everyday food made simple

Whenever I tell people I’m a vet tech, it’s always inevitable that someone will say, “I’m so jealous! I wish I could play with puppies and kittens all day!”

I always smile at their response because:

  1. Contrary to public belief, vet techs do not play with puppies and kittens all day.
  2. As a matter of fact, I actually do not see puppies and kittens all that often.
  3. It’s really not all rainbows and unicorns – there’s actually quite a bit a lot (I mean A LOT) of poop, pee, vomit, and blood involved on a daily basis (that’s if you’re lucky).
  4. There’s also a lot of sadness and death that we see on a regular basis. However, at the end of the day, we love what we do and we wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

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The past few months, my coworkers and I have been taking care of a particular patient whom we have all grown attached to and fallen in love with. He stayed with us to get his medical condition under control while his loving parents dealt with some family issues themselves. They trusted us to take care of their baby boy, and we gave him all the love and attention he deserved: extra long walks, lots of ear and butt scratches, and lots of treats and cookies. He was such a happy dog that it was just too easy for us to fall in love with him. However, just earlier this week when I was about to go to bed, my coworker texted me and told me his family had ultimately decided to let him go, just a few hours after I said good-bye to him at the end of my shift.

I was devastated. I think we all were. I can’t speak for anyone else, but I realized I was attached to that boy more than I knew.

So how do we cope during times like this?

Well, some people curl up on the couch and cry into a pillow. [check]

Some people like to talk about it. [uh yeah no thank you]

Some people lay in bed and watch TV for hours on end.

Some people go for a run to temporarily forget the pain.

Some people reflect through writing. [check]

And some people sit down with a pint of ice cream and eat until they feel better. [check]

This peanut butter cup ice cream with brownie bits, to be exact.

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If we took a poll of America’s favorite flavor combo, peanut butter + chocolate has got to be in the top 3. That’s why this ice cream is the epitome of comfort food. Chucks of chopped peanut butter cups and brownie bits generously sprinkled throughout the ice cream – every bite is sweet, chocolatey, decadent, chewy, and crunchy. Oooooh yeah. It’s pure heaven, I tell ya.

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What’s even better is that this doesn’t require tempering of eggs, which means no risk of getting scrambled eggs! Just blend, chill, churn, freeze (and wait for what seems like eternity), and enjoy! And let me tell you right now – waiting for the ice cream to freeze overnight is pure torture!

The peanut butter ice cream base is so good that I could’ve slurped it all with a straw! I had to refrain myself from pouring it into a glass, topping it off with the mix-ins, and drinking it like a milkshake…

So go do yourselves a favor guys, and go make this right now. I promise you won’t be disappointed!

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peanut butter cup ice cream (with brownie bits)
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Ingredients
  1. 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
  2. 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  3. 2 and 2/3 cups half-and-half
  4. A pinch of salt
  5. A dash of pure vanilla extract
  6. 1 heaping cup (unwrapped) mini Reese’s cups, frozen and chopped
  7. 1 cup roughly chopped brownie bites (optional)
Instructions
  1. In a blender, combine the peanut butter, sugar, half-and-half, salt, and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth. Place in refrigerator and chill completely.
  2. Add mixture to ice cream maker and churn according to manufacture's instructions.
  3. Once churned, gently fold in the chopped peanut butter cups and chopped brownie bites with a spatula. Transfer to storage container and freeze overnight.
  4. Makes 1 quart
Adapted from Annie's Eats
Adapted from Annie's Eats
Simple Everyday Food https://www.simpleeverydayfood.com/
Recipe adapted from Annie’s Eats

© Simple Everyday Food. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use any of my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or kindly link back to this post for the recipe.

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Can you believe it’s August already?! Where did my summer go???? Next thing we know, the leaves are going to be turning red, falling off of trees, it’s going to be cold, and there’s going to be snow on the ground.

