Pumpkin Cake

Like many of my favorite recipes they don't happen on purpose... I ran out of eggs and had to make a cake, so I had some extra pumpkin and decided to use it instead of eggs. It was really tasty! I figured it would be, as I love the pumpkin cookies. I (ashamedly) used a store bought can of chocolate frosting. I think it would be great with a cream cheese frosting too!

Pumpkin Cake
2 1/3 c. flour
1 TB. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. pumpkin
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla


Mix everything thoroughly, pour into a 9" x 13" baking dish greased. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Homemade Ice Cream

This is a first for me. It was alot of fun! Everyone in the family cranked on the ice cream maker for a while... and we have a hand crank one, which I think adds to the deliciousness of the ice cream! I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was, as far as ingredients, etc.
I used a basic recipe that I found online and I would credit them with it, but I can't find it now.
I doubled the recipe to fit into our 5 qt. ice cream maker that we inherited from Brian's grandmother a few years ago. We made ice cream for our July 4th celebration and everyone loved it, so I think it's going to have to be our new Independence Day tradition.

Homemade Ice Cream
for 5 qt. ice cream maker
4 eggs
1 c. organic sugar
2 c. milk
4 c. 1/2 & 1/2
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Beat eggs until they are light and fluffy, slowly mix in sugar and then the rest of ingredients. Pour into inside cylinder of the ice cream mixer, follow mixer directions. Ours took about 45 minutes of cranking and about 1 1/2 large bags of ice. Oh and rock salt-- which grocery clerks no longer know what it is used for... so you have to ask for "Ice Cream Salt"... because they only carry "rock salt" in the winter time.
If you don't have directions with your mixer, layer ice and salt until it is full and continue to add more as it melts, keeping the middle cylinder covered with ice while you are mixing. The ice cream is done when it is very difficult to crank.