More Elena's Blueberry Pie and a Giveaway!

Hi fans!  Did you get your free ice cream on Wednesday and make a donation to The Cure Starts Now yet?  If you can’t get enough of Graeter's Elena’s Blueberry Pie Ice Cream, stop by the Glendale Beer, Wine & Food Festival tonight for a special “Happy Hour” giveaway from 6-7 PM!

I also have a Cones for the Cure prize pack giveaway that will go from September 9 - 16.  It includes a $5 Graeter's giftcard, $7 worth of candy, Notes Left Behind book, and some other goodies!  Enter below for your chance to win!

Last but not least, check back again before September 16th for the announcement of the second and final free cone giveaway date!

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Cones for the Cure Kick Off

Free ice cream.  Curing cancer.  These are both wonderful things!  As a Christine's Kitchen Chronicles reader you're getting the inside scoop on how these two things go together.

I'm happy to announce the kickoff of this year's annual Cones for the Cure campaign.  The Cure Starts Now and Graeter’s team up once again this September in their annual Cones for the Cure campaign. This two-week long campaign will take place September 4-16 at participating Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, Lexington and Louisville Graeter's locations to help spread the word about The Cure Starts Now and its mission to find the “homerun” cure for all cancers by focusing on pediatric brain cancer.  It's a delicious way to support a precious cause.

During Cones for the Cure, guests that visit a Graeter’s store during the campaign period have the opportunity to donate a $1 or $5 “Cone for the Cure.” Graeter’s will also offer a $15 savings booklet for every donation of $5 or more to The Cure Starts Now.

Watch this short video to learn more about Cones for the Cure and Elena's Blueberry Pie special ice cream (Note: this video was created in 2011 so the date mentioned for the campaign is incorrect):



Remember how I mentioned free ice cream?  All local Graeter's will also be offering free scoops of their Elena's Blueberry Pie Ice Cream from 3-8 PM on Wednesday, September 4th.  Elena’s Blueberry Pie is a special flavor that was created in honor of 6-year-old Elena Desserich who was lost to cancer in 2007.  Stop into your local Graeter's shop for this delicious treat and while you're there, please don't forget to make a donation.  In 2012, nearly 40,000 people participated in the campaign which generated over $42,000 for The Cure Starts Now.  With your help, here's to hoping the 2013 campaign is even more successful!

Can't make it on September 4th?  Check back between now and September 16th for another free scoop date to be announced!  Also, there will be a special online giveaway for one lucky reader.

SRC: Pineapple "Ice Cream"

It's that time of the month again!  This month for Secret Recipe Club (SRC) I received Erin's blog, A Tale of One Foodie's Culinary Adventures.  Erin started her blog much for the same reasons that I did.  And that's to document the cooking and baking that we do.  When I was browsing Erin's blog, I was greeted by some pretty delicious looking cupcakes in her header and found lots of drool-worthy desserts.

Because my husband and I are watching our weight and we absolutely LOVED the 5 Minute (Healthy) Chunky Monkey Banana "Ice Cream" that I made last year, I thought I'd give her pineapple version a try.  It was very simple to make and definitely tasted of summer.  Not as custard-like and creamy textured as the banana version but I think adding more yogurt could help with the creamy taste.  Or, leave it out entirely for a vegan sorbet treat.  I did leave out the booze in this instance since we ate it right away but you can add it back in if you're into that or plan to save for later.  I hollowed out a pineapple half and scooped the "ice cream" inside it for serving.  It also serves as a great freezer mold :).

Thanks Erin for this healthy recipe and I look forward to going back to try some of your more unhealthy treats like the Frozen Reese's Peanut Butter and Oreo Pie, Peanut Butter Toblerone Cheesecake, or Truffle Filled Chocolate Cupcakes.

As usual a special thank you to April of the blog Angel's Homestead, SRC ring leader and Angela of the blog Big Bear's Wife, our Group C Hostess!

