Simple Vegan Ice Cream Base (Vanilla)

Usually the word Vegan scares us a little, but we’ve taken on the challenge a few times now to prove that we can make anything taste good.Today’s recipe is a Vegan ice cream base that you can either keep plain or add things like fruit, chocolate chips or whatever you want!

This ice cream is really flavorful and dairy-free, there is a hint of coconut because of the use of coconut milk, but it’s very milld and adds a lot of depth of flavor! Don’t be scared, we promise it tastes REALLY good.

We made it for a party, and it was a huge hit!

Vanilla Vegan Ice Cream


Simple Vegan Ice Cream Base 

Ingredients

  • 2 Cans Full Fat Coconut Milk (16 oz)
  • 1/2 Cup Sugar (We used Unwashed Raw Sugar)
  • 1 to 2 Tablespoons Agave or Honey
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1 Vanilla Bean (split open but not apart)
  • 2 Tablespoons Corn Starch
  • 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract

Step 1: 

Before you open your coconut milk, shake the cans really well to mix them up. Don’t forget this step, the milk tends to separate and can congeal together. Also, don’t be alarmed, we personally don’t think Coconut Milk in the cans smells very good. So don’t be freaked when it doesn’t smell great!

Step 2: 

Pour 1 can of the coconut milk into a heavy bottom sauce pan. For the second can, reserve about 1/2 a cup in a small bowl and pour the remains into the sauce pan.

Step 3: 

Add in the sugar, agave, salt and split vanilla bean.

Step 4: 

Place on the stove over medium heat, and stir until the sugar has melted. Don’t forget to stir!

Step 5: 

While the milk and sugar are heating, whisk together the corn starch and 1/2 cup of the milk. Slowly pour this mixture into the saucepan and whisk together. Remove the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds and return the seeds to the mixture and discard the bean.

Step 6: 

Keeping the heat a medium, thicken your ice cream base. Don’t forget to stir occasionally. This took about 7 to 10 minutes. Be careful to not let this mixture boil! When the mixture coats the back of the spoon, it’s ready! Pour in the vanilla extract and stir until fully incorporated.

Step 5: 

Transfer the mixture to a heat proof bowl or jar (we love Mason jars) and let cool for at least an hour on the counter before transferring to the fridge to cool completely. Do not put a hot or warm mixture into your ice cream maker. For best results, let the mixture cool overnight.

Step 6: 

When you’re ready to make your ice cream remove your base (which will be nice a thick, almost a pudding like texture) from the fridge and pour into your ice cream maker. For most ice cream recipes we always recommend following the manufactures instructions but for this particular recipe we saw best results between 10 to 15 minutes of churning!

Step 7: 

Once your ice cream is finished churning, remove and transfer to a freezer safe container and freeze for up to three days. For best results, let freeze a few hours before using.


Vanilla Vegan Ice Cream

Vegan Ice Cream over Apple Crisp. It’s almost guiltless.

#TwoYoungLadiesTravel to Spokane

Greetings from beautiful Spokane!

We left Portland this morning but not before stopping at Voodoo Donuts!

VooDoo Donut IMG_6617

The first part of the drive was stunning, we drove through Mount Hood National Forest. We’ve honestly never seen such a beautiful area. The tree’s were so green and lush, including a magical waterfall. We drove along a huge river which divides Oregon and Washington.

Greenery

How green and beautiful is that?

After we passed through the National Forest, the drive became sort of stale. I mean, we thought the drive from LA to SF was boring, this part of the drive was so bland. There was nothing for hours! We finally stopped in Boardman, Oregon where there were literally four restaurants.

We stopped at a dinner called C & D Drive In and Bakery. It seemed like it was the safest of the the four restaurants. We had lunch and enjoyed sitting outside for a few minutes.

I (Marlee) of course ordered chicken tenders and Christie ordered a Hot Jack Burger, which included jalapeños and pepper jack cheese. It was surprising really tasty and fresh. Once we were done, it was back on the Old Oregon Trail Freeway (UMM AWESOME) and we finally hit Washington.

