Recipe: Coconut Key Lime Pie Ice Cream

As many of you know, I am allergic to dairy. And we're talking straight up serious allergy - swollen throat, constricted airways...none of this lactose intolerant stuff. I'm hard core that way.

All delicious foods in life have a dairy base: cheese, ice cream, whipped cream, any cream based sauce. I love ice cream and always have. But my throat says otherwise. So sad for Laura. To satisfy my ice cream love, I have explored the world of coconut ice cream and have tried to find/create a great recipe for coconut ice cream. And I think this one's a winner.

You start with a delicious base of coconut and lime - which on it's own tastes fantastic. For a dash of fun flair, I attempted to swirl in ribbons of lime curd, but the final result ended less ribbony and more pockety with bursts of lime curd here and there (which I thought actually thought made it more exciting).

Ingredients

Coconut Lime Ice Cream Base

• 2 cans full fat unsweetened coconut milk (I prefer the Taste of Thai Organic kind)
• Juice and zest from 2 limes
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water

Key Lime Curd

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoons lime zest
• 1 egg, beaten and set aside

Instructions

1. First focus on the ice cream base. Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and heat on medium heat, slowly stirring until the sugar is completely dissolved.
   
   


2. Once dissolved, pour in to a bowl, cover and chill in refrigerator for 4 hours, or until completely chilled. 


3. Combine sugar, butter, lime juice and zest in a double boiler (or do what I did and set a pyrex bowl inside a sauce pan filled halfway with water)
   
   
   
   
   
4. Slowly stir over medium-high heat until the butter is melts and mixture becomes syrup-like


5. Mix a tablespoon of the lime syrup into the egg and blend.


6. Reduce the stove heat to medium and  slowly whisk the egg mixture into the lime syrup


7. Heat and stir the mixture in double boiler for 20 minutes, or until it thickens and coats the back of a spoon.


8. Pour the mixture into a bowl, cover, and chill in refrigerator


9. When the ice cream base is chilled, freeze in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions.


10. Once the ice cream is finished, the lime curd should also be chilled. Spoon curd into pastry bag. Use the pastry bag (or ziploc with snipped corner) to pipe ribbons of curd and fold the lime curd into the ice cream.


11. Scoop ice cream and top with extra lime zest and toasted coconut if desired. Enjoy.

It is so delicious that I literally have to talk myself out of eating the entire batch. It's so flavorful and tropical at the same time, it's the perfect cool treat on a hot summer day.  Try it out and let me know what you think!

Fourth of July part two: Texas Rangers vs. Seattle Mariners

Scott and I love going to baseball games. The sun, the sunflower seeds and roasted peanuts, the cheering and the comebacks--we're both fans. I'll be honest, I am not a big sports enthusiast, but I do get swept in the excitement and the atmosphere when I physically attend a game.

We decided that a tradition we will do our best to uphold over the years is to attend a baseball game on the Fourth of July and end the night watching fireworks. Hopefully this is something that we can keep up even when we have kids. But can you think of a better way to celebrate America than by watching America's favorite pastime? I don't think so.

Well there we were, decked out head to toe in our Rangers gear, which is conveniently red, white, and blue. The Rangers played Seattle that day, crazy huh? I had an internal struggle on who I was really supporting - my home team or my new team. But since I was never really loyal before, I guess it doesn't really matter, especially now that I have a Texas Rangers hat.

The game was great. Couldn't be better. The Rangers and the Mariners battled it for a couple innings. The score was 2-3. In the bottom of the 7th inning, the Rangers scored 3 runs taking the lead. What a great comeback. And then they continued to defend it until the 9th. Such a great game. And if I, a girl who doesn't understand too much about sports, am saying that, it must be true!

The game ended with a fireworks show, which was pretty good. And it was so comfortable sitting in an actual seat then on the cold, wet grass. Scott and I agreed that it was one of the better shows we have seen. Maybe not absolute best, but it was up there.

All around, a great day, a great game, a great holiday. And we're proud to live in this great country.

Fourth of July part one: Dallas Farmers Market

Scott and I luckily (and gratefully!) had the Fourth of July off of work. So we spent the day celebrating America in style. We first started off in style by sleeping in, of course! After which we lazed around and after getting ready for the day, donned in red, white, and blue, we made our way to the Dallas Farmers Market.

While there, we sampled fruit, vegetables, and prepared foods from various local vendors. I was a sucker for the nectarines and peaches. I tried a sample from every vendor that was offering! One of the vendors was selling roasted sweet corn - one of my favorites! And the sweet corn was topped with butter, mayo, and cheese. I know it sounds gross (especially if you're not a mayo fan, like me) but its actually really tasty.

Oh man. I love the market. I love sweet corn. What a great start to a great day off!

Muddin'

In February, a couple guys in our church started talking about how they've always wanted to complete a Tough Mudder. They spent the past few months training with each other and getting tough. Last weekend was the actual run.

My role in all of this: run the spectator "course" which includes my own set of obstacles mostly made up of dodging camp chairs and visor-clad grandmas. But boy did I run that path. I would take pictures of the boys at one obstacle, then book it so I could meet them at the next. It was exhausting.

