Snow Ice Cream: Recipe {Thoughtful Thursday}

December 27, 2012 by Jules 2 Comments

Welcome to Thoughtful Thursdays! Every Thursday I {try to} post something thoughtful. Not much. Just a recipe. New gadget I've found. Cool store I think you'll like. Helpful hints I've learned. Welcome! Please share your thoughtfulness in the comment section below! If you happen to have a blog, leave a short description and link to the post.

It rarely snows anywhere in AR except for the North West corner. That's were I grew up. Winters were odd when I moved off to college and then when I got married to move yet again. I expected snow. A white Christmas wasn't a fluke. It happened often. One of the things I remember about white winters was SNOW ICE CREAM! Yum. Well, it's probably not to die for but the fun of making your own ice cream makes it taste that much more yummy. Now that I have 3 littles of my own, I've been passing down the simple goodness. My 2 girls thought it was just cool to bring snow Inside!

Snow Ice Cream

1 cup of milk
1 tablespoon of vanilla
1 cup of sugar
1 gallon of snow {1 heaping LARGE bowl of snow}

I like to mix the milk, vanilla, and sugar all together in a large measuring cup so all the ingredients are spread evenly around the snow. I know most people suggest collecting the snow in a big bowl as it's snowing but most of the time I'm not that optimistic. Most of the time, when I see it actually snowed enough to make the ice cream, I take a flat 'flipping' spatula and take the top clean layer off of something like the railing on my deck. Then I quickly take this inside where I add my milk mixture and blend it all together with a big spoon. If you want your ice cream consistency a little thinner you can just add more milk. Add your favorite toppings just like you would to regular vanilla ice cream. If you can't possibly eat all of this batch at once, just simply put it in a freezer safe container for later!

Flavored Snow Ice Cream

For flavored ice cream, use a little less milk, omit the vanilla extract, and add your favorite extract {coconut, lemon, mint! They even have root beer, eggnog, and pineapple now} or flavored syrup {chocolate, strawberry, caramel}.

UPDATE: This recipe sound Yummy! May have to try it.

Have fun making memories during your snow day!

Filed Under: Baking and Cooking, Homemaker, The Ones about Jules Life {Randomness}, The Ones about Link-Ups, The ones about the Rothacher Home, Thoughtful Thursdays

Did someone say, Hoo-rag? {Thoughtful Thursday}

December 14, 2012 by Jules 2 Comments

Okay mom- who out there has days {or months} were showering is not a top priority...or even on the list at all?

Yeah! I know lots of friends that can pull off the 2nd day hair or even have cool 'dry shampoo'. I can not. Although my hair is wicked thick, it's also super gree-say! I've tried the bang-pin-back, the pony, the fluff, and yes...even the {don't laugh!} baby powder on the scalp. Blaaak!

I used to snag my hub's hats but since he does everything but sleep in his hats and for reals can't smell a stank'n thing, after a while I couldn't stand the smell of them. I did how ever score this awesome hat from Union28. You KNOW I'm a big fan but when this not showering thing becomes a habit I need options to cover the not so blessed mess atop my noggin.

There is this lovely thing I've seen floating around Facebook on my gorgeous friends so you know a girls gotta steal a few ideas, right? Last summer, for our mission trip, I got this headband thingy off eBay {classy, ehh?}. It worked okay but still exposed most of the nastiness and was super tight on my giant melon.

In comes the Hoo-Rag!

This nifty little thing comes in a one-size-fits-all tube like thing that is super convertible. Me and the girls had lots of fun when it arrived in the mail!

The hide the hair

{IFY: this was not a 2nd day-er...not the clean bangs.
That NEVER happens on day 2. & sorry...all attempts were blurry}

The fluffy headband/earmuff

The cutesy painter

The second day-er

The day I wore the hoo-rag as a headband I lasted all day without having to pull it back up because it was running for it's life {aka squeezing off the back of my head} and it didn't give me a headache like most headbands do.

The day I stretched it from forehead back {partial ear coverage} I lasted most of the day until there was a break in the day large enough for a shower. I was going somewhere that night ;o). I was comfy. When I finally took it off it only left a slight mark across what my brother calls my 5 head {because it takes 5 fingers instead of 4 to cover it from eyebrow to hair line...but now, I don't have a complex or anything}. I think that was just because of the bunched up part I had underneath but it wasn't nearly as bad as all the other bandana things I've tried. I wore it out to "Cranberry's", the "car store" {aka 'Cranford's' grocery store around the corner that has those carts with cars on them}. I did feel slightly self-conscious because of my unusually tall head...you couldn't quite see my hair if I was looking straight at you {since I'd covered a large amount of that nasty you-could-make-McD's-fries-in-that-junk hair. I got a couple sympathetic looks, which I'm used to because people are so sad they are not blessed as I with 3 tiny kids ;o) but that day I think they thought I was going through chemo. Although this would be a super cute gift for someone who is...!

Anyways. I like it. My kids like it. My hubs does not but I put it on him anyways, b'wahahaha! I think I might have gone with a different pattern/color just because I don't have much that goes with this one but other than that, 4.798 out of 5 stars!

Isn't he cute!?! Biker. Hippy. Snowboarder/gas station armed gunman. Hehe. Maybe it was the flowers...couldn't have been the "hey honey. put this on and let me play dress up and take pictures AND post them on my blog"..."HOO-RAG" That's just fun to say!