Road Food

WHY SO MUCH BREAD?

We were both expecting something a lot more green considering it’s called the Evergreen State, but we were greeted with a lot of brown. We now refer to it as the EverBrown state.

As the drive dragged on, and as the GPS said we were closer and closer to our destination, the more concerned we became, it didn’t look like we were near any sort of civilization, but as we started going down a hill we finally saw the beautiful city of Spokane.

Sunset Pink Horse Entertainment Zone Town Map Hotel Elevators View from the Top

We’re leaving for Edmonton now, and will update when we figure out the internet situation. Thanks for following along!

#TwoYoungLadiesTravel to Portland

Hello again!

If you didn’t believe us, we told you we would be posting recipes! If you haven’t seen it yet, scroll down for a mouthwatering  recipe for Meyer Lemon Curd Cake!

Anyways, we left Sac-Town this morning and headed to Portland.This leg of the drive was absolutely beautiful and we drove through Mount Shasta. First of all, absolutely beautiful. But also incredibly sad to see how low Shasta Lake was, we know California is in a drought, and we’ve obviously seen the pictures, but to see how low the water is in person? Yikes. Very sobering.

Mount ShastaBut isn’t that beautiful? And so green! AND SO MANY TREES! Do you know what else is crazy? That this was once all underwater. Mind blown.

After Shasta’s beauty, the drive was kind of boring, but then we hit Oregon and the drive once again became interesting. Like Shasta, Oregon is incredibly green and beautiful.

OregonWe have tons of photos similar to this one, but we will spare you so you don’t get bored by us.

On this leg we also encountered our first (and hopefully only) encounter of almost stand still traffic. Thankfully it only lasted for twenty minutes, and after eight hours, we arrived in Portland.

The area we’re staying in is really nice, but there are a ton of homeless people. Gross alert….we saw one taking an actual dump. Hello and welcome to Portland! Tomorrow before we leave for Spokane we’re going to hit up a couple of foodie places and they all revolve around donuts!!! Apparently two of the best donut places in the United Sates are here. A full report tomorrow peoples!

Meyer Lemon Cake

Another Meyer Lemon Recipe? You bet! We love those Meyer Lemons, we’re honestly considering buying a tree so we can have Meyer Lemons ALL THE TIME. Or whenever they’re in season…

Anyways, after we made all that delicious lemon curd, we needed to find recipes that utilized it. And making a mouthwatering lemon cake seemed like the best idea.

What we love about this cake is that there is no frosting and the cake is “naked”. And of course looks very rustic, especially when it’s hot in LA and things tend to get a little melty.

Today’s cake recipe was inspired by the Lemon Velvet Cake from Rock Recipes.

Meyer Lemon Cake

Ingredients

For the Cake: 

  • 1 1/4 cups AP flour (sifted)
  • 1 1/2 cups  Cake Flour (sifted)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 baking soda
  • 2/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/3 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
  • 2 teaspoons lemon extract
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
  • zest of two small lemons or one large lemon (zested)
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • Meyer Lemon Curd
  • Whipped Cream

Step 1: 

Preheat the oven to 325°.

Step 2: 

Using baking spray or butter, grease and flour 2 nine inch round cake pans. We use a cake pan with a “arm” so we didn’t have to place parchment paper at the bottom. If you don’t have a cake pan with an arm, place parchment paper at the bottom of the cake pans.

Step 3: 

Sift together both of the flours, baking soda, powder, salt and sugar and set aside in a separate bowl.

Step 4: 

In a stand mixer or using an electric mixer beat together the vegetable oil, butter, vanilla, lemon extract, and lemon juice. If using the a stand mixer, beat on a high speed with a whisk attachment until light and fluffy.

Step 5: 

When the mixture is light and fluffy, add the eggs in one at a time.

Step 6: 

Fold in the lemon zest.

