Joys of Summer

Niece Jenna was a big help in making the ice cream we served with the rhubarb strawberry pie.









You won't ever get a perfectly sealed pie crust out of this house :).











Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Bar


























We celebrated Independence Day a bit early Sunday with a cookout of grilled chicken, corn on the cob, roasted potato salad, 7-layer salad, marshmallow-fruit salad and watermelon. And of course plenty of beer and wine!

Some recipes:

Rhuberry Pie
From 'Hollyhocks & Radishes' by Bonnie Stewart Mickelson

Pastry for 2-crust 9-inch pie
2 1/2 cups fresh strawberries, halved
2 1/2 cups chopped fresh rhubarb
Grated rind of one orange
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons tapioca
3 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 425 F. Prepare bottom crust for deep 9 inch pie dish.

In a mixing bowl, gently but thoroughly combine remaining ingredients except butter. Pour 1/2 mixture into prepared pie shell. Dot with 1/2 butter. Add rest of fruit and dot with remaining butter. Top with pastry that's been slit for steam vents.

Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes, then reduce temperature to 375 and bake another 30 to 40 minutes, or until lightly browned and bubbling in center. Cool on rack.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Bars

From Food & Wine Mag, July 2006

(Yes, actually from Food & Wine: a recipe using premade convenience ingredients. Couldn't have that, now could we? So I made the cookie dough, fudge sauce AND vanilla ice cream from scratch *pauses to do a superior dance*. We just won't mention I was multitasking too many things at once Saturday and forgot to add the eggs to the cookie dough...it still worked anyway)

1 package prescored break-and-bake chocolate chip cookie dough, at room temperature
2 pints vanilla ice cream, softened slightly
1/4 cup fudge sauce, warmed
1/4 cup salted roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chocolate coated toffee bits or one chocolate coated toffee bar, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Set cookie dough in a 9X13 inch baking pan. Place a sheet of plastic wrap on top and evenly press or roll the cookie dough to fill the baking pan. Remove the plastic wrap and bake the cookie for 14 minutes, until lightly browned. Let the cookie cool completely in the baking pan.

2. Invert the cookie onto a work surface and slide it back into baking pan, bottom side up. Trim the edges if necessary. Scoop vanilla ice cream over the cookie in large dollops. Place sheet of plastic wrap on top and press or roll the ice cream into an even layer. Freeze for one hour, until the ice cream is just firm.

3. Remove the plastic wrap. Drizzle the warm chocolate sauce all over the ice cream. Cover again with plastic wrap and freeze for one hour longer, until firm.

4 Invert the baking pan onto a cutting board and tap gently to release the cookie bar. Flip the cookie bar over so it is ice cream side up. Using a sharp, heavy knife, cut the bar in half crosswise, forming two 9X6 1/2 inch rectangles. Sandwich the cookie bar rectangles together and press hard to seal. Wrap in plastic and freeze at least one hour, until firm.

5. In a bowl, combine the almonds and toffee pieces. Using a sharp, heavy knife cut the ice cream cookie into 16 bars. Press one side of each bar into the almond and toffee mixture. Return the bars to the freezer or serve right away.