Happy Birthday to... {& a Strawberry Ice Cream Recipe}

...yours truly! ;)

I'm getting ready to head out to dinner to celebrate, but I just wanted to pop in and let you all know that I'm still here... my first week of this 3-week temporary job went well.  As expected, I've been pretty tired every night since I'm still adjusting to "normal" sleeping hours.  But, I did muster up the energy to make some fresh strawberry ice cream to share with you all.  I had contemplated making my own birthday cake but as the week went on and the humidity came back, I decided that ice cream would have to do!

This "ice cream" would probably be considered more of a sherbet... I was looking for an easy recipe but didn't find one to my liking so I kind of just winged it.  I didn't use as much cream and there was a good amount of liquid from the macerated strawberries.  But it was creamy enough for me...so knowing that, here's the "recipe":

Strawberry Ice Cream
[Print Recipe]

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 lb. strawberries, hulled and roughly chopped
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups half and half
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

In a non-aluminum bowl, toss the strawberries with lemon juice and sugar.  Cover and refrigerate to macerate overnight.

In a blender, combine macerated strawberries, half-half, 1/2 cup sugar and vanilla extract and pulse until smooth. Pour into bowl of ice cream maker and churn for 15-20 minutes, according to manufacturer's instructions.  Enjoy immediately or store in plastic container to freeze for 3 hours.  If frozen for more than 3 hours, leave container out for a few minutes to soften before scooping.

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PS - Please excuse my unkempt nails in the photo above... I probably should have gotten a manicure before taking a photo like this but to be honest, I don't really like getting manicures - they always end up hurting me! Now pedicures on the other hand... ;)