Ice Cream and smoothies

I promised to update everyone when we tried ice cream again. And today we did.

I only had enough ice to fill the ice cream maker once, so we made a batch, dumped it out of the container, re-filled the container with another set, and put it back in the ice. Two batches of ice cream with one batch of ice-n-salt!

Anyway, we made your standard vanilla: 2 c sugar, 1 c cream, 1.5 c evaporated milk (poor man's cream), 1 tbsp vanilla, 1/2 tsp salt, and milk to the fill line (about 6.5 cups). It came out yummy! Then we put in raspberry chocolate truffle frozen custard: 1 big box chocolate pudding mixed according to the directions with 4 cups milk, then add 1 can evaporated milk (about 1.5 cups), 2 tbsp raspberry jam, and 2.5 c more milk, and 1 c sugar. Whip it together and chill. Pour into can, add enough more milk to reach the fill line, and freeze it.

I do ice cream the easy way--no eggs, no cooking. It came out REALLY GOOD. And the chocolate version tasted like a raspberry frosty when it came out of the can. We packed it in all the small lidded containers I could find (no more big ice cream tubs would fit in the freezer), and now we're overflowing with really tasty ice cream.

It worked.

Now I'm wondering how would it taste to make vanilla but stir in orange jello mix (mixed up with its water and orange koolaid or tang). Would it taste like an orange creamsicle?

What about pistachio pudding (one of my favorites) made into ice cream?

As for the smoothies: I've finally started making really good homemade smoothies. They feel and taste like the storebought ones, but made at home (cheaper!) with a normal blender. The recipe: 1 c canned fruit frozen with 1/2-1 c of it's juice (from the can), 1-2 c fruit juice or tang or koolaid, 1-2 c milk (to make 2 c liquid all together), 1 tsp vanilla, 1/4-1/2 c sugar, 1 c of a different frozen fruit frozen with 1/2 c of its juice. Put it all in the blender and blend until smooth. You have to use a spoon to help the blender get unstuck because it gets really thick and the fruit sticks to the blades uncut. (I suppose if you diced the fruit and then froze it, it would work better.) We usually make peach-pear with orange tang, or peach-apricot (using leftover fruit from dinner). Sometimes I throw in a tablespoon or two of jam to add berry flavor. Top it with coolwhip or frozen cool whip--very tasty. And you can totally control the amount of sugar (make it with sweetener, berries, and cream and you have a low carb treat!). It comes out so thick that we have to use an ice cream scoop sometimes to serve it. If you froze the mixture until it was a little stiffer, you'd have a good sorbet. We want to try mango, strawberry, fresh peaches, and other favorite fruits (nectarine!). The fruit juice makes a major difference in the texture and in it not feeling like another thick milkshake. 100% white grape juice would make it REALLY good.