It’s been a while since our first ice cream theme post, so we figured it was time for part deux. After all, July is National Ice Cream month, so I can justify a second ice cream post. Believe me, even if it weren’t July, I’d find a reason. I’m the person who intentionally allows fruit to ever-so-slightly over-ripen just so I can say, “Oh, will you look at that. This poor mango might be too soft to cut up and enjoy. Let me just make some mango ice cream so it won’t go to waste.”

I’m sneaky like that.

Ice cream is the perfect summer treat, and with the current heatwave hitting many areas of the country, I almost can’t decide whether to binge on it or bathe in it. Seriously, man. It’s hot outside. Let’s just all stay in and make ice cream.

(See how I snuck that in again? I’m telling you. Ping me if you need me to craft custom excuses to make copious amounts of ice cream in your home.)

Today, we’ll do a rundown of two main types of ice cream. First we’ll show you some egg-free ice cream recipes. Some purists will insist this is technically what ice cream should be, hence the name ice cream. Ice cream made without eggs is usually easier and quicker, and is sometimes referred to as Philadelphia, New York, or American-style ice cream. Though this style of ice cream doesn’t require any cooking, Alton Brown says that bringing the milk or cream up to about 170ºF then letting it cool before churning greatly improves the texture of the finished product.

(Note: I goofed and mistakenly included the Orange Julius ice cream here. It belongs to the custard-based lineup. Oops!)

You can get incredibly creative with these, too. And by golly, you have. You kill me with all your incredible concoctions, creating all these frozen versions of our favorite desserts. Banana bread ice cream? Strawberry cheesecake ice cream? Pecan pie ice cream? My goodness. Will one of you adopt me please?

Now we’ll lay some custard-based ice creams on you. Custard-based ice cream is basically the same, but with a higher concentration of egg yolks. It is sometimes referred to as frozen custard or French ice cream. Since eggs are a natural emulsifier, these tend to be richer and smoother than egg-free versions. The egg yolks also give them a pale yellow tinge, which is apparent when you compare a scoop of the ubiquitous bright white vanilla ice cream and a scoop of French vanilla ice cream.

Here are some custard-based ice creams paired nicely with fruit. Maybe it’s just that fruit really goes well with ice cream, or maybe, particularly with the richer custard-based versions, the fruit provides a nice balance of flavor. Whatever the reason, what I’m sure of is that I just want more of it.

If you’re lactose-intolerant, have dairy allergies or simply want to avoid dairy, fret not. Though not technically ice cream, here are a few of ice cream’s cousins you can enjoy without feeling like you’re missing out. Some use coconut milk instead, and some are just straight-up sorbets. Sorbets, according to the FDA, are water ices and contain no milk or eggs. But if you need to stay away from eggs completely, be sure to read the label or recipe carefully. Some sorbets can contain egg whites.

And there you go! That was a tour of my freezer rundown of just a few of the ice cream recipes here in Tasty Kitchen, and we hope you find a few new favorites. I didn’t even show you any gelatos and sherbets yet. Oh well. Guess we’ll have to do that in a separate post.

So make some ice cream this week, and unleash your inner Ben & Jerry! Then come back here and share your creations. I’ll be anxiously waiting here. In the shade. Fanning the heat away with one hand while the other hand holds an ice cream cone.

 
I’m going to take a wild guess and say quite a few of you may have a tad too much candy in the house right now. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) Or you might be tempted by the ubiquitous candy sales and specials that stores put up right after October 31, and a bag or two could conceivably find their way to your cart all on their own. Don’t laugh, I’ve seen it happen.

So what do you do with all that extra candy? Short of just plain sitting on the couch with a bowlful and having at it, of course. If that’s not your style, or if the presence of house guests means you need to temporarily feign some semblance of candy manners, here are a few ways to put that lovely candy to good use.

Leftover Candy Hand Pies: super simple and great slightly warm with a scoop of ice cream. All you need is three ingredients—two, really, if your leftover candy includes plain dark chocolate.

Or go for the big guns and make whole pies. You can whip up a Chocolate Candy Bar Pie if your leftover candy consists mostly of plain chocolate, or make a Reese’s Peanut Butter and Chocolate Pretzel-Crust Pie if you have leftover pretzels and peanut butter candy!

Take 5 Candy Bar Cookies: big cookies with big flavor, thanks to chocolate chunks, Take 5 candy bar pieces, and the salty crunch of pretzels. Go ahead and substitute your favorite leftover candy bar pieces!

Keeping with the cookie and sweet and salty theme, try these Sweet and Salty Candy Bar Blondies! They’re gooey and chewy and packed with honey roasted peanuts, Reese’s pieces, and Heath bars. Or skip the peanuts and go for the Reese’s Peanut Butter Caramel Bars instead. They have peanut butter, caramel candies, chocolate chips, and Reese’s peanut butter cups.

Of course, there are other options too, like chocolate bark and fudge. Or you can chop them up into small pieces, find an excuse to invite friends, family, and kids over for dessert and set up an ice cream bar with lots of candy toppings!

How about you? Any suggestions for re-purposing leftover candy? Actually, do you even have any leftover candy? If don’t, you might want to pick some up anyway and try one of the recipes here. You won’t regret it, I promise.

Have a wonderful chocolate-coated, caramel-filled weekend, everyone!

