Summer Project (You can thank me later)

My first goal (set sometime last year) was to have my frequently used recipes all made into 4x6 cards by Christmas. I didn't even come close. My next goal was Valentine's Day. Once again I failed miserably. Then I thought, Mother's Day, I can have them done by then. Yea, that didn't happen. So I set a goal to do them this summer.

I have had a lot of time on my hands this week since Andrew is in Basketball camp for two hours a day and Emma is self-sufficient. Guess what? I am almost done. I only have 3-5 cards left to make.

What a relief. I can throw away my folder with all the recipes that I have printed off the computer. (some have been printed three times since I can't find them when I need them) I can also condense three binders into one little photo album. All of my most frequently used recipes will be right at my finger tips. (Can you believe that I had already forgotten about some of my new recipes that I had tried just last year?) This should make cooking and coming up with ideas so much easier. Awesome!

I had to make a few phone calls to friends to get some of their recipes. This is one of them. A few years ago when I was on the Enrichment Board I organized recipe nights. We had theme nights and everyone was suppose to come food in hand with enough recipes to share. We would sit around and eat and go home with recipes. It was fun but the novelty wore off pretty quick.

This recipe was shared by Kate; my backdoor neighbor/friend/visiting teacher on dessert night. When I was on the phone with her she mentioned that she liked to serve it with fresh strawberries, (that is how we ate it that night) with fresh mangoes, or over shortbread. Hmm, now that sounds good.

I made up half a recipe of the iced cream (not to be confused with ice cream, but it is surprisingly close in texture) and found a shortbread recipe on allrecipes.com. I was going to eat it all myself (PMS) but decided to give Paul a bite. He loved it. The next thing I knew I was making a full batch and another pan of shortbread. (click the images to see them full sized if they are too small to read)

The kids loved the shortbread and asked why I had never made it before. Andrew calls it Heavenly Goodness. It couldn't be easier. I can't wait to try it with the coconut extract but Paul wants to stick with the almond for now.
Anyway, this is far from healthy but at least it is all homemade. I can pronounce all the ingredients and it isn't chuck full of chemicals. It's been a fun treat to have on hand while the days are getting warmer.