May 27

Over the long weekend I decided to make some yummy hazelnut ice cream in my special Play & Freeze ice cream ball. What’s so special about it? Well, you’ll see in the photos, but here’s a hint: IT GLOWS!

My recipe? It was pretty simple:

1 pint half & half

1/3 cup + 2 tbsp sugar

3-4 tbsp hazelnut syrup for coffee (like this one) — you can do this to taste. Mine was strong, but I like it that way.

Ok, so I mixed up the ingredients and poured them in one end of the ball. I filled up the other with ice and sea salt (I didn’t have any rock salt left).

As you can see, my ball lit up as soon as I put the ice in :)

And now for the shaking! Check out the neat video I shot:

Halfway through shaking, I stopped to scrap down the sides and inspect the ice cream.

Mmmm… yummy. Time for more shaking!

Another check reveals it’s almost done! I could have kept shaking for better ice cream consistency, but I prefer milkshake texture (and I was too impatient to keep going!)

Notice that my ball stayed lit up the entire time. Perfect for camping at night!

And the final outcome! Two perfect glasses of delicious hazelnut ice cream!

So, my ice cream recipe was not the healthiest. I think there were 80 calories per 2 tbsp of hazelnut flavoring, then the half & half and sugar. To make up for it I ate it with fat free cappuccino brownies. Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of those.

If you’re interested in the glowing Play & Freeze, drop me a line. :-)

May 8

With all the talk of Haagen-Dazs creating ice cream to help save the dying honey bee population, one has to wonder how much buying a pint of Vanilla Honey Bee actually offsets the carbon footprint of making it.

Click on the footprint to the left and calculate your carbon footprint.

And while you’re at it, consider how much you’d reduce your own carbon footprint if you made your ice cream at home.  In a non electric ice cream maker.

BE GREEN! The Play & Freeze can help you be more eco-friendly with your ice cream consumption!  Since it requires no electricity, you can have your ice cream without creating a large carbon footprint!

You can further reduce your footprint by buying local ingredients to make your ice cream.  You’ll support your local economy, eat healthier (as you won’t have all those nasty preservatives), and reduce the travel time your food takes to get to you. 

Locally grown food purchased locally = baby footprint vs imported food purchased thousands of miles from the farm = big footprint.  Think about it.

Buying an ice cream ball to create your ice cream with will eliminate all those boxes you throw away after consuming store bought ice cream.  Do something good for the environment and still enjoy ice cream — Buy a Play & Freeze!

May 2

For those of you looking for the original Play & Freeze (makes 1 pint), we’ve just received our shipment of blue ones today! Get yours before they sell out again!