Bag This Idea

Nothing quite says summertime like the ring of the bell from the ice cream man (or, ice cream "person" to be PC), heading down the street in his big white truck (although now that I'm a mother, why on earth do they always come around at dinner time? Can somebody please tell me this?). Who doesn't love that red, white, and blue Bomb Pop or the orange Push-up, the rainbow snow cone, or even the basic ice cream sandwich? With my affection for Rainbow Brite and Punky Brewster, I must admit I was a snow cone girl myself.

But still, nothing beats ice cream in the summertime. So that's why, when sister #2 passed this recipe along to me, I had to share it with you. Although it's the age of the super industrial Cuisinart ice cream maker à la Williams-Sonoma, I do recognize that not everyone owns this little gadget, but yet might still have the hankering for some home made ice cream. It's such a fun and simple way to make home-made soft serve ice cream, but yet without needing your own personal ice cream maker or ice cream man, for that matter.

Homemade Ice Cream in a Bag

From: Family Fun

Ingredients
-2 tablespoons sugar
-1 cup half and half
-1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/2 cup salt (The bigger the granules, the better. Kosher or rock salt works best, but table salt is fine.)
-Ice cubes (enough to fill each gallon-size bag about half full)
-1 pint-size ziplock bag
-1 gallon-size ziplock bag

1. Combine the sugar, half and half, and vanilla extract in the pint-size bag and seal it tightly.

2. Place the salt and ice in the gallon-size bag, then place the sealed smaller bag inside as well. Seal the larger bag. Now shake the bags until the mixture hardens (about 5 minutes). Feel the small bag to determine when it's done.

3. Take the smaller bag out of the larger one, add mix-ins, and eat the ice cream right out of the bag. Easy cleanup too! Serves 1.

Now, just remember, big white goofy looking ice cream truck and very loud high pitched little bell not included.