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Homemade Gourmet Ice Cream Cones

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Homemade Gourmet Ice Cream Cones - Click Here To Save On Gourmet Ice Cream!

Homemade Gourmet Ice Cream Cones

Now I feel really old! I was just treated to an ice cream cone at this place where they mix the ice cream with whatever kind of crushed cookie, candy or sprinkles you want, slap it into a cone and charge $5 for it! Why does this make me feel old? Because I can remember when ice cream cones used to cost 25 cents.

I’m not sure what I was most shocked at – the price of the ice cream or the fact in these “hard economic times” there were so many people in the store not batting an eye over buying “gourmet” ice cream. The conversations in the store made me realize that many of them do this on a regular basis.

I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, thinking this must be some great tasting gourmet ice cream cone but I was very disappointed. The ice cream didn’t taste nearly as good as the inexpensive kind I buy at my grocery store and the gourmet store used the same candy bars and cookies that I can buy at any store.

Going to places like this is not the way to save money or to get out of debt. Watch your spending and on a hot summer day, instead of climbing in a hot car to go get a cone which will cost you an arm and a leg, try making your own. Here are some tips to make it easy:

  • Make your own homemade ice cream cones. You can buy regular cones or waffle cones at most grocery stores. Keep a box of them and some ice cream on hand. Then, just crush your kids’ favorite candy or cookies in a bag or use sprinkles, chocolate chips or other toppings. Place some of the ice cream in a bowl for just a bit until it gets a little soft and stir in your treats. Then scoop it into a cone.
  • This is a great way to use those broken cookies or crumbs in the bottom of the bag, which no one ever wants to eat. You can even keep a bag in the freezer, adding to it until you have enough to use.
  • Making these homemade gourmet ice cream comes is another great way to use the candy you got on sale after Easter, Halloween or Christmas.
  • Another thing I like about ice cream cones is there are no dishes to deal with when you are done.

I hope this gets you thinking about how to cool yourself and your spending for the summer!

What are your favorite gourmet ice cream add-ins? Leave a comment below and let us know!

-Jill

[dining]

Easy Homemade Popsicles Recipe!

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Easy homemade popsicles are a great summer treat! These tasty popsicle ideas and recipes are quick, easy and healthy and are sure to satisfy your kids!

Easy Homemade Popsicles Recipe

Easy Homemade Popsicle Ideas And Recipes

Remember when you used to sit on your front steps on a hot summer day eating a popsicle? It was usually red or purple and on special occasions you got a fudgesicle. Remember how you tried to lick the drips faster than the sun could melt them? Sometimes the drips would roll down your fingers, forcing you to make the mind numbing decision whether to lick your fingers or the new drips forming on your popsicle.

Every once in a while a few drips would get out of control and fall on your bare toes. Remember how your dog’s tongue felt like sandpaper when he licked the sweet gooeyness off of them?

It’s funny how we try to make drama and expensive memories for our children when it’s the simple everyday things we remember the most.

 

Try some of these ideas for easy homemade popsicles to keep the kids entertained this summer:

To find popsicle molds, look at discount and mail order stores or garage sales. If you don’t have any molds, use small paper or plastic cups. Put a wooden stick or plastic spoon in the center.

For mini homemade popsicles, pour orange, apple or grape juice or flavored drink mix into ice cube trays. Partially freeze and then place toothpicks in the center of each cube (or place plastic wrap over the top, secure and insert toothpicks through plastic wrap).

Making your own homemade popsicles can give great variety and keep your kids cool this summer!

 

For non-traditional homemade popsicles:

