It's Easter...and you might have a bit of time on your hands!

Buongiorno....

Yep, that's Italian for you. Sounds like (bwonjorno) and means Good Day/morning. An Italian friend of mine did tell me that the beauty of the Italian language is that, how it is written is how it sounds... so that made my life easier when I decided to to a crash course in learning conversational Italian. What was this in aid of I hear you say. It was in aid of my girlie trip to Florance and Pisa. There were 7 girls in total and that can only mean one thing three things FUN, FUN and more FUN.

The photos taken above were at one of the Ice-cream palours we stopped in. It was a very cold and windy day, not really a day for ice-cream but just look at how they were displayed, you just had to have some.

So after having 'oon gelato' (I'll leave that for you to figure out), I was hooked, none of the supermarket ones do it for me now, not even Carte d'or (alright maybe they're ok). So now that it's Easter and you have a bit of time on your hands try making some homemade ice-cream. I had some very ripe bananas lying around, hubby found this recipe on the internet from a website called 'Hints and Things' and I tell you the ice-cream is divine. The recipe did say you could use milk or cream, I went all out there and used Double Cream! All I can say is yummmmmmmy!

If you don't have an Ice-cram maker, don't let the number of steps put you off, all it is really, is a case of mixing the banana, sugar and cream (I did mine in a blender), putting it in the fridge for an hour or so, then putting it in the freezer for 30-40 mins, take it out and mix to avoid ice bits forming and this process is repeated about 4 times and then voila, your amazing homemade ice-cream

Have a wonderful Easter and may the HOPE that the Easter Story gives us, be real and true in your lives now and always - forgiveness, hope and new beginnings.

Making ice cream without an ice cream maker
Courtesy of http://www.ice-cream-recipes.com/

Step 1
Decide on the flavor of ice cream you want to make

Step 2
Find a suitable recipe, get the ingredients, make up the mixture

Step 3
Pour your freshly prepared mixture into a fairly wide bowl and put in your refrigerator to chill for between 1 and 2 hours. How long will depend upon whether you've actually heated up or cooked any of the ingredients when making the mixture.

Step 4
Remove from the refrigerator and put into your freezer for 30-40 minutes.

Step 5
Take the bowl out and check the state of the mixture - it should have started freezing from the outside edges in but not be fully frozen in the centre of the bowl.

Step 6
Place the bowl onto a work surface and beat the mixture well, breaking up any ice crystals and making it smooth again.

Step 7
Put the bowl back into your freezer and wait another 30-40 minutes.

Step 8
Repeat steps 5 through to 7

Step 9
Repeat steps 5 and 6

Step 10
Put the bowl back into the freezer for the final time and check every 30 minutes or so until your ice cream is frozen and ready to eat.
Once your mixture is prepared you can blend/freeze as you prefer:

I expect you are now "itching" to have a go, so here are some recipes to get you started. Two easy but popular varieties followed by a couple of more unusual ones using ingredients which are normally readily to hand.
2 easy ice cream recipes …

Banana Ice Cream - Easy Recipe

The ingredients:
3/4 pint (375ml) cream or milk

4oz (100g) sugar

3 bananas – nicely ripe (to mash up)

To prepare the mixture:
Mash the bananas well and put into a mixing bowl. Take the cream or milk and pour into the bowl. Mix in well with the bananas.

a) use an electric ice cream maker to blend/freeze your ice cream which usually takes 20 to 40 minutes. Always follow the manufacturer's guidelines.

or
b) blend/freeze by hand without an ice cream maker See the guidelines set out above for ice cream making without a machine