Wednesday Gardening Day

Hi friends, 

I intended to write this yesterday, but something went wrong with my head as I was finishing up with garden stuff, and I had a bad dizzy spell. I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening motionless and without electronics. I woke up feeling better today. So, hopefully this was a one-off thing. I do get dizzy easily from movement, so there's that. Not to worry.

Anyway, back to gardening.

March may signify the beginning of spring, but it's been cool and wet this week. Nevertheless, I did get some gardening stuff done. 

First, I got out my gardening journal (my pink spiral notebook that doubles as my "motivational journal") and listed what seeds I have already begun for this season (tomato, kale, beets, celery, onions, and Brussel sprouts). I began these seeds two weeks ago in flats under lights indoors.

Next, I pulled out all of my seeds, even old ones. I discarded really old packets -- more than 10 years old was my guideline. Then, I sorted the seeds according to when and where I'd start them. Would I start them outdoors in the ground or indoors in flats? Would I start them in March or April or May? Once sorted, I labeled several boxes (when and where starting) and plunked seeds into each's appropriate box. I now have a firm plan and some organization for starting all of this year's seeds. The beauty of sorting into boxes is that after I begin particular seeds, if I want to succession sow (plant some more later in the season), I can plop the packets of seeds into a second box after starting in an earlier month. Ex, I plant lettuce several times during the season, so after starting lettuce this week, I'll put the packets into a box labeled "late May" for a mid to late-summer harvest. And again for veggies like kale that do well in both spring and fall here, I'll have a box for starting seeds in June.

After this organizational exercise, it was time to start some more seeds in flats under lights. This week I began turnips, a different kind of beets, several types of lettuce, Swiss chard, nasturtiums, and red, white, and "blue" (really a deep purple) petunias. I also soaked parsley seeds in water overnight to start today (Thursday) in Wednesday's tray. And since I love to make lists, I entered the types and quantities (how many cells or pots) of seeds that I began this week into my "gardening journal." I gave my flat of seeds some water and have them under lights for a little heat while they germinate. And now I wait.

If you're on the fence about planting a vegetable garden for this upcoming season, I think it's worthwhile if you have the sunny space and time. From what I've been hearing, we can expect even more food inflation later in 2022, due to increased transportation costs, higher prices on crop fertilizers, and water restrictions for farmers in key growing states like California. There's always something that doesn't grow as well as I'd planned or has some sort of pest problem, but I've never had a garden that didn't give me my money's worth.

Making Funfetti Cake Batter Ice Cream

Funfetti Cake Batter-flavored ice cream

My daughter planned to curbside-pick up whipping cream and strawberries for both our household and my son and daughter-in-law (2 packages strawberries and 2 containers whipping cream) just before Valentine's Day from Target. When she got the notification that they were out of stock of the strawberries, I told her to skip the whipping cream, too. Well, somehow, Target didn't get that last message in time. They included the whipping cream with my daughter's other personal purchases and charged her for it. She didn't realize this until she came home and unpacked her purchases. So, we were stuck with this whipping cream. I paid her for it and then was thinking, thinking, thinking how I could use it all before it spoiled. 

sprinkles from Target online, shipped to our address,
 less expensive than in store at Walmart or Fred Meyer

Enter the idea for ice cream for both daughters' birthday later this month. Ice cream is a great way to "save" extra heavy cream. The freezer essentially preserves the whipping cream, and the ice cream can be eaten any time in the coming months. Both daughters love cake batter ice cream as well as funfetti anything. I added a canister of rainbow sprinkles to my recent Target order (great price, btw, $2.99 for 9.3 oz) and made plans to do the ice cream this week.

Many recipes for cake batter ice cream call for cake mix. That's fine if you have cake mix on hand. I don't, so I searched around for ideas. I had a hunch that a mix of both almond and vanilla extract would be part of the recipe. As I was searching, I came across a reddit thread with a poster suggesting a mix of almond, vanilla, and butter extract. Guess what? I have all three of these. (The proportions suggested were 1/2 teaspoon almond extract, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon butter flavoring, and 1/2 cup of rainbow sprinkles stirred in to a standard ice cream base of 2 cups whipping cream, 1 cup whole milk, plus unspecified sugar.)

So, I made the ice cream, using the following measurements:

• 1 pint heavy whipping cream
• 1 cup 2% milk (I didn't have whole milk)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon butter flavoring (Wilton)
• 1/2 cup rainbow jimmies

our ice cream maker has been one of our favorite wedding gifts
 from all those years ago

In a large mixing bowl with a spout, I stirred together the cream, milk, sugar, and flavorings (not the sprinkles just yet). I poured the mixture into my pre-chilled ice cream maker. I churned slowly for about 25 minutes. When the ice cream reached soft-serve firm, I churned the sprinkles into the mix. I had tested a sprinkle in a small amount of milk to see if it would bleed into liquid and it did. As a result, I decided to add the colored jimmies once the ice cream was no longer liquid. After churning the sprinkles in, I scooped the finished ice cream into a large plastic container with a lid and smoothed the top (so I can lay a sheet of plastic wrap over the top once it's frozen hard). The ice cream is now hardening in my deep freeze.

I will put a sheet of plastic wrap resting on
top of the ice cream after it's frozen.
This will help prevent ice crystals from forming.

What I thought

I need to preface, I have never chosen cake batter ice cream for myself before. This is a flavor my daughters often choose. I'm more a coffee or chocolate flavor gal when it comes to ice cream. Does it taste like commercial cake batter ice cream? My daughters will have to be the judge on that. And I won't know what my daughters think about this homemade Funfetti Cake Batter ice cream until their birthday later this month. However, if I were to make this again, I would increase the sugar by about 2 tablespoons and increase the almond extract to about 3/4 teaspoon. Otherwise, I thought this was pretty good. I wasn't sure about the butter flavoring, so I only added 1/2 teaspoon at first. After adding this amount and tasting, I added the other 1/2 teaspoon. Because taste can be such a personal thing, I would recommend adding the flavorings in parts and increasing to the suggested amount based on one's own taste.

I wash and reuse the plastic containers that
shortening (Crisco) comes in -- perfect size
for a batch of homemade ice cream.

I still have another pint of whipping cream to use this week. As soon as I can get the chilling chamber re-frozen, I'll be making a chocolate fudge brownie ice cream for my husband's birthday in April.

This is one of those times that my kids and husband are very glad that I waste not, so they can want not.

If you were to find yourself in a situation such as mine -- an extra pint of heavy cream about to expire -- how would you use it?