of the chocolate and peanut butter was nice and strong and went really well with the vanilla ice cream. Definitely a flavour to get again, or as my BIL declared (even though he's had it many, many times before), "It's delicious!" before he  made plans to go to Costco the next day to buy a pint of it.

Chocolate was definitely the overwhelming theme of the day as my future sister-in-law tried a scoop of Death by Chocolate - "chocolate ice cream with bittersweet dark chocolate chunks and thick chocolate twister sauce". A definite go-to choice for chocoholics, this one is all about chocolate. It was probably the least sweetest of the five flavours we had, but it had a nice, solid chocolate flavour and is definitely a good choice if you want something a little bit more complex than the plain chocolate flavour.

I'm already planning what to get next time (I'm leaning towards Muskoka Mocha and unLOCKED and loaded), but what about you? Have you tried any Kawartha Dairy ice cream? Tell me your favourites or do you see something on the Flavour List that you think I should try next?

green tea ice cream

About five years ago, my lovely sister got me a Cuisinart ice cream maker for my birthday after I mentioned that it would be fun to have one. I used it once (to make a mango sorbet) and then put it back into the box where it languished for the next half-decade. Until this week.

You see, for the past couple of weeks, Chung-Ah from Damn Delicious and I have been talking about making ice cream. She had recently bought an ice cream maker and I just happened to have an extra copy of the Williams-Sonoma Ice Cream book which I sent off to her. All this talk of making ice cream made me want to pull out my own machine and give it another spin.

So all week long I planned to make rhubarb ice cream but when I woke up Friday morning I thought, "Why don't I make some green tea ice cream for my dad?" You see, it was my dad's birthday and he LOVES green tea ice cream. I know he had just finished a store-bought pint recently and I thought it would be a delicious surprise if I made some for him myself.

I have several green teas powders in my pantry, including a couple I bought during my trip to Tokyo, but the one I chose was the Matcha Matsu tea from David's Tea, a Canadian company. I figured that it would be easier to get my hands on more if this recipe turned out to be a success.

I prepared the mixture Friday evening, let it chill overnight and then made the ice cream on Saturday afternoon. It turned out perfectly. My dad's reaction "This is better than the ice cream I just bought. You should sell this!" How awesome is that reaction?

The taste of green tea ice cream isn't for everyone, but if you're a fan, than you'll love this one. It's creamy, well-flavoured and easy to make.

At the end of the day, I don't know if making my own green tea ice cream is actually cheaper than buying it, but check out the ingredients list on the one that my dad had bought (I found the empty container on the kitchen counter):

"milk ingredients, sugar, glucose solids, modified milk ingredients, green tea, mono and diglycerides, guar gum polysorbate 80, carrageenan"

After seeing that list, making my own version seems much healthier and less, um, chemically-infused.