Ugh, I don’t even want to think about snow right now. It’s August, folks! August is the last month of summer in my opinion, and therefore all of the remaining hot sunny days need to be treasured. I’m already looking forward to the Minnesota State Fair that starts August 22nd! We’ve already bought our tickets and Blue Ribbon Book, and I’ve already read about all the new vendors/foods-on-a-stick that are going to be at the fair! And for those of you that are big State Fair fans nerds like me, there are going to be 40 new fair foods this year!

Jalapeno corn dogs. Comet corn. Breakfast sausage corn dogs. Cajun pork rinds. Funnel cake sundaes. Idaho nachos. Mini donut batter crunch ice cream (!!).. and much more that I want to try!

And then there’s always the all-time favorites: root beer floats, cheese curds, pronto pups, deep-fried chocolate chip cookie dough on a stick, chocolate dipped keylime pie on a stick, sweet corn ice cream, mac & cheese on a stick, the corn roast, Sweet Martha’s cookies, Tom Thumb’s mini donuts, cream puffs, potato skins, Dole Whip floats (!!), french fried mushrooms, porcupine meatballs on a stick, walleye fries, Minneapple pies….. whew. Should I go on?

And once again, I’m going off track here… at the beginning of this summer, I wanted to buy some popsicle molds and make some homemade popsicles. I also wanted to buy an ice cream maker attachment for the KitchenAid mixer, but figured we should wait until we sell the house and move before adding more things to my kitchen collection. Since I didn’t get to make any popsicles or ice cream this summer, I figured I can make Bentley some doggie popsicles instead.

This recipe really is super simple. It only requires 4 ingredients and a blender. It only takes a total of 5 minutes to make (excluding freezing time). And there’s only a total of 5 simple steps. FIVE! It’s that easy – no reason not to make these for your four-legged canine kids.

Step 1: Blend ingredients.

Step 2: Pour into Dixie cups.

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Step 3: Freeze overnight.

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Step 4: Peel away Dixie cup from popsicle.

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Step 5: Give to dog, and wait to receive a cute “thank you you’re the best, mom!” look with a muzzle full of melted popsicle drippings <3

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This is more like his “awww my treat is gone! Can I have another one?” look. Hard to say no to that, but I stood my ground (for 6 hours).

doggie peanut butter yogurt popsicles
Print
Ingredients
  1. 32 oz plain yogurt
  2. 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
  3. 1 tablespoon honey
  4. 1 banana
  5. 15-17 mini Dixie cups
Instructions
  1. In a blender, combine the yogurt, peanut butter, honey, and banana. Blend until smooth.
  2. Fill mini Dixie cups about 3/4 full with mixture. Place in freezer and freeze overnight.
  3. When ready to serve, peel off the Dixie cup from the popsicle. The bottom part of the cup may stick to the popsicle, but should be easily peeled off with a little help of your fingernails.
  4. Give to your four-legged canine friend outside or on a easily cleanable surface (hardwood floors, tiles).
  5. Makes about 15 mini Dixie cup popsicles
Notes
  1. If you have a mini muffin pan, I found out that the mini Dixie cups fit pretty well in those and make it easier to transport all of them into the freezer. Otherwise you can place the Dixie cups in a cake pan or rimmed cookie sheet as well.
Simple Everyday Food https://www.simpleeverydayfood.com/
We used mini Dixie cups, but if you have any extra ice cube trays laying around the house, those would work too! I chose to use Dixie cups because 1. they hold a little bit more than an ice cube well would, 2. it’s easier to pick one and give it to Bentley (as opposed to trying to pop them out from a tray), and 3. they’re disposable (read: less things to wash).

Now this can be a little messy to eat, so I would strongly encourage you to give these to your furry babies outside… unless you’re willing to clean up trails of sticky melted peanut butter yogurt ice cream :-)

Bentley was able to enjoy his in the yard today! It was a beautiful day out, perfect for something popsicles! It was his first time having any sort of a popsicle so he wasn’t quite sure what to do with it in the beginning… he spent 99% of the time licking his frozen treat and pushing it around the yard with his nose, it was comical.

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I didn’t personally try it, so I can’t tell you guys how it tastes, but it’s Bentley approved!

© Simple Everyday Food. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use any of my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or kindly link back to this post for the recipe.

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