It's spring time!

One of the great things about living in California is we get to feel the spring a bit earlier than many of the states in this country. That comes with abundance of fresh produce available. This weekend, Ely and I (and my big belly), went to a farmers market that we have not been for a long time. We are indeed lucky to have three (!) year-around farmers market in town. Two of them are managed and cared by the same manager and farmers/venders. And the other one is run by different farmers. I honestly love both of them, and we have friend at both markets. We have been going to the one closer to our house during the winter, but I received an e-newsletter about what is happening at the other market early last week, so we had to go check it out. Wow! What an abundance of fresh produce!! We caught up with farmer friends and bought a lot of greens, strawberries, eggs, and potatoes. There was also a new vender, a dairy farm/creamery! I have been looking for a local dairy for a while since we moved here, and I was very excited to see them at the farmers market. They are still about 90 miles away from our house, but they sell their milk in glass bottles, and has variety; whole milk, skim milk, chocolate milk, strawberry milk, and root beer milk. They also sell ice cream. We bought one 1/2 gallon whole milk, and 1/4 gallon chocolate milk.

The reason why I was looking for a local dairy was because I want to make homemade yogurt, cheese, and ice cream. For cheese, I needed to find pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized) or raw milk. Many of the milk at a store are ultra-pasteurized in order to prolong their shelf life. But this one I bought today, is pasteurized. I am a bit nervous and has not had the courage to make cheese at home, yet. But I did make ice cream. I am lucky enough to have an ice cream maker, which makes ice cream making so much easier. I just followed the recipe came with the instruction booklet. But there is no comparison in taste and quality. Homemade ice cream not only allows you to know exactly what goes on into your ice cream, but also tastes much much better and creamy. The recipe does call for heavy whipping cream, which I had to buy at a store. But I am going to make frozen yogurt next time with homemade yogurt. I also made Lavender Lemon Sorbet adopted from the recipe for Lemon Basil Sorbet from the same booklet.

Simple vanilla and chocolate chip ice cream adopted from Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker instruction booklet.

1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup chocolate chip

In a mixing bowl combine whole milk and sugar. Whisk it until sugar is dissolved into milk. Add heavy cream and vanilla. You can cover it and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours to over night. I did not do this because I could not wait!

Turn on the ice cream maker, pour the mixture into the frozen bowl and let it mix until thickened. After about 15-20 minutes, add chocolate chips and run it for a few minutes. If it is too soft, put it in the freezer for a few hours before serving.