Step 7: 

Always starting with your dry ingredients, alternately mix in your flour mixture and buttermilk. Do not over mix the cake batter, as soon as their are no lumps pour the batter into the prepared cake pans.

Step 8: 

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the toothpicks come out clean. Allow the cake to cool for 10 minutes in the pans and then remove and let cool completely on racks.

To Assemble: 

After the cakes have cooled completely, poke a couple of holes in the cake  and pour some lemon curd on the cooled cake.

Prepare your whipped cream, once the cream is taking shape beat in two to three tablespoons of your prepared and cooled lemon curd. Once mixed, place in the fridge until cool. If your in a hurry, place in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Now, you can use the whipped lemon curd as the filling and the outside “frosting” or make a fresh batch of whipped cream for the top. We did the whipped lemon curd, and fresh cream on the outside. But it’s really up to you!

Meyer Lemon Cake

#TwoYoungLadiesTravel to Sacramento

Greetings from Sacramento!

We’re sorry we haven’t been posting very much, but we spent this week preparing for our EPIC ROAD TRIP! But don’t worry, that doesn’t mean we’ll stop posting recipes! We’ve saved a ton to post until we get home in two weeks. But until then, we will be posting from the road!

This morning we left LA and headed to our first stop Sacramento! This is first time  I’ve been (Marlee) to Sacramento and the first time Christie’s been back since a class day trip in 5th Grade.

#TwoYoungLadiesTravel

We couldn’t tell Peaches we were leaving. She always watches us leave and she gets depressed. She wasn’t impressed with us leaving today.

#TwoYoungLadiesTravel

Here we are, two young ladies! At our first stop, a McDonald’s off the 5 freeway in Hungry Valley. We forgot our waters at home so we went in, peed and bought four bottles of water. We refused to succumb to unhealthy eating on this road trip.

#TwoYoungLadiesTravel

See? That’s kinda of healthy. No pictured a bag of Bugles Chips….oops.

#TwoYoungLadiesTravel

Any Walking Dead Fans out there, cause we found Terminus! Don’t worry, we didn’t eat what they were grilling.

Anywhoo, after six hours of driving, we arrived in California’s Capital. Super exiting. We walked around and saw the Capitol building, shown below in a lovely photo. There seemed to be quite a few proms going on that prompted hundreds of teens to take their pre-prom photos there.

Can we just say how happy we are to no longer be in high school? Like really, THANK YOU.

#TwoYoungLadiesTravel

Beautiful building surrounded by a myriad of trees. We didn’t realize this, but Sacramento is “City of Trees”.

It’s also the city of  “take a wrong turn and quickly end up in the ghetto”.  As we naively turned right at the end of a block, Marlee noticed a homeless woman laughing at us, and a man who was standing in front of the sketchiest motel we’ve ever seen yelling profanities at us. We took that as a sign to get out quick.

The Nope Hotel

Remember kids: always carry pepper spray and walk around with 911 ready on your phone when roaming Sacramento, you never know what the next corner holds.

Off to Portland tomorrow, we’re hoping we get to VooDoo Doughnuts! Stay Tuned!

Meyer Lemon Tartlets with a Sugar Cookie Crust

As you know, we love Meyer Lemons, and we LOVE lemon curd. So, what better way to use our luscious lemon curd than to make adorable little tartlets that look “rustic”-professional *wink*.

*Warning! These might be habit-forming; excessive happiness can occur in some subjects. *

Meyer lemons are originally from China; they’re a hybrid of true lemons and mandarins, which is what creates those wonderfully fragrant and sweet lemons.

Fun fact about citrus: the common fruits we know lemons, limes, grapefruits and oranges are actually major hybrids. They all orinally stem from citrons, citron Papeda, mandarins, pomelos, and the endangered Indian wild orange.

