Weekend

After having a "less than fun" day with students on Friday (was it a full moon or something?), I came home and decided that I needed a Brothers & Sisters nap before I did anything else.  Then I threw a temper tantrum while I was on the phone with Matt because the wiimote batteries were dead and I had to get out of bed to go get more.  I proceeded to growl breathe on the phone with Matt for a few minutes until he wisely said something along the lines of, "Oh man, I'll see you when I get home.  I'm going into a dead zone." Fortunately for him, I was asleep by the time he got home (like 15 minutes later).

But then when I woke up four hours later, I realized that I'd caught the cold that he'd spent the whole week fighting, and then I was super pissed.  So I went to Target to pick up my cure for a cold, a bottle of Simply Grapefruit juice (this cure is 90% placebo effect and 10% vitamin C, but it works pretty well) and some fancy cough drops (I am a cough drop addict, as is my dog).

Then I wasted my Saturday away taking approximately 12 more Brothers & Sisters naps, drinking another entire Simply Grapefruit juice, making some tasty chicken noodle soup, and pouting because my cold cure had failed.  This morning I finally changed out of the clothes I was wearing on Friday.  I haven't taken a shower in seven weeks.

Suckfest.

The good news, though, is that I had a freezer full of popsicles, and I found a water bottle at Target that is basically just a sippy cup for grown-ups that I could prop up against a pillow so that I could just roll over slightly to enjoy some nice, cold water.  And the weather was out of control perfection, so I had all of the windows open and enjoyed the nice breeze.  And tonight I got super inspired and attempted to make some mini pumpkin cakes. They're delicious, but I definitely didn't have the right pans, so they look kind of like hobo cakes.  Oh well.  I'd rather have delicious ugly food than disgusting beautiful food.  Right?  Right?

 Brothers & Sisters nap #9.

 If Simply Grapefruit doesn't work, maybe Ben & Jerry's will?

New laundry baskets make me happy.  Also, I am old.

Mitch loves the smells of fall. 

 Totes super glued my fingers together.

 It's all very Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

Well, shoot.

Here's to a new week, getting rid of this stupid cold, and more open window days.

15 Minutes of Fame

Work today kind of made me want to beat my head against a brick wall.  It's as though my students were doing everything in their power to knock me off of the pro-baby wagon, and I was tired, and since it's the end of the quarter, I had approximately one bajillion things to do.

UGH!

So, imagine just how incredibly super and awesome it was when I came home and saw this.

Basically, Pioneer Woman wants to be me.*

And last week little ol' M Cubed was featured in The Kitchn for Fossil Cookies.  Hell yeah! 

Can I please just quit my job and make cookies and ice cream and take pictures and write about them and have that be my new job?**

* Except that she probably doesn't.

**Jokes.  I do not want to quit my job, especially since with each passing year, the "wanting to beat my head against a brick wall" days are fewer and farther between.

Love and Marriage

Me: Do you want me to get you a spoonful of Mandy's Famous Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream?

Matt: Eh.  I'm not really into pumpkin.

Me:  Sometimes I wonder why we even got married.

Matt: So that you could have all of the pumpkin stuff.

Me: Fair enough.

Mandy's Famous Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream

Man oh man, what's happening to October?  For one, it's almost over.  How did that even happen?  And, two, it's still too warm outside.  It was 81 degrees here today.  Okay, now, don't get me wrong.  Who am I to gripe about weather that's 81 degrees?  Fine.  All I'm sayin' is that a little nip in the air would be welcome.  But, hell, that'll be here soon enough.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the best thing that this warm, balmy October has to offer: pumpkin cheesecake ice cream.

Last year I looked all around for Ben and Jerry's pumpkin cheesecake ice cream, but couldn't find it.  All I could find was some Edy's low-cal garbage.  I tried to jazz it up with cream cheese blondies (and if I remember correctly they were quite good), but still, in the back of my mind, I was craving pumpkin cheesecake ice cream.  So at Thanksgiving we made a pumpkin cheesecake, but I somehow overdosed on Thanksgiving food and so I didn't really get to enjoy it the way I should have.  So, here I found myself, a year later, still craving pumpkin cheesecake ice cream. 

Only, now I own an ice cream maker.  And I also possess some mad ice-cream-makin' skillz.  Yes, that's skillz with a z.  (Pronounced skeals.)  So this one, ladies and gentlemen, is Mandy's Famous Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream. 

What we have here is a pumpkin custard ice cream (the base of which is similar to Thomas Jefferson's Vanilla Ice Cream), cream cheese ribbons, and brown sugar pie crust chunks.  So, don't think for a second that this ice cream is good for you.  It is not.  But that's okay, because each bite is so jam-packed with creamy pumpkiny spicy nutmeggy cinnamonny brown-sugary cream-cheesy goodness that you only need a few bites to be satisfied.  Share the rest. 

Mandy's Famous Pumpkin Cheesecake Ice Cream

Ingredients

Cream Cheese Mixture (for the ribbons)

1 8 oz. block of cream cheese (NOT fat free)

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup sugar

Pumpkin Custard Mix

12 ounces pumpkin puree

5 egg yolks

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 cup brown sugar

Pie Crust

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 stick butter, cut into cubes

Directions

In a food processor, blend the ingredients for the cream cheese mixture.  Pulse until fully combined and smooth.  Empty contents into a bowl and refrigerate for an hour.

For the pumpkin custard mix, combine the pumpkin puree, 1/4 cup of the brown sugar, the cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger in a bowl.  In a large saucepan slowly heat 1 1/2 cups of cream with remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar.  (Do not let it reach a boil.)  Add the egg yolks and stir constantly, not allowing the temperature to exceed 160 degrees.  When the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, remove, and add to the pumpkin mixture.  Stir until completely combined, and chill for an hour or two.

While the two mixes are chilling, combine the dry ingredients for the pie crust (flour, brown sugar, white sugar) in the bowl of an electric mixer using the paddle attachment.  With the mixer on low, slowly incorporate the butter pieces.  Mix for 1-2 minutes, until butter and dry ingredients reach an almost sandy consistency.  Press mixture into the bottom of a cookie sheet, and bake at 350 until crust is golden brown and slightly crispy.  Allow to cool, and break into chunks.

Once the pumpkin custard mix has chilled, freeze it in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.  In the last 5-10 minutes, add about 1/3 of the cream cheese mix.  Once fully incorporated, transfer to a large bowl.  Fold in the remainder of the cream cheese mix to create cream cheese ribbons throughout the ice cream.  Gently add and mix in half of the pie crust.  Save the other half for topping.