  • Freeze applesauce in popsicle molds.
  • Mix fruit or jam into yogurt. Freeze in small, snack sized Ziploc bags for frozen yogurt on the go. Cut a hole in the end of the bag for easy access/eating.
  • Mix gelatin and freeze. Add gummie fish or worms before freezing for added fun.
  • Freeze syrup from canned fruit.
  • Add food coloring or sprinkles to yogurt or softened ice cream for added pizzazz. Then freeze in popsicle molds.
  • When you have leftover jam or jelly, put 1/4 cup of hot water in the jar and shake well. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.
  • If jelly or jam doesn’t set up well, use for popsicles or add more water, boil and make syrup.
  • Make a batch of pudding. Add coconut, nuts, marshmallows, crushed cookies or sprinkles if desired. Pour into molds. Freeze several hours until firm.
  • Stick a toothpick in the center of blackberries, strawberries, raspberries or sliced bananas. Dip in chocolate if desired. Freeze on a tray. Once frozen, store in freezer bags.
  • For easy snow cones, freeze orange juice (or any other flavored juice) in ice cube trays. Store frozen juice cubes in a plastic bag. Blend 5 cubes in the blender until they have a shaved ice consistency. The shaved ice will keep its consistency if kept frozen in a container.
  • For watermelon homemade popsicles, blend one cup each watermelon chunks (seeds removed), orange juice and water. Blend well. Then pour and freeze into molds.
  • For strawberry homemade popsicles, blend 2 cups strawberries, 1 cup vanilla ice cream or yogurt, 4 cups orange juice and 2 tablespoons sugar. Blend smooth. Pour into molds and freeze.
  • For banana homemade popsicles, dissolve one 3 oz. package strawberry gelatin with one cup boiling water. In a blender, mix gelatin, 1 banana and 1 cup yogurt or ice cream. Blend well and pour into molds.

 

Pudding Pops

1 pkg. pudding (not instant*)
3 cups milk

Combine 1 large package of pudding with 3 cups of milk. Mix only enough to blend well. Quickly pour into popsicle molds and freeze. Chocolate and vanilla pudding may be layered for a fun treat. Makes 8-10 popsicles.

*Regular homemade pudding may be used instead of store-bought pudding mix.

 

Moo Fruit Freezer Pops
(submitted by Roxie in Texas)

1 bag (16 oz.) frozen fruit. (I used some strawberries I had frozen)
1 1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of sugar or Splenda

Combine the fruit, sugar, and 1/2 cup of milk in a food processor and process for 5 seconds. Add the rest of the milk and process for 15 seconds more. Mixture should be smooth and almost frozen. Scoop 1/2 cup of frozen mixture into 5 oz cups or popsicle molds. Insert sticks and freeze until firm.

 

Banana Pops
(Submitted by Lisa)

Slice bananas into disks (we have bananas on sale this week for $.29/lb)

Roll banana discs into PLAIN yogurt (you can use vanilla yogurt, but I used plain because that’s what the recipe said, and that was back in my super healthy days)

Add any kind of topping you wish. We rolled our disks in chopped pecans. I know that’s expensive, but we love pecans so much. After freezing these we ate them AND YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE THE TASTE! It was like eating a frozen candy bar. Okay, maybe not that good, but they were sweet and refreshing, and I didn’t have to put a limit on how many the kids could eat.

 

Other toppings that work well: chopped raisins, granola, any kind of nut (cashew, peanuts, almonds), peanut butter (this would be without the yogurt), and of course, melted chocolate or chocolate chips.

My son is not a fan of bananas, but he really liked this treat. You can even eat them plain. Oh, yeah, another topping we did was a cinnamon/sugar mixture. Believe it or not, it was good too! I will warn you that it’s messy because of the yogurt. And super messy if the kids help! But you don’t have the guilt of giving them something unhealthy, and it’s a cheap “popsicle.”

 

[dining]

 

Is It Wrong To Use Free School Lunches?

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free school lunches

Is It Wrong To Use Free School Lunches?

Melinda writes: How do you feel about free school lunches? I ask this because with our low income we qualify for free lunches and breakfasts at my kids’ school. However, because I run a tight ship and try to be a good steward with the resources the Lord gives us, we actually can pay for our three children to eat the lunch that the school provides. I’m very torn on this issue. I almost feel like my kids eating the free school lunch would be like receiving welfare. On the other hand, free lunches would sure free some extra money that could be used in other areas of our budget. What do you suggest?

 

Tawra: The issue of free school lunches is one of those gray area questions that we’ve never quite been able to resolve.

We were in a similar situation last year where we qualified for reduced rate lunches. We took the reduced rate lunches. We did it because we knew my husband’s job was coming to an end soon and we weren’t sure if it was going to be sooner or later. 🙂 I went ahead and did it and it’s funny because we ended up not using the reduced rate lunches very often. My kids prefer bringing their lunch instead so they saw school lunches as the less desirable alternative. (The school didn’t care if they didn’t like institutional canned spinach 😉

I think whether or not to use the school lunch program is something you are going to need to consider for your own situation. I would say pray about it and if you think God doesn’t want you to do it then don’t. There is nothing wrong with accepting free school lunches if you need them, particularly if you see it as a temporary thing. That’s why they offer that program. Even though you can pay for lunches, you still may have a reasonable need. If they spend their money wisely, most people who use the free lunch program “can” afford it. They just don’t. If you accept the free or reduced lunches so you can free space in the budget for unnecessary luxury items, that is probably not reasonable. If you are considering accepting it so that it’s a little easier to find the money in your budget to fix your car when it breaks down, that is probably reasonable. There is no reason to punish yourself for being smart about how you spend your money.