Pineapple "Ice Cream"

Ingredients

• 1 whole pineapple, cut up into bit size chunks and frozen
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3-4 Tbsp spiced whiskey (omitted)
• 3 heaping Tbsp non-fat Greek yogurt

Directions

1. Combine ingredients in food processor until smooth and combined.  Scrape down as needed.  Enjoy!

Source: A Tale of One Foodie's Culinary Adventures

Product Review: Graeter's Ice Cream

Happy National Ice Cream Day!

Fellow foodies and ice cream enthusiasts, believe me when I say you haven't lived until you've tried Graeter's ice cream.  Seriously, if I could only eat ONE type of ice cream for the rest of my life, it'd hands down be Graeter's Black Cherry.  There's a reason Oprah named Graeter's her favorite ice cream and has it shipped to her to eat.  It is just sinful.  Velvety, creamy texture with flavors that just dance on your tongue.  Fresh, wholesome, REAL ingredients that you can pronounce.  The quality shines through and through.

The awesome people at Graeter's said they'd send me some of their homemade, hand-packed, small batch French pot process ice cream to review.  I felt a little silly having them ship me their ice cream (on dry ice which isn't cheap, mind you!) when there's a scoop shop just down the road from my house but they insisted.  And who am I to turn down FREE ICE CREAM?  No, not me.  Thank you!

Believe me when I say I tried to secure some to giveaway to you, too.  Unfortunately, they're not doing giveaways at this time :(.  So live vicariously through me for now and enjoy the "food porn".  Once you've realized you can't take it anymore (oh...say in a couple photos from now...) and simply must have your own Graeter's ice cream to eat, consider stopping by your local scoop shop, grocer (they're not available nationally!), or order online to enjoy this irresistible treat!  Visit their website for more details on where to find it.

The ice cream arrived by UPS Next Afternoon Air packed in a nice Graeter's brand styrofoam cooler with dried ice.  No worries about the ice cream melting even in the record hot summer heat.  Opening the cooler was literal Christmas in July.  I didn't know what amazing flavors would be sent to me or how many.  This is what greeted me:

Hellooo four pints of amazingness!

A chip assortment: Mocha chocolate chip, Mint chocolate chip,
Vanilla chocolate chip, and Black rapsberry chocolate chip.

For those unfamiliar with Graeter's ice cream, their signature flavor is their Black Raspberry Chip, which was included in my shipment.  And when they say "chip", they mean "CHUNK"!  Don't be surprised when you find literal whole pieces of rich, dark chocolate candy bar in your scoop.  Sometimes, it seems almost as if someone added some ice cream to your chocolate ;).  Oh and the best part?  Somehow they manage to keep the chunks the perfect texture/hardness.  It's easy to scoop and melts oh-so-silkily in your mouth but the ice cream is still nice and hard.  How do they do that??  Graeter's does not skimp on quantity or quality here and I was excited to try all these different "chip" flavors that they're so famous for!

Oh yeah!  THAT's the stuff.  Check out those chunks!

To be honest, my husband and I actually had not tried most of the flavors they sent us so it was a nice change from the norm.  Here's what we thought about each flavor:

Vanilla Chocolate Chip:

We decided to start with the most basic flavor that was sent to us.  You can always judge the quality of a good ice cream by their vanilla because there's nothing else to hide or mask it.  As is the case with all Graeter's ice cream bases, this was really rich and creamy.  Divine, really.  All their ice cream use real cream free of artificial growth hormones.  The strong vanilla flavor, made from Madagascar vanilla beans, was authentic and the bittersweet chocolate chunks were very plentiful and the "right size" according to my husband.  This flavor didn't disappoint!



Black Raspberry Chip: 

THIS is the stuff that dreams are made of.  Who can resist the beautiful (and natural!) vibrant color of this gorgeous ice cream?  But just wait until you have a bite...sensory overload!  Smooth fruity black raspberry flavor made from hand-picked Oregon black raspberries is complemented by the bittersweet of the chocolate.  With just one taste, you'll understand why this is their signature flavor.  And with each additional bite, you'll fall in love over and over again.  


Mocha Chocolate Chip: 

Neither Chris nor I are much of coffee people but we found this to be pretty enjoyable and coffee lovers I'm sure would go ga-ga.  Keeping with using only the highest quality ingredients, they use 100% real Arabica coffee beans.  It's like a creamy, chocolate flavored iced coffee and of course, filled with Graeter's famous chocolate chips...no, chunks.