In total, I took almost 200 photos and videos of these guys. Check out our Mormon Mudders:

As you can tell, I was a little hesitant to get close to him. He was caked in mud and I didn't want any on me. He was so exhausted and beat up from the run. A couple hours after the run, the aches and pains started to kick in and he was having a difficult time walking. Right after the race he said that he'd never do another Tough Mudder again. But now that his muscles have healed and he's walking properly, he's thinking about signing up for another one!

Did you buy your tickets?

A few weeks ago we went to a gun show.

That's right. As part of our conversion into Texas culture there are several things we feel we must experience: the Texas State Fair (completed), a good ol' Texas Rodeo, Billy Bob's Texas, etc.

Well Scott got his Texas drivers license, our car is licensed and registered in the state of Texas and we figured it was high time that see for ourselves the true love that Texans have for the second amendment.

Man oh man was I in culture shock - and I've spent plenty of time in foreign countries. I walked in and was just amazed. I'm a girl from a tree-hugging, recycling, very liberal city.  A gun show was definitely foreign waters for me.

Scott had a blast. I'm convinced he's a cowboy at heart - he already has boots! I still have a ways to go before I'm full Texan.

Calgary Flames

Here's a pre-break in post that I was going to write and then of course, I didn't have my laptop anymore.

Scott spent a majority of his growing up years in Canada and loves hockey. He eats, breaths, and sleeps hockey. Me not being a real sports-enthusiast in general, decided I might as well watch it with him and maybe some day I'll learn to enjoy it.

I probably annoy Scott when we're watching games on tv because of all of the questions I ask. What call did the Ref just make? What is 'icing'? Why is fighting acceptable? Why are there only four people out on the ice now? etc...etc...etc.

I can officially say, I am an amateur fan. I know some of the players names, most of the ref calls, and most importantly, when I should cheer and when I should be frustrated. I'm getting pretty good at this whole hockey thing.

When we moved to Dallas, Scott's one request was that we go to a few hockey games now that we lived in a city that had a major league team. We attended the Dallas Stars opener in the beginning of January. The second game he wanted to attend was when the Flames came to Dallas.

Well that was a few weeks ago and of course we attended, dressed all in red.

We had a blast!

Unfortunately our beloved flames lost, but it was so much fun. Such a fun date night! Hockey is something definitely better enjoyed in person. I can keep up watching it on tv, thanks to the sportscasters, but I think I do a much better job in person. Or maybe I could keep up and understand because of all the previous hockey exposure.

Anyway. I'm becoming a more devoted hockey fan and Scott definitely appreciates that.

March Update

I know it's been a month since I've blogged, but granted, it's been a crazy month. I feel like I need one of those blurbs at the beginning of tv shows saying "Previously on Soxx and Rara..." just so we're all on the same page.

So this past month I have been in training at Southwest Airlines and learning so much. On average, I use about five different programs/applications to find information but I have been trained on ten or so. Tons of information. I swear everything you do in regards to flying is recorded in at least one of our systems. It's almost so detailed that if a passenger sneezes on a plane, we document it. Not really but I read so much information about flights, passengers, and all the behind the scenes stuff at the airports.

For the most part, the past month has been run-of-the-mill. I work in the morning because I'm in training and Scott has been working the 11am-8pm shift. So our days are pretty booked.

Here is our month in quick bullet points:
- A few weeks ago, we did go to a Calgary Flames game (pictures and formal  blog post to come)
- I took my first phone calls (eek!) and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.
- Scott spent a weekend taking a motorcycle driving class and officially got his Texas Driver's License for both vehicles and motorcycles
- We bought Scott a motorcycle and some cowboy boots.
- And our apartment was broken into.
-We attended our first gun show.

Yep. About two weeks ago we were about 20 minutes from home at Scott's eye appointment. I was holding onto Scott's phone and it rang with a blocked number on the screen. I thought it was a telemarketer and not worth answering. For some reason I answered anyway.

It was the cops.

The Dallas police officer I spoke to said that he got our number from our managers and said we needed to come right away. Our apartment door was kicked in and we needed to come and look at the crime scene.

The suspect only had just enough time to grab the first things he saw because our neighbor immediately called the cops when she heard him kicking our door, so by the time he got the door open, the cops were pulling into our complex. He grabbed Scott's new playstation and my laptop that was sitting on the couch. He ended up dropping the playstation on the cememnt walkway outside our apartment when he ran off, but my poor little laptop was no where to be seen.

We gave the laptop's serial number to the detective and checked to see if it pulled up on Apple's Find My iOS device feature, but no luck.

My tear ducts lasted until seconds after we spoke with the cops. I literally sat on the floor and all I could do was cry. Man oh man it was a rough day for me.

I told Scott that it wasn't that my laptop was stolen - I could care less about that. I was in shambles because some stranger was in our apartment. It felt violated. Any sense of security I had in that apartment was gone. I was a mess and randomly bursting into tears for the rest of the day. Scott was so supportive and was great to me.

I am happy to report that we were released from our lease and transferred to a new apartment that we abosolutely LOVE. We were moved in exactly a week from the break in, so we feel blessed and definitely see the Lord's hand in guiding us to where we need to be.