quinn's place

ello!

it is an absolutely, insanely, ridiculously nice day here in seattle! i'm talkin not a cloud in the sky, birds chirping, a perfect 75 degree morning. pete and i are sitting/laying on our back porch in our new lounge chairs we got from target yesterday...and they are pretty much the best thing that happened so far this summer. if you saw us right now......you'd be so jealous of our x-treme chill zone. my head is in the shade but our feetzies and legs are soaking up the rays.

what else besides back porch lounging screams summaaaaaaa???

why, fresh strawberry ice cream, of course!

strawberry ice cream is something i would get once every blue moon growing up because chocolatey goodness is always my constant go-to. but every now and again, strawberry ice cream is just sooo GOOD. and CLASSIC. reminds me of my grandpa somehow..although i think his ice cream of choice is pecan or pralines and cream or something old folks are generally stoked on.

p.s. my grandma and grandpa just celebrated their

67th wedding anniversary

this week! i love them.

those raspberries have nothing to do with this recipe except we bought them from the produce stand with our strawberries that day and they're just cute in their little teal container. however, you could add the rasps to this recipe for some extra oomph and flava!

i roasted the strawberries in the oven for just a little bit with brown sugar. i used way less sugar in the actual ice cream because i think that roasting the strawbs with brown sugar made them extra complex and sweet. can you call a strawberry complex? i don't know, but the brown sugar definitely deepened the natural sweetness of the strawberries.

and the zest of one lemon for some extra zing and freshness!

here it is, churning away in the ice cream maker!

ice cream in a new fangled ice cream maker is actually [dangerously] too easy to make. we just keep the little bowl part frozen so that you're ready to make ice cream at a moment's notice. this strawberry ice cream probably took a total of 20 minutes to put together, 30 minutes to churn, and a few hours to freeze.

total tangent: i recently discovered how hilarious

jen gotch

is, and i've been cackling to myself at every single one of her instagram posts. particularly

this one

and

this one

. and the two-part version of

this one

. gawd all her two-part posts seriously had me craaacking up to the point of tears yesterday when i was being all weird and hungover from the shania twain concert (ooh, subtle side-brag, quinn). she got me listening to

this song on repeat

even though she claimed to hate it at first. it's just so cheery and jazzy and is going great with strawberry ice cream talk.

[i wish i could add a little video of pete's toes mid-air tapping to this song that he's never heard. and he probably doesn't realize i just listened to it 5 times back to back. it IS catchy!]

doesn't the top ice cream scoop here just look dweeby? man, i have a newfound appreciation of food stylists who work with actual frozen food that needs photographing. i was in pure panic mode when i was taking these photos because i was struggling to get the ice cream to look like any stretch of the term "cute," and pete put bacon on the stove for me to "watch" while he ran to the store. you can imagine the lines i was running between the kitchen and the living room where i was taking these photos. gah! bacon flip! gah! melting ice cream! it looks like crap! i can't do much else but smash it all down and pray for some camera tricks! gah! bacon is burnt! pete's coming! i'm in trouble! ice cream everywhere! whatever.

first time ice cream photo taker, here.

cute little mint garnishes courtesy of our front yard. we've got: spearmint, peppermint, and chocolate peppermint a'growin!

oh, and the ice cream turned out great! very fresh and creamy with a slight zing of citrus!

the one think i would do different next time is actually juice some extra strawberries and add the juice to the ice cream maker as well. i wished the ice cream would have turned out a bit more pink! and i did nottttt wanna use food coloring, pssh.

**"ohh i think that i've found myself a cheerleader..."**

Roasted Fresh Strawberry Ice Cream

Prep time: 1 hour Freeze time: 4-8 hours

Makes 6 cups of strawberry ice cream

Ingredients:

1 pound fresh strawberries (YAY SUMMER!)
2 TB brown sugar
2 cups heavy cream
2 cups whole milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
Zest of one lemon

Instructions-

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Chop the strawberries into small bits. Place strawberries in baking dish and sprinkle with brown sugar. Roast in oven for 8 minutes, until slightly bubbly, but not mushy.

Remove from oven, put in a small bowl with all the extra juices and set in fridge to cool. Get the strawberry/sugar juice washed off your baking dish ASAP! It's basically turning to a hard candy in there.

Combine all other ingredients in a bowl and add to the ice cream maker. Churn for 20 minutes, then add the roasted strawberries and lemon zest and churn for another 10 minutes. Now would be a good time to also add extra strawberry juice to give your ice cream a lovely pink color!

Remove ice cream from ice cream maker when it has thickened a bit and the texture is to your liking. Place in glass container or loaf pan and freeze for 4-8 hours.

*I used the 6 cup glass tupperware with click-on lid (from Costco--best tupperware set evarrrr) to keep the ice cream fresh and prevent from icing over too much.

have yourself a scoop in the sunshine and

listen to this song again

! lolololol.