Meyer Lemon Tartlets with a Sugar Cookie Crust


Meyer Lemon Tartlets with a Sugar Cookie Crust

Meyer Lemon Curd

Lemon Curd: 

  • 7 Meyer Lemons (3 if using regular lemons)
  • 1/2 cup (from lemons above)
  • Meyer lemon zest (from the lemons used for juice)
  • 1 1/2 cup bakers sugar
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter (room temperature)
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Sugar Cookie Crust

  • 2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature.
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 3 cups AP flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

For The Lemon Curd:

Step 1: 

Because Meyer lemons are smaller you need more to make this curd, zest the lemons and try to avoid zesting the white part of the lemon, which is called the pith. After you zest the lemons cut the lemons in half and juice them.

Meyer Lemon Curd

Step 2: 

In a food processor pulse together the sugar and lemon zest until the lemon zest is fully incorporated to the sugar. The sugar will have a “damp” texture.

Meyer Lemon Curd

Meyer Lemon Curd

Meyer Lemon Curd

Meyer Lemon Curd

Step 3: 

Cream together the butter and then mix in the sugar.

Meyer Lemon Curd

Meyer Lemon Curd

Step 4: 

Beat in the eggs one at a time and then add the salt and lemon juice. At this step, the curd is going to look absolutely disgusting, you’re probably going to think you fucked it up. Don’t worry. It’s supposed to look that way. Trust us.

Step 5: 

Next, transfer the mixture into a sauce pan. Stir constantly over a low heat until the mixture starts to smooth out and eventually begins to thicken. Check occasionally with a digital thermometer and when the temperature reads 170° you can remove from the heat. Cool to room temperature and then refrigerate.

Meyer Lemon Curd

Sugar Cookie Crust 

Step 1: 

Using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, beat together butter and sugar until thoroughly mixed. Three minutes of high.

Meyer Lemon Tartlets with a Sugar Cookie Crust

Meyer Lemon Tartlets with a Sugar Cookie Crust

Meyer Lemon Tartlets with a Sugar Cookie Crust

Step 2: 

Add the eggs one at time fully incorporating one before adding the next. Add the  vanilla and then the lemon zest.

Meyer Lemon Tartlets with a Sugar Cookie Crust

Step 3: 

Finally, at a medium speed add in the AP flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix until just combined. Remove the dough from the bowl, and wrap in parchment paper. Place in the fridge four about thirty minutes.

Meyer Lemon Tartlets with a Sugar Cookie Crust

Meyer Lemon Tartlets with a Sugar Cookie Crust

Tartlets: 

Step 1: 

Preheat your oven to 300°and grease a mini muffin pan with cooking spray.

Step 2: 

Once the dough is throughly chilled, remove the dough. Make small balls and push them down into the mini muffin pan using your thumbs or something rounded.

Meyer Lemon Tartlets with a Sugar Cookie Crust

Step 3: 

Take the cooled curd and spoon the mixture into the cookie dough crusts.

Bake for about 12 to 14 minutes, when you remove the mini tartlets they will jiggle slightly, that’s okay. Let them cool and then remove.

Sprinkle with powder sugar or a fresh lemon whipped cream and enjoy!

Meyer Lemon Tartlets with a Sugar Cookie Crust

Meyer Lemon Tartlets with a Sugar Cookie Crust

Paska French Toast

It’s Sunday and we all know what that means! Brunch Day! And one of our favorite brunch items is French Toast! But not that kind of French Toast that has excess eggs. That’s actually one of our breakfast pet peeves, we ordered French Toast, not egg toast.

A couple of weeks ago we had breakfast at one of our favorite deli’s, Nate and Al’s. And I (Marlee) ordered the French Toast and was totally disappointed when my French Toast had all that extra egg business. So when we came home, we wanted to make the kind of French Toast we like.

Bad French Toast:

Eggy No No

Good French Toast:

Paska French Toast

We obviously utilized our delicious Easter Bread, but you can very easily use challah, brioche, or really any bread of your choosing. But if you happen to make our Paska Bread, then you must try our Paska French Toast!


