Wonderful Vanilla Ice Cream

**NOTE: Lately this ice cream has seemed too sweet to me so today I left out the sugar altogether and it turned out perfect for me. Something to consider depending on your personal sweet tooth!

1. Put everything in your big mixer bowl and mix on low speed. (If you use a higher speed, it’ll slop all over the counter.) Make sure the pudding mix isn’t stuck to the bottom of the bowl.

2. Assemble your ice cream maker, turn it on, and slowly pour in enough mixture to come up almost the top of the frozen insert. Put the remainder in the fridge until you’re ready to churn the next batch.

3. After 25 or 30 minutes the ice cream will be of soft serve (very soft) consistency. Remove to a 1 1/2 qt freezer container and place in the freezer for at least 2 hours.

4. Repeat with refrigerated remainder.

Variations:
1. Substitute buttermilk for the half-and-half, and brown sugar for the white sugar
2. Use all full-fat ingredients. (I’ve tried all low/no fat ingredients and the texture gets all wrong.)
3. For Chick-0-Stick Ice Cream, add 2/3 cups peanut butter and 6 oz (3 sticks) chick-0-sticks, lightly crushed/broken 5 minutes before ice cream is finished churning.

If the ice cream has been in the freezer overnight or longer, I like to microwave it for 10 seconds or so before eating, but my husband likes his ice cream firmer. It’s up to you! Enjoy!