 
This week, we’ll do a bit of a twist on a spring theme. For many people, spring is not only the time for flowers and vegetables and fruits to start coming alive again, but it’s also the time to dust winter off our shoulders and tackle that annual routine of spring cleaning. The sweaters and heavy jackets are put away, closets and attics and basements and bookshelves are cleared, and the warmer weather seems to empower us with newfound energy to do it all.

For the life of me, I never could figure out how we can end up getting rid of so much stuff every year. Where did all these things come from? Didn’t we just throw out a bunch of things last spring? Sometimes I wonder if my house is a bottomless pit. Or a “stuff” magnet. Do you ever get that same feeling?

Today, however, we’ll talk about a different kind of spring cleaning. The yummy kind. Because we’ve all got things in our fruit basket, bread box, refrigerator, pantry, and cupboard that somehow get left behind. The remnants or neglected ones that, if we don’t do something about them soon, might very well start walking away on their own. And if you’re like me and cringe at the thought of wasted food, then get ready for all the incredible ideas that Tasty Kitchen members have shared that may just make you start planning to have leftovers!

Let’s begin with the photo above. If you’ve got any apples past their prime (maybe they’ve got some brown spots, are quirkily irregular in shape, or you made some pie and have a bunch of cores and peels), jemnenke shares a wonderful Apple Rosemary Jelly that doesn’t even use pectin. If you have old bread, one of the classic ways to use it is to make croutons, and jenniferperillo’s Parmesan Skillet Croutons will make a delicious addition to your salad. Got some leftover risotto sitting in the refrigerator? Make some Arancini from Angela [YourEverydayMama] and turn dinner into the next day’s snack item! Or if you’re looking for ideas to use up some canned beans and spaghetti sauce sitting in your cupboard, Super Veggie Vegan Enchiladas from Jessica can take care of that.

Let’s get back to cleaning out that refrigerator for a moment. We all saw the wonderful idea that Jaden shared using leftover Easter ham in last week’s post, and in the photo below, you’ll see cookincanuck’s take on leftover ham, with her Tarragon Crepes with Ham, Asparagus and Mascarpone Cheese. Or if it’s some extra chicken that’s languishing in there, Annalise has an awesome Slow Cooker Lemony Chicken Noodle Soup that also makes use of any leftover parmesan cheese rinds! Or throw together an Easy Veggie Ramen from foodwoolf, using ham, pork, beef, chicken, turkey, or whatever kind of meat you might have on hand. If it’s bags of frozen vegetables that you want to put to good use, try lizzygoesdutch’s Vegetarian Pot Pie below and make a hearty, healthy meal out of it. And since turkey is often the star of many big gatherings, try some Turkey and Stuffing Scallop from julip1882 the next time you find yourself looking for things to do with leftover turkey and stuffing. (Oh, and it works with chicken, too.)

 
 
If you’re like me, you’ve probably already done the “make a pizza using leftovers as the toppings” trick a few times. But what if it’s just regular non-leftover pizza night at your house, and you end up with extra slices and toppings the next day? If you’ve also got a lone pie crust hoping to be used soon, then throw together the Leftover Pizza Quiche from jodiecoston seen in the photo below (top left). If you’ve got old rice, try steamykitchen’s delicious Tomato and Egg Fried Rice. Or try bell’alimento’s Thursday Night Rice, which uses both leftover risotto and macaroni.

If it’s your vegetable bin that you’d like to empty, fire up a wok or skillet and make Ree’s Easy Monday Night Stir Fry, or some clever little Mini Vegetable Frittatas from whatsgabycooking. Got some herbs that need a home? The Homity Pie from thingswemake seen below can take them in. Or if you still have some wickedly spicy habaneros from the time you had to buy a whole pack just to use one or two, then make this Sweet and Spicy Habanero Jam from Jessica, which would really kick up your sandwiches!

 
 
Now let’s head to the cupboard where you keep your baking supplies. If you’ve got a little bit of this and a little bit of that in terms of grains, oats, nuts, dried fruit, baking chips and other add-ins, you can try mixing them all up to make a batch of mybakingaddiction’s Homemade Granola like you see on the left in the photo below. Or make ivoryhut’s Leftover Cookies and throw in all those little handfuls of leftover crunchies. If granola is actually what you have left over, then bake up some Granola Blueberry Muffiins from A Cozy Kitchen or throw them into Hyacinth’s Everything Cookies posted by Ree. Believe me, those things are amazing.

 
 
And those are just some of the great ideas I found for leftovers here at Tasty Kitchen! They all look so good that no one can tell they’re actually rescue missions in disguise. So the next time you … what? You want just a few more? Maybe something with chocolate?

 
Okay. Just for you, let’s do a few more. Maybe some Chocolate Chip Jam Bars from Tracy (sugarcrafter) that will help you use up that bottle of jam or jelly, or a Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding from Bindi in case you don’t want to make croutons with your leftover bread. Or if it’s your fruit basket that needs attention, Cindy has some Petite Fruit Tarts that can empty it out in one afternoon.

 
 
There you go! I hope these showed you some new ways to make kitchen spring cleaning more interesting and delicious. Plus, it helps us all save money and expand our kitchen repertoire at the same time. It’s a win-win!

 
Now we want to hear from you. What’s your take on leftovers? Do you try your best to cook just enough to never ever have leftovers? Or do you look forward to creating new dishes with what you have on hand? Do you have any favorite leftover tricks? Do share!

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