Mint Chocolate Chip: 

We chose to save this flavor for last because mint always seems to have a way of transferring itself to other flavors and we didn't want to taint the rest of our tasting experience.  Unlike most mint chocolate chip ice cream, Graeter's mint chocolate chip is white, not artificially colored green.  It used to be green but in an effort to make the ice cream 100% natural, the food coloring was removed.  I have friends that swear it's not as minty anymore (let's face it, visual cues are huge and we do eat first with our eyes!) but I found the amount of mint to be just right.  Plus, I appreciate Graeter's taking out unnecessary ingredients so the good stuff can really shine!

So there you have it folks, our review of four different popular Graeter's ice cream flavors.  Did you make it through reading this far or have you already run off to get your own scoops or pints?  My other favorite flavors when I visit the scoop shop?  Besides Black Cherry, which we already discussed, I can also highly recommend Elena's Blueberry Pie and Cookies and Cream.  I didn't realize it until now but I guess I'm an ice cream purist and actually prefer the non-chip flavors!  My husband, the peanut butter-aholic, almost always gets the Buckeye Blitz.  That's not to say that he won't ask for the occasional free sample taste spoon of the Peanut Butter Chip (surprise, surprise) or Cookie Dough justtt in case he changes his mind ;).

I'm curious, Which flavor of Graeter's ice cream is your favorite or would you most like to try?

PS: If you are fortunate enough to have a Graeter's nearby, you can stop in and get a single dip of your favorite premium ice cream in a sugar cone for just $1.42 today in celebration of 142 years of Graeter's and National Ice Cream Day.  What a deal!  And yes....my husband and I are totally stopping by to take advantage of this offering despite the fact that Graeter's already stocked our home freezer with 4 pints.  Gotta get my Black Cherry and he his Buckeye Blitz!  There's a reason why their slogan is "Irresistible since 1870".  They really are just that irresistible!

Disclosure - This blog is a personal blog written and edited by Christine @ Christine's Kitchen Chronicles. The owner(s) of this blog was compensated with free products to provide an opinion on the products, services, websites and various other topics. Even though the owner(s) of this blog receives compensation for posts or advertisements, we always give our honest opinions, findings, beliefs, or experiences on those topics or products. The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the bloggers' own. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer, provider or party in question.

Five-Minute (Healthy) Chunky Monkey "Ice Cream"

Did you catch some key words in that title?  It's healthy.  And it only takes 5 minutes.  And, if you closed your eyes, you'd think you were eating the richest custard-style ice cream.  But it's NOT really ice cream!

I'd heard of using frozen bananas for a quick ice cream before but had never gotten around to try it.  The moment I saw this recipe show up on Pennies on a Platter's website I knew I had to make it.  And, judging by the number of times it was pinned on Pinterest, everyone else had the same idea!  Seriously.  Go take a peek at that photo and tell me you didn't immediately start drooling all over your keyboard.  Yeah, that's what I thought.

What gave me that last push to decide to make this tonight (and post the recipe in the SAME NIGHT...very rare!!) was my friend Linda's suggestion to do iced treats.  And, I needed something to cool me off after a hard, sweaty session of Jazzercise!  L.O.V.E.D this and will be making it more often!  I had to put down my spoon to avoid eating it all in a single sitting :P.

Go freeze some bananas so you can make this in an hour or two!  If you hurry, you can still make it tonight.  Or, if not then maybe for breakfast?  It is, after all, bananas ;).

Five-Minute (Healthy) Chunky Monkey "Ice Cream"

 
Ingredients

• 3 peeled and chopped, then frozen, bananas (I think this would work best if they are frozen in a single layer or somehow broken up manually first...I had trouble getting my blender to break up the big chunk!)
• 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• Handful of chocolate chunks
• 2 Tablespoons peanut butter or Nutella (optional)

Directions

1. Puree the bananas in a food processor or blender until smooth.  Personally I love using my Cuisinart Smart Stick with the Chopper Attachment.  Blend and eat out of the same bowl!  Add the walnuts and chocolate chunks and pulse until mixed in.  Stir in the peanut butter or Nutella, if desired.  Top with extra yummy stuff like walnuts, chocolate chunks, and peanut butter chips if desired.  Serve immediately or freeze for later consumption.  It will be like soft serve initially but left to frozen it will harden up like regular ice cream.

