I haven’t been blogging as much as I would like the past couple of months or so, mainly due to the distractions of buying a house.  But the great news is we’re closing on Wednesday and will be moving within a week or so after that.

So time for a little catch up.  I’ve developed two new obsessions/passions in the kitchen.  The first one was the result of an awesome birthday present my friend gave me – a slow cooker.  You’d think I would have owned one of these already but for whatever reason, this is my first one.

I love it!  And the timing couldn’t be better because I’ve been using it a lot when we’ve been busy during the days and I know I’m not going to have time to cook very much in the evenings.  I’m also planning on using it quite a bit in the next week or so because of working on the house once we close and then moving next week.

So far I’ve been using recipes from Stephanie O’Dea’s blog and for the most part have loved everything.  She is also the author of the cookbook Make it Fast, Cook it Slow, which I have yet to purchase but plan to buy soon.

My second new obsession which I am quite thrilled about is making ice cream with my new ice cream maker.  With summer approaching and not being able to eat ANY of the ice cream that is sold in stores, I decided that it was time to take the plunge into the homemade ice cream world.  (We can’t eat sugar or agave, only honey, and only coconut or homemade yogurt for milk).

So far I’ve tried this awesome Lavender Vanilla Coconut Ice Cream recipe which was great, Raspberry Coconut Ice Cream based on Elana’s Strawberry Coconut ice cream recipe, Coffee Ice Cream made with yogurt from the Grain Free Gourmet cookbook, and another Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream that I created.

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