Weekend Things | June 15, 2013

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Time for an installment of Weekend Things:

1. There’s a Los Angeles-based business that sells only pedal-churned ice cream. They’re dishing out frozen goodies that are not only made from organic ingredients, but are also processed entirely by human power.

“…it only takes about 3-4 miles of pedaling (aboard an old Schwinn bike mounted on rollers) to freeze a 5-gallon batch of Mexican chocolate ice cream, salted caramel non-dairy vegan dessert, or strawberry-basil sorbet. If you’re going at a decent clip, that’ll take about 15 minutes.”

They should try my ice cream cream, No-Ice-Cream-Maker Funfetti Cake Batter Golden Oreo Ice Cream

No ice cream maker needed, it’s a no-cook recipe, make it in 10 minutes, and only two main ingredients are required: heavy cream and sweetened condensed milk.

It’s dangerously easy and the best ice cream I’ve ever tasted.

No-Ice-Cream-Maker Funfetti Cake Batter Golden Oreo Ice Cream

2. I’ve been doing recipe development for Pillsbury and a new post of mine just went live on their site, Strawberry Jam Sweet Rolls with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze

Strawberry Jam Sweet Rolls with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze

3. They’re the shortcut version using pre-made dough of these Strawberry Sweet Rolls with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze

Strawberry Sweet Rolls with Vanilla Cream Cheese Glaze

4. This Vanilla Bean-Infused Simple Syrup looks like something I could use in just about everything from iced coffee to muffins to coffee cake

“Cane sugar and water infused with pure Madagascar Bourbon and Tahitian vanilla bean seeds, and vanilla extract.”

Vanilla Bean-Infused Simple Syrup

5. I just got my monthly iHerb order. Their prices are, hands down, the cheapest on my daily probiotics, the nutritional yeast I sprinkle on everything from popcorn to salads to kale chips.

I get all my vitamins and supplements, bulk cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, liquid vanilla stevia drops, bulk white stevia powder, medicinal fancy-grade honey, chia seeds, and so many other things I use every day there.

With free shipping and a discount on top of already rock bottom prices, I always feel like I hit the jackpot.

Enter code AVE630 at checkout to save $5 bucks and go shopping.

probiotics

6. Polished metal cuff – Punctuated with sparkling Swarovski crystals and bright turquoise cabochons, $465 from Shopbop

I’ve always loved turquoise. Both the stone and the color. And with Swarovski crystals, I wouldn’t say no.

Polished metal cuff

7. Cook’s Illustrated tested popular brands of grocery store black tea. They confined the tests to black tea, or English Breakfast tea, and what follows are the winners and losers.

grocery store black tea

More Results

8. Daiquiris aren’t just on the “specialty cocktail” page at chain restaurants. Done right, they’re a mix of light rum, lime, and sugar. The Hemingway Special was Ernest Hemingway’s favorite daiquiri. If it’s good enough for him, it’s good enough for me.

More ideas in Saveur’s Papa’s Favorite Poison

aveur's Papa's Favorite Poison

photo credit Michael Kraus

9. The Best and Worst Nuts for Your Health – “A look at the pros and cons of different nuts, as well as the best and worst products on supermarket shelves today. Of course, you can get too much of these good things: Nuts are high in fat and calories, so while a handful can hold you over until dinner, a few more handfuls can ruin your appetite altogether. And although nuts are a healthy choice by themselves, they’ll quickly become detrimental to any diet when paired with sugary or salty toppings or mixes.”

Best nuts for your diet:  Almonds, Cashews, Pistachios

Worst nuts for your diet:  Macadamia Nuts, Pecans

Best nuts for your heart:  Walnuts

Best nuts for disease prevention:  Almonds

Best nuts for your brain:  Peanuts

More Results

10. I’m glad that peanuts are the best nuts for my brain. I eat way more than my fair share in the form of loose peanuts or ground into homemade peanut butter

Here are 35 Favorite Peanut Butter Recipes

And my Cookbook, Peanut Butter Comforthas 100+ peanut butter recipes

Front book cover of Peanut Butter Comfort book

I recommend putting Peanut Butter Honey Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate-Peanut Butter Streusel on your agenda. It’s good for your brain.

Peanut Butter Honey Buttermilk Cake with Chocolate-Peanut Butter Streusel

Thanks for the entries in the 25 Restaurant Copycat Recipes and CopyKat Cookbook Giveaway and in the $500 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway

What are your Weekend Things?

Favorite nuts? Tea drinker or favorite tea? Fave Daiquiri? Favorite place to save money on your everyday staples and supplements?

If you’ve made anything, done, seen, or bought anything fabulous recently, feel free to link it up in the comments.