Source: As seen on and adapted by Pennies on a Platter from Kitchen Simplicity

White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream

Did you know that this Sunday, July 18th is National Ice Cream Day?  Hooray! 

Now, there are directions all over the internet about how you can make ice cream without an ice cream maker but I felt like it would be too much work or not yield a creamy enough ice cream.  So, if you're lazy and apprehensive like me you have 2 choices: 1) buy pre-made ice cream from a local parlor or grocery store or 2) buy a standalone or attachment ice cream maker.  I recently opted for the second and bought a Kitchen Aid Ice Cream Attachment from Amazon for a meer $24 after I used the free giftcards I received. How timely and appropriate!

I then scoured the internet for the perfect ice cream recipe to use as my first test batch.  Many of the blogs that I follow had lots of great ones and pretty much everybody agreed that the 2 undisputed ice cream recipe books are David Lebowitz's The Perfect Scoop and the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Book.  I thought about buying myself one or both books but then I realized with every other blog posting the recipes for free, why bother?  That's generally how I find most of my recipes anyway is through blogs so why start buying cookbooks now, right?

Back to making my first batch of ice cream.  I decided to be ambitious and chose this White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream that Christine from Christine's Cuisine had creatively put together using 3 different Perfect Scoop recipes.  I was drawn to the pretty swirls and I'm a sucker for white chocolate and raspberries.  *drool*. 

I was surprised at how much the ingredients cost.  This is the last time I complain about the cost of store bought ice cream...they have every right to charge that much!  I was also surprised at how many steps were involved.  I had to prep the raspberry sauce (which apparently the liquor is the secret to preventing your fruit from freezing rock hard), heat and thicken the custard, cool the custard, churn the ice cream, melt the chocolate, layer it all together, and then let it mellow and freeze nice and hard in the freezer.  Phew.  To be honest, this ended up being a 2 day project for me....

But in the end, it was worth it.  Symphony of fresh berries, smooth cream, and decadent chocolate.  It melted smoothly in my mouth and cooled me in the sweltering Summer heat.  Churning ice cream at home feels good knowing everything going in is natural...the way ice cream SHOULD be made.  Now, my ice cream didn't swirl as beautifully as Christine's did but it tasted just as bit as good I bet.  To see how it should really look, I suggest you hop on by her blog to see what drew me to make this as my first homemade ice cream batch :).

I've had my ice cream maker about 3 weeks now and I just finished churning my 3rd batch about an hour ago.  Look out in the near future for posts about Blackberry Ice Cream and Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream!

One Year Ago: Chicken Parmesan Meatball Subs


White Chocolate Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream
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Ingredients

white chocolate ice cream

• 8 oz. white chocolate
• 1 cup whole milk
• 2/3 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 5 large egg yolks
• 2 cups heavy cream

raspberry swirl

• 1 1/2 cups of raspberries, fresh or frozen
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 1 tbsp. vodka

chocolate stracciatella

• 5 oz. bittersweet chocolate

Directions

1. Combine raspberries, sugar and vodka in a bowl and mash with a fork to combine. Refrigerate an hour or overnight before churning the ice cream.
2. Put the white chocolate in a large bowl with a mesh strainer on top.
3. Warm the milk, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan.
4. In a separate medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape back into the saucepan.  Stir mixture constantly over medium heat until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spatula.
5. Pour custard through a strainer over the white chocolate and stir until chocolate completely melts.
6. Chill mixture in the refrigerator then churn according to the manufacturers instructions.
7. Just before the mixture is done churning – melt the bittersweet chocolate in a bowl in the microwave.
8. Into the container you are going to freeze, layer the ice cream, half the raspberry sauce and drizzle half of the melted chocolate on top. Then repeat. Freeze until firm.

Source: Adapted by and as seen on Christine's Cuisine from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz