WHEN IT SNOWS, MAKE ICE CREAM

I love a snow-day. I love the sound of it - silence. Silence near, silence far. No school, no work, no traffic. Being snowed-in is a time when time truly stands still, or at least slows down enough so I can catch up with some stuff or stop everything to enjoy the right-here-and-now moments without guilt.

My husband took this photo of our backyard on Obama's day, January 20.

Snow takes me back to my childhood days on the farm when my mother would scoop up snow and magically turn it into ice cream. You can too. I'll share the magic. It's so easy you won't believe it.

Snow Ice Cream
Super fast, super easy, super yummy

½ cup half & half (whole milk or evaporated milk works too)
¼ cup sugar
½ tsp vanilla (or more)
dash of salt
2 cups fresh, clean snow, packed

Combine all ingredients and enjoy immediately.
Makes two servings.
NOTE: Eat it all because it doesn’t store well in the freezer or anywhere else.

ONE & ONLY FRUIT SALAD

So fast! So easy! So delicious! You can chuck those other fruit salad recipes. This is the only one you’ll ever want.

Mix together canned crushed pineapple and sweetened condensed milk, add some or all of the following ingredients (canned, fresh or frozen) cut to bite-size pieces. Drain most of the juice from canned fruit except the pineapple.

1 can crushed pineapple (don’t drain)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
fruit cocktail, tropical or regular
pears
peaches
mandarin oranges
strawberries
bananas
apples
any other fruit that you like
marshmallows
nuts, unsalted (pecans, walnuts, almonds)

Devouring the sweetened condensed milk with a spoon, right from the can, makes me a happy-camper, however, I keep my dignity by adding the fruit.

Thanks to Burgundy Olivier, cookbook author and my sister-in-law, for my adaptation of her fruit salad recipe. This gal knows food. She could knock Paula Deen right outta the ring. Check out her I LOVE SPINACH COOKBOOK. It’s a fun read, even if you dislike spinach: www.ilovespinach.com/.

Fruit photo by ultimcodex