About the Author

Welcome to AverieCooks! Here you’ll find fast and easy recipes that taste amazing and are geared for real life. Nothing fussy or complicated, just awesome tasting dishes everyone loves!

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Please note: I have only made the recipe as written, and cannot give advice or predict what will happen if you change something. If you have a question regarding changing, altering, or making substitutions to the recipe, please check out the FAQ page for more info.

Comments

  1. What a coincidence, I really don’t like macamias and pecans! My favourite nuts are: cashew and almons ( same liking level, first place) and then walnuts and peanuts (SLL, Second place) :)

  2. The Hemingway Special sounds like something I must have. And pedaling for ice cream…brilliant! If I could do that at home, I’d be able to work off all my sins. ;)

  3. Favourite tea of the moment is vanilla chai with milk :-) Went to Starbucks the other day & they had a chai tea latte with honey on the menu & I thought ‘great I’ll try that’. However there appeared to be no tea involved, just a really sweet syrup added to milk :-( going to try making my own soon!

  4. I love that Vanilla Bean-Infused Simple Syrup! And that strawberry jam sweet rolls look heavenly. I wish I was having that for breakfast tomorrow morning. I’d eat the entire pan!

  5. Both versions of your strawberry rolls look so good… I think I’m going to dream of them tonight! :)

  6. That nut thing is really interesting. I have been eating a few more nuts lately. I’m really wondering why pecans aren’t good for your diet. I always thought they were a pretty healthy nut.

    1. Nuts in general are high in fat. Bite for bite, compared to something like…a grape. Nuts aren’t diet-friendly. Sure, they have healthy fats, and all that jazz, but they’re still calorically dense and not diet-friendly. A few, sure. But most people can’t stop at 10 or so!

  7. Oooh that cuff is so pretty!!! I love the best and worst nuts too-good stuff to know ;)

  8. Ooh, ooh! I made your ice cream this week!! I didn’t use sprinkles (the men in the house are unfortunately not fans…why?!) and I was a little unsure about it before I put it in the freezer, but once it firmed up?! It really is pretty magical. The almond flavoring balances so well with the imitation vanilla (I felt like an imposter buying that, by the way!). Definitely yummy. I like the idea of pedaling to churn the ice cream. That way there’s absolutely no guilt in eating it!!

    And I picked up your book at my library today. I can’t decide which recipe to make first! So many glorious choices!! Can I use the DIY peanut butters in baking recipes? I’m a Jif girl, too, by the way. Or I guess a choosy mom, as they say. My husband’s co-workers and our church members are going to get fat eating all the wonderful goodies you’ve inspired. Or diabetes. Or both! :)

    1. Wow great comment! Can you cut/paste the first half of it onto the ice cream post so that people know it’s the real deal :)
      https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/06/no-ice-cream-maker-funfetti-cake-batter-golden-oreo-ice-cream.html Thanks if you can!

      And my book – so cool it’s at the library..wow, had no idea!

      And no, you cannot use the DIY PBs in the baked recipes. I cover that in at least 3 places in the book – NO don’t!! Use Jif for everything baked or you could have a sloppy mess! They may work, but they may not. I wrote it so many times I felt like a broken record but I guess it bears repeating (again) and I couldn’t have said it enough! :) LMK what you make first!

      1. Done on the comment! :)

        And I guess I’ll need to actually READ your book instead of just drool over it. Although I have already found the baking soda/powder explanation interesting. I just pinned a recipe from Martha Stewart’s site for a DIY of baking powder using cream of tartar so you don’t get the metallic taste. Have you tried doing that? I’m intrigued, especially since I just through out the Sam’s Club-size canister of powder my husband bought several years ago. It was WAY past it’s use by date. We bake, but apparently not THAT much!

        And I must try that vanilla simple syrup, too! Yum!!

      2. I don’t making my own baking powder. It’s 99 cents at the store and honestly, that is something I don’t want to screw around with b/c without the EXACT proper ratios, down to the gram, you could realllyyyyyyyy mess up your food. I just don’t have the time to take the chance that it was my baking powder that made xyz item not rise, or explode in the oven, etc.

        And good call on READING the book before baking. Always a good thing to do :)

  9. Making that ice cream is on my to do list for sure! And I’ve heard of that pedal-churned ice cream place in L.A. I’ll have to check it out this summer and compare it to yours. My guess, yours is better :) I never knew peanuts were good for your brain. All the more reason to eat more peanut butter I guess!

  10. oh girl your ice cream is tasty looking!
    I wonder if my hubby would be up for pedaling my ice cream maker to churn? LOL!
    Have a great weekend girl!

    1. At least you’d get the calorie burn beforehand. lol

      Oh and read your Friday links yesterday, just didn’t comment. But I love your list. You always find some GEMS!