(play count is probably at 17 by now. sorry pete.)

correction: i just noticed that this youtube link is a ONE HOUR LOOP of this song. haha!! i was wondering why i could never tell when it ended and started over again.... anyhoo we're at minute 53! go me!

i want you back, biscuits.

i made these like a month ago. it is currently sunday morning and i am a hungry hungry sunday soul with hardly any food in the house. so basically, i'm torturing myself right now.

when these came out of the oven, i immediately shoved one in my mouth. in that moment, i dubbed these, "the best thing i've ever made in my life."

it's so funny to think about where you get inspiration from.

in this particular instance, i was inspired by some taco bell and/or kfc commercial i heard on pandora and they said something about jalapeño honey. i was like, sayyy whaaaa? and i decided i wanted to make some. what should i make alongside my jalapeño honey?

delicious loaded biscuits, of course! bless you, kfc/taco bell radio ad.

first, you're gunna need some bacon.

and sharp chedda cheese.

i coated the cheddar cubes in flour. i don't really know why. sometimes when i see recipes with chocolate chips, it says to toss them in flour before you add them to whatever you're making. i guess this is the principle i was going for.

perhaps to keep the cheddar cheese treasure troves intact and maintain composure within the biscuit. although there's absolutely nothing wrong with an extra oozy cheesy biscuit, either.

jalapeño honey!

it's easy!

puree one chopped jalapeño in the food processor. add honey and continue to blend until the texture looks good.

i wish i had left some of the jalapeño seeds in. i removed all of them because i thought it was going to be super spicy already. i could have used some extra heat!

the jalapeño honey turned out sort of runny, but i found that chilling it in the fridge for a bit helped to thicken it up. next time, i'll dry out or roast the jalapeño beforehand so there's less water content.

biscuit time!

i have the hardest time typing "biscuit." i always start typing "busi..." like "business."

i'd rather just change both spellings to "bizkit" and "biznass."

cube your semi-cold butter and mash it into the dry ingredients with a fork.

add buttermilk and combine until the dough looks shaggy.

"shaggy" is a very strange word to use when talking about food. oh wellz.

add your prepared bacon bits, cheddar, and chives. fold it all togetha!

harmony.

i just rolled up golf ball sized bizkits and plopped em on parchment like you would cookies, but you could carefully roll out the dough and use a biscuit cutter if ya mean biznass with your bizkits.

pop those babies in the oven and a little while later...

you've got some tastyass biscuits on your hands.

crispy cheesy crusters like this are toward the top my list of favorite things in life.

yum. they are warm. warm and waiting for a drizzle of jalapeño honey. and they smell so freaking good.

ooooh my cute little le creuset honey pot is making its debut! i love it so much. i actually got it at a fancy goodwill for $3. victory!

i'm so glad this recipe makes a good amount of bizkits. i had them for breakfast for like a week. peter gobbled some up when he got home, too. a positive critique from him is pretty much the highest achievement, in my mind. he is suuuper critical about food quality and he helps me a lot.

ain't they cute?

tummy. growling. at maxx power.

super savory and buttery biscuits with spicy sweetness on top.

seriously, they were so good. i ate like 4 of em right away and had to go lay on the floor for a while.

worth it!

Bacon, Cheddar, and Chive Biscuits with Jalapeño Honey

Makes 18 big ol' biscuits

Prep: 30 minutes Bake: 30 minutes Total time: 1 hour

Adapted from

Bon Appetit

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
2 sticks (1 cup) chilled butter
3/4 cup buttermilk
6 slices of bacon, cooked and chopped
6 oz. sharp cheddar cheese, cubed
2 TB chives, finely chopped
1 jalapeño
3/4 cup honey

Instructions-

Jalapeño Honey:

Slice 1 jalapeño and remove as many seeds as desired. Add to the food processor and chop finely. ***(When I do this again, i will dry out the jalapeño in the oven first, because a fresh one has so much water in it and made the honey too runny)***

Slowly add about 3/4 cup of honey and continue to puree together until the combined. Add to small bowl and place in fridge to thicken. Store in an airtight container or jar.

Bacon Chedda Chive Biscuits:

Cook 6 slices of bacon in a frying pan. Set aside and later chop into bits.

Cube 6 oz. of sharp cheddar cheese. Toss in a small bowl with flour to coat. Set aside in fridge.

In a large bowl, add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Mix together.

Cube or slice the butter into sections. Using a fork, mash the cubed butter into the dry ingredients until they begin to combine and the dough looks lumpy. Using your hands is most helpful here.

Add buttermilk and mix until the dough looks shaggy. Knead with hands just until mixed.

Add the cubed cheddar, bacon bits, and chives. Fold everything together until all components are evenly incorporated.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Form golfball sized biscuits and place on parchment paper on a baking sheet.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Drizzle with jalapeño honey over the top, or dip it right in!

Enjoyyyyyy!