This cool company contacted me and ask if I'd try out this hoo-rag if they sent me one and tell you about it.
Heck to the YES! All thoughts about "The Better Bandana" are my own ;o)

contains U28 affiliate links

Filed Under: The Ones about Link-Ups, The ones about the Rothacher Home, Thoughtful Thursdays

Magic Meatballs {Thoughtful Thursday}

November 29, 2012 by Jules 1 Comment

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs {slightly beaten}
1 tbs salt
2 tbs onion pwd
1 tbs garlic pwd
1/2 tsp oregano
2 sleeves Ritz crackers {crushed}
2 lbs lean ground beef

Mix Worcestershire sauce, milk, eggs, salt, both powders, and oregano with a fork. Then blend in crackers. Kneed in ground beef with hands until completely blended. Then roll ~2 inch balls and place on a lipped baking sheet. Bake @ 350' for 30 minutes. Then either freeze some for later or add them all to your favorite sauce & noodle meal.

Beef up your Spaghetti Sauce

I love taking cheap traditional meatless spaghetti sauce and adding some parsley flakes, garlic pwd. I let that simmer while I add the meatballs. Keep it low enough you don't have to constantly stir and it doesn't burn on the bottom of the pan. Pour on top of your noodles. YUM!

Actual Size! {~2.5inches 'round}

Filed Under: Baking and Cooking, Homemaker, The Ones about Link-Ups, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home, Thoughtful Thursdays

Turkey Hand-print Gift Bags {Thoughtful Thursday}

November 22, 2012 by Jules Leave a Comment

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

I am Thankful for YOU!

Last week I told you that we make a fun fall themed snack mix for our neighbors. This week I'm going to show you how we made the quick & easy turkey hand-print gift bags we loaded the snack mix into for delivery.

Supplies

brown paper lunch size bag {1 for each child}
acrylic paint {we used green, blue, red, & yellow}
small cup of water
small paint brush(es)

How-to Trace & Paint
{my 3 & 4-year-old}

Put on paint aprons, strip down kids, or just go for it!
Lay your child's hand down & trace it with a pencil then retrace it with a marker {avoiding the marker on the kids hand} and then add the legs, eyes, beck, & gobbler
Squire a small bit of each desired paint color onto a paper plate and a small cup of water
Let your child paint the "turkey" {attempting to stay in the lines} with a paint brush {rinsing in water}
Let dry completely before adding snacks for delivery

How-to just Paint the hand
{my 2-year-old}

Put on paint aprons, strip down kids, or just go for it!
Squire a small bit of each desired paint color onto a paper plate
Hold your child's hand out flat & paint the fingers {I did skipped the brown on palm & thumb since the bag was already brown. Then various colors on fingers}: only do ONE hand at a time
Take your child to the sink and quickly wash the hand off well before they touch everything & before you do the other hand.
Let dry completely before adding snacks for delivery

I know this isn't an original, so how do YOU do Turkey Hand-Prints?

Filed Under: Advent 2012, Holidays, Homemaker, Parenting, Projects, The Ones about Link-Ups, The Ones about Post Series, The ones about the Rothacher Home, Thoughtful Thursdays

Thanksgiving Neighbor Love’n {Thoughtful Thursday}

November 15, 2012 by Jules 3 Comments

So, many of you know we Rothacher's love a good excuse to love on our neighbors! I wrote about several recipes {HERE, HERE, & HERE} as well as upcycled gift wrapping we often using during last years Advent series.

This past week we decided to make us some chex-mix to snack on. When we get out the stuff to make a snack like this, we go ahead and make a crazy big amount of it and share!!! It's fun to do these simple gestures and I've found my kids asking to make things for our neighbors, mail-carrier, and trash-men if we haven't done anything in a couple weeks. They get so desperate at my laziness that they scribble pictures to stick in the mail box. Yeah, sorry about that cute lil Santa-look-a-like mailman, you have my permission to through them away...just not in my trash can. It prolly already has the trash-man's pictures in it. ;o)

Snack Mix {Thanksgiving Style}

1/4 cup butter
4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic pwd
1/2 tsp onion pwd
2 tsp season salt
7 cups of cereal {variety of Chex}
2 cups Reeses pieces
2 cups Cheerios {caramel flavored}
1 bag candy corn
1 bag of bugles {chocolate/peanut butter flavored}
Lots of Love'n!

How to make the mix

PreHeat {bwahahaha} oven to 250'
Melt butter & blend with Worcestershire sauce. Mix all seasonings together then combine into liquid mixture. Stir Well. Mix all cereal {Just CHEX} in a giant bowl, pour liquid/seasoning mixture over cereal and stir {forever} to coat all the cereal evenly.
Dump coated cereal onto 1-2 edged cookie sheets & back for 1 hour. Stir At LEAST once in the middle {after 30 minutes}.
Cut open a paper bag {I used 2 small lunch bag} and lay out flat on a counter. Pour backed cereal across the paper bag {only 1 layer thick} and let dry for ~1 hour.

Once dried, dump it all back in a giant bowl. For this I used a big foil turkey basting pan. Add all your other yummies to the mixture and stir until its mixed well.
Now it's time to make some kind of cute package to deliver your treat to you neighbors. We made Turkey Hand-print Bags {while the snack mix was baking} for each house we planned to deliver some fall love'n.
DELIVER your Thanksgiving Neighbor Love'n door to door or place in mailboxes.
Left overs can be stored in an air tight container for fresh snack'n!