At our school, we could have made 50% more money and still qualified for the reduced lunches, so we didn’t feel like we were somehow taking advantage of the program.

We have qualified for WIC and programs like that for a long time, but we don’t feel good about taking it at this point in our lives. That’s just for us. It’s not right or wrong but that’s just how we handle it with our situation. I’m sorry I couldn’t give you a black and white answer! 🙂

Tawra

Read Answers About Free School Lunches From Some Of Our Readers Here.

Free School Lunches – Readers’ Answers

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Free School Lunches – Readers’ Answers

This is A Reader Response to our post, “Is It Wrong To Use Free School Lunches?“

Dear Readers, A while back, Melinda wrote asking our opinion of accepting free school lunches if you qualify. You can read our initial response here. Since then, we received these reader comments on the same subject and we thought you might find it interesting. Tawra

Hi Tawra,

I just read Melinda’s question regarding reduced school lunches. Having been on both sides of being able to afford and it being a real pinch, AND having worked in the public schools this past year, I would like to offer an additional perspective.

First of all, school lunches are not funded by the Department of Education or local school taxes. They are a program of the USDA to help farmers use the surplus. I don’t know all the specific details, but at least some of the foods are surplus that the government has ALREADY purchased and needs to distribute. That said, the local, state and federal layers of the education system DO look at the numbers of students receiving free and reduced price school lunch when determining where extra money will be spent. That is the only legal way of determining average income of a school/neighborhood or district. So, if a family decides to not sign up, that ultimately does cut the dollars being sent to that school.

Also, for those who decide they will take their reduced or free school lunch some of the time and bring lunch from home most of the time, that is great but be aware that if your school uses a debit account, the juice/milk and/or dessert that children often buy when bringing a bag lunch from home, actually will reduce your debit account more than just buying a whole reduced price lunch. Sounds stupid, but it’s true. At our elementary school, reduced price lunch was 40 cents. Milk plus dessert was, I believe, 65 cents.

I would suggest if you are truly feeling guilty about “taking” the lunch program, then make a donation of cash or food to a local food bank or use the extra cash to help out a friend.

Much of the same goes for the state Children’s Health Insurance. The numbers are used to make estimates of how many children are low income and thus be able to use the figures to appeal to state and federal levels for additional funding. Yes, it all ultimately comes out of our pockets but at least think about making sure some of it gets diverted to your neighborhood. 🙂

          -Christy

 

Hi Tawra,

I would like to reassure Melinda to please use the free meals at school. This is a Federal program, not welfare. I raised 3 children on this program and it is a lifesaver. If enough people do not use the program that do qualify for it ,it could be discontinued, and the people that need it will not have it. Please do not feel bad or guilty about using these programs.

          -Lisa from Gloucester Point, Virginia

Tawra, the federal government uses the number of students enrolled in the free/reduced lunch program to apportion other federal funds to schools for programs.

For example: If you have 2 schools with the same number of students and the same number of children eligible for free lunches, but at school A 50 children enroll and at school B 100 children enroll, then School B is going to get a lot more federal dollars for programs like Head Start than school A. The number of children enrolled in the free lunch program is used as a proxy in the funding formulas for several federal programs.

          -Maria from Washington, DC

In response to the free school lunch question… I am a teacher and we wish more parents would take the free/reduced lunch. First, the school receives a lot of money for each child on the program. Second, there isn’t a chance of the child being embarrassed. As a teacher I don’t even know who the kids are in my class who are on the program.

Lastly, this also helps with your school’s end of the year test scores. In Missouri, we have the MAP. The school not only receives a score, but there are sub categories in the schools. One is free/reduced lunch. Not to sound cruel, but the more kids who score better on the test on the free/reduced lunch program the better the score is for that sub category. If one category fails the entire school is considered a failed school.

          -Lisa from Gloucester Point, Virginia