Winter is Back.... and then some. Time to make below-zero back-porch ice cream

A single sun dog was visible from inside the house.
At 30 below with wind chill at 51 below,
ot going out on the deck to capture the whole of it.

Well... quite a change from two weeks ago. The past three days have brought the polar vortex cold temperatures throughout Iowa and other Midwestern states.  Reminded me of college days in Iowa City where we regularly had a January week where it wouldn't get above 10 below--night, or day. 

So we hunkered down, well provisioned. As did most of the critters in neighborhood. We usually see tracks in the snow -- squirrels, rabbits, deer, mice, birds, and the occasional ferrel cat. Not a one for the past two days on the freshly fallen snow.

With temperatures predicted to be way below zero, I got to wondering how long it would take to make ice cream using the cold Mother Nature provided. I pulled ingredients on hand and an hour later... ice cream.

I used my immersion blender to chop up the pie filling and slightly whip the cream. Then into a metal bowl and outside on the deck.

In an hour it was frozen more firmly than ice cream does in my machine. It would have frozen faster if I had spread it out in a baking pan. The edges were frozen in about 10 minutes.

It looks much prettier in a glass.

The texture is a bit like a mixture of ice cream and gelato-- a bit light and crystalline-- and it could use a bit more sweetness. It was pie filling after all. But a bit of chocolate syrup will solve that problem.  If I make it again, I'll pour the mixture into a large zipper freezer bag and smush it every ten minutes or so.  But, I"m hoping I won't have the chance.

We're getting a quick thaw this weekend. Rain and temperatures up into the 40s. I'll do up some Juicy Lucy burgers (see previous post) to refill the freezer. More cold and snow due next week.

Winter in Iowa... got to love it.

April Lake? Nope, an amazingly warm January thaw. Time for a grill full of burgers

The Outlet. Lake level is still high on January 15, 2019

It has hardly seemed like winter these past three weeks.  Daytime temperatures up into the high 30s and even low 40s with overnight lows just into the teens and 20s. Seems more like March. The lake, which had the second earliest ice-in back in November now has open water over vast stretches.

Flocks of geese have stopped by on what appear to be trips north.

Geese at City Beach

View from City Beach over toward North Shore January 13, 2019

So with all this warm weather, what's a person to do?

Get out the grill!

Especially when I've looked ahead at the forecast to see winter returning next week. Temperatures with highs in the teens and lows below zero.  Time to stock the freezer with cooked burgers read to warm up for summer once it snows ... predicted for Friday!

A fringe of cheese oozes out from the center of the Juicy Lucy burger.
Deviled egg and pickles put up last summer from the bumper crop of cucumbers
complete springtime on a plate.

Juicy  Lucy -- a Twin Cities Treat 

Makes 30 slider-sized burgers. This is enough to fill my 24-inch grill.  Of course you can cut the quantity down, but it is just as easy to make the whole batch, wrap cooled burgers airtight, and freeze. Then you can have nearly "fresh off the grill" when it is ten below outside.

8 to 10 ounces cheese -- cheddar, jack, mozzarella
3 pounds ground beef
3 pounds ground round
1 12-ounce jar chunky salsa -- your favorite variety

Cut the cheese into squares about 3/4 by 3/4 inch and about 1/8-inch thick. You will need 60 of these squares for about a 1/4-inch thick chunk of cheese in the middle of your Lucy.

In the biggest bowl you can find combine the meats and salsa and squish together with your hands until just mixed.  Start your assembly line -- I make 15 burgers at a time, requiring 30 patties. Spread out a large sheet of plastic wrap on your counter and start making the burgers. Scoop up about 3 tablespoons of the meat mixture -- palm-sized in my small hands. Form into THIN patties, about 2 1/2 inches in diameter.  Put 2 cheese squares in the middle of half the patties. Cover with second patty. Seal the cheese into the middle by pressing around the edges and then gently forming into a nicely rounded burger. Make up all the patties and put in the refrigerator to chill for an hour or so while you heat up your grill.  Grill as usual.   NOTE: you might want to put more cheese in the middle but too much will just ooze out and fall down onto the coals.