Since July is National Ice Cream Month and technically it is still July, I decided to make today’s post about ice cream. In case you didn’t know it, ice cream is among my top 10 sweets I love and know I shouldn’t eat.
But when the weather is hot and humid and I’m whiny and lazy, ice cream is a temptation just to delicious to ignore!
Way back when I was growing up on the family farm, the Schwan’s delivery man used to come by our house every two weeks. I thought he was a superhero! There was no mistaking his truck as it drove down our road, dust clouds swirling, letting us know he was on the way. My little head would fill with visions of all the wonderful frozen treats tucked inside his magic truck. He’d come to the door, take Mom’s order and then quickly return, arms laden with frozen canisters of pure delight.
As wrong as this is going to sound, Mom used to buy two or three of their big cans every time he came. They weren’t gallon size. They were even bigger. To my little 6-year-old head, they could have been 40 gallon drums. All I knew is that more ice cream had arrived! We would eat ice cream after lunch and if we were lucky, we might sneak in a frozen treat in the afternoon. Then in the evenings, when the work was done and dusk settled around us and the sky was brushed with streaks of pink, orange and gold as the sun dipped behind the hills, we’d whip out another bowl of ice cream. If we hadn’t worked (and played) so hard, we probably would have all weighed 300 pounds. As it was, I enjoyed it while it lasted. It gave us something fantastic to look forward to every day. We’d tried a lot of new and different flavors, but vanilla was definitely a staple.
Which is probably why vanilla remains my favorite flavor of ice cream. Boring? Yes. But with plain vanilla ice cream you get so many possibilities. You can add fruit or chocolate, nuts or candy pieces, tasty syrups and yummy toppings. You can smoosh it between two cookies, top brownies and dollop it on pie.
What is your favorite flavor? Do you have any ice cream memories from your childhood?
My absolute favorite flavor of vanilla ice cream comes from the Tillamook County Creamery Association. If you like vanilla, you will go loopy over their old-fashioned vanilla ice cream. It is a spoonful of amazing summer memories in every bite.
Eat some ice cream today and see if it doesn’t make you smile!
Enjoy!
Shanna
Savvy Entertaining 