ice cream

I just learned that July is National Ice Cream Month. How I have lived my life so far without this knowledge is a mystery to me. And this Sunday is National Ice Cream Day. I know what we'll be doing at my house this weekend.

In honor of ice cream, here is a fun, easy recipe for making ice cream in a Ziploc bag:

1 T sugar
1/2 cup milk or half and half
1/4 tsp vanilla (or more...I'm a big fan of vanilla)
6 T rock salt
1 pint-size Ziploc bag
1 gallon-size Ziploc bag
Ice
Extras: crushed cookies, peppermint flavoring, fruit, mini chocolate chips...

Put sugar, milk, vanilla, and any extras into small bag and seal it good. Fill large bag half full with ice and add rock salt, then put the smaller bag inside the larger one and seal the larger bag. Shake until the ice cream sets up. Take out the small bag, wipe off, open and enjoy.

Tip: This recipe doesn't make much ice cream, so you might want to double it. If you double it, use a quart-size bag instead of a pint-size. Or have each person make their own flavor and share!