Ingredients 

  • 1 loaf of Paska
  • 1 cup milk (whole or 2%)
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or vanilla pasta
  • pinch salt
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups semi crushed Corn Flakes (optional)
  • 1 to 2 tablespoons butter

**This recipe is easily halved, if you only have half a loaf don’t worry just half everything (except for the cinnamon, vanilla, and salt)!

Paska French Toast

Step 1: 

Preheat your griddle to 350°.

Step 2: 

In a bowl beat your eggs and transfer to a shallow baking dish.

Paska French Toast

Step 3: 

Next, pour in your milk, heavy cream, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Mix well.

Paska French Toast

Step 4: 

If your bread isn’t cut, go ahead a do that, we did about an inch, but it’s really up to you.

Paska French Toast

Paska French Toast

Step 5: 

Melt one tablespoon of butter on the hot griddle and spread around as evenly as you can.

Paska French Toast

Dip your Paska into the milk mixture and repeat on both sides. If you like the added crunch dip the Paska into the Corn Flakes, if you don’t skip this and put the Paska on the hot griddle.

Paska French Toast

Paska French Toast

Paska French Toast

Paska French Toast

(The crunch-ifed version is delicious!!!)

Step 6: 

Cook for four minutes on each side. Cook until all the bread is finished. In between batches, re-butter the grill.

Paska French Toast

Step 7: 

Serve with warm Brown Sugar Maple Butter Carmel. You’ll thank us. We promise.

Paska French Toast

Paska French Toast

Crunchy French Toast is the best French Toast!!

Brown Sugar Maple Butter Caramel

You’re welcome. If these are 5 of your favorite words, then you might be Paula Deen.

This recipe is made with love, so naturally that means it doesn’t have calories.

Brown Sugar Maple Butter Caramel


Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup of brown sugar
  • 7 tablespoons of unsalted butter (basically 1 tbsp short of a stick)
  • 1/4 tsp of maple extract
  • 1/2 cup of real maple syrup
  • 1/4 tsp of cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp of vanilla paste
  • 2 pinches of fleur de sel
  • 1/4 cup of heavy cream

Step 1:

Melt butter in a saucepan. Then add the brown sugar, keep stirring!

Step 2:

Add maple syrup and extract, cinnamon, vanilla paste, and fleur de sel.

Step 3:

Let it all meld together, then take it off the heat and let it sit for a minute.

Step 4:

Add heavy cream while stirring, then VOILA! It is done and once it’s cooled some, taste it! Don’t taste when it’s hot, otherwise you’ll be calling it your favorite mistake, yup that what Sheryl Crow’s song is about.


Brown Sugar Maple Butter Caramel

We’re Hammin’ Creamy Pasta

This is a recipe that one of our Moms (Marlee’s) makes whenever we have leftover Honey Baked Ham.

This is such a simple recipe and it utilizes a lot of ingredients you may already have in your pantry. So it’s delicious and it helps you clear your pantry.

Also, be mindful about adding salt. Ham is already incredibly salty and if you add too much, the dish can very easily be over salted! And it’s much easier to fix and under salted dish than an over salted dish.

We’re Hammin’ Creamy Pasta


Ingredients

  • Leftover ham from Easter (or any other fun Ham-casion)
  • All those leftover peas in the freezer
  • Onion or shallot or BOTH
  • Chicken broth
  • Cream of mushroom or chicken soup
  • Pasta
  • Cayenne pepper
  • White pepper
  • Salt
  • Fresh Ground Pepper

Step 1: Dice the shalion (shallot/onion) and ham.

Step 2: Heat pan with some olive oil, when ready, sauté the shalions. (We added a splash of white wine to deglaze the pan, INA style).

Step 3: Add chicken broth, then cream of mushroom soup. Whisk until it’s smooth.

Step 4: Add spices: cayenne, white pepper, salt and black pepper.

Step 5: Cook pasta, drain, put back into the boiling pot, and add the sauce.

Step 6: Mix in ham and peas, give it all a good mix and enjoy!

We’re Hammin’ Creamy Pasta