Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Sugar & spice and everything...Mmm!





These pictures are mainly for my two sisters...they should bring back some good memories. I took Bella and Ava on a special outing the other day to our local mall. I hardly ever go there...and very rarely bring the kids. In fact, other than a couple of trips to the attached Chuck E. Cheese, I don't think they've been there more than 3 times in over 4 years.
So it was a pretty special thing to go to the mall with mommy- and even more fun for them when they had their first cinnamon pretzel sticks at Auntie Anne's. I almost felt bad that they are 4 and almost 6 and this was the first time they'd had hot, fresh-out-of-the oven pretzels. You can probably guess what one of their new favorite foods is now! I couldn't help but tell them about how their own Aunt Jacque loves hot pretzels too. At least she did back in the day...
Speaking of back in the day, one of MY favorite foods has always been Carrot Cake. I especially love it moist with coconuts and walnuts and not too much cream cheese frosting on top- just enough to bring it altogether. Chip and I had carrot cake at our wedding reception and we also met and worked at a restaurant that for quite a long time served Carrot Cake Haagen Daz ice cream on their dessert menu. I loved it so much- it was no secret among the employees either! I'd sometimes skip my employee meal and just have a bowl of ice cream before my shift. And you can imagine how sad I was when they stopped making this favorite flavor of mine. I've craved it for years since then...but never found it anywhere.
Until this weekend.
When I had to make a stop at Wal-Mart. Some of you know that I don't particularly care for grocery shopping, but with the number of people in our household, it's a weekly chore for sure.
The only craving I've had during this pregnancy has been ice cream, and it's only been for about the past 3 weeks. The kids have been very happy with my new-found obession with ice cream for dessert and we've been going through lots of fun flavors too. I was just finishing up my grocery list and headed to the ice cream section at Wal-mart fully expecting to grab some plain old vanilla so that we could make some malts at home. I went straight for their 'cheap, store brand' knowing we would add our own fruit and malted milk when suddenly I spied "Carrot Cake" on the shelf. Needless to say, I am now a huge fan of Wal-mart, and I am hoping that enough people start buying this flavor so that they make it a staple in their freezers all the time! The best part isn't the bits of spices that you can see in the ice cream, but the swirls of cream cheese frosting. Mmmm.
My biggest concern is that I still have several weeks to go in my pregnancy and with this ice cream craving I've had topped off with this new found flavor, I will blown my total weight gain long before the 9-month mark! And if 'you are what you eat' really is a true statement, well then I have a feeling that this baby boy I'm carrying is going to be a whole lot more 'sugar & spice' than he will be 'puppy dog tails'. And that's perfectly okay with me.

11 comments:

.Tom Kapanka said...

Sounds delicious! Hope you and the others are holding down the fort. Everything's going well down here in Florida.

Unknown said...

Yummm....I love Auntie Anne's pretzels and my mom's friend runs the ones in this area. So...I eat them every time I go to the mall. :) And the cinnamon ones are the best, especially if you get frosting on them.
And, I'm so trying carrot cake ice cream...that sounds amazing. :) The only downer for me is that it's not Hudsonville brand...It's the only brand I like.

Kirsty said...

Oh gosh! Carrot cake ice cream sounds yum! When you mentioned the cream cheese frosting through it, I almost drooled....

Anonymous said...

Hey Sis!!! I still love the hot pretzels!! I can't believe you remember those. Carrot Cake ice cream sounds great! That is definitely made with YOU in mind! They also make a great birthday cake flavor. It's my kids favorite! Hugs, kisses and love from Las Vegas! We miss you!

Anonymous said...

Okay now that sounds like some good stuff. I do not eat carrot cake often, but I am willing to taste some of that ice cream. Now they just need to come out with lemon pound cake flavor..I WOULD PASS OUT hahah..

hee hee...your pictures are always so beautiful .. have a great week .. and I sure hope they have an AA pretzel shop in Nashville or Franklin..I so love them..I have not tasted that pretzel in 3 years..I know I know..

Sasha

MichelleJ said...

Go here to make your own at home: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/print?id=169790 My family would have me make these every day, my sister made them as year end teachers gifts and opreschool snacks, and you could easily make them sweet.

Hints from my Mom that make it even better, my hints in parenthesis:
***Dough should be slightly sticky - you don't have to use all 4 cups of flour. (but I usually do!)
***Brush the plastic wrap with veg oil or it will stick to the dough. (I usually just don't cover them - my girls help shape, so by the time the last pretzel is shaped, the first ones are ready to cook!)
*** Slotted spoon works MUCH better than tongs. They don' stretch, and you can drain well before laying the pretzel directly on the cookie sheet.
***Do not cover overnight if salted, they'll get soggy. Just let them sit on a cooling rack.
***To warm, preheat your oven, turn it off, then place the pretzel directly on the rack for 5 minutes. Perfect. never microwave, they'll get gummy. (we never get this far, my family eats them as soon as they are made!)
***to freeze, place finished, cooled pretzels on a parchment lined cookie sheet, uncovered. Freeze. When frozen, place in sealed container. To serve, place frozen pretzels directly on oven rack. Turn oven on to 350 - when preheat is over, pretzels will be ready!

Dean Tipper Diva said...

Carrot Cake Ice Cream...drool!! That sounds delicious. Kroger's sales NY cherry cheescake ice cream, and if I tried I could probably eat a whole gallon.
I'm trying to lose weight, AGAIN. So, I'm trying to stay away from that stuff. But it certainly sounds like a great way to cool off. It was almost 95 degrees in Houston yesterday.

Nic said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Mmmm! Carrot cake ice cream! Sure hope we have it in Canada. Now I want to run to Walmart......

Anonymous said...

Careful with the ice cream! I had the same issue and sure enough, 80 pounds later, my boy came out at 10lbs 6 oz 22 in and huge manly shoulders! I blame the Breyers for sure! ;)

Janna said...

Oh my goodness, YUM! :) I will be heading to Wal-mart this weekend then... holy moly!