We love ice cream and recently bought a Cuisinart 2 quart electric freezer that has become my favorite appliance. You freeze the container and then set it on a motor and pour in chilled ingredients and in about 25 minutes you have ice cream, except ours doesn't have any cream these days. My favorite ice cream substitute is frozen yogurt.

Tutti Frutti frozen Yogurt

1 quart of Nancy's lowfat yogurt (Yes I've tried others and I like this best even though it's not fat free)

In a 4 cup measuring cup or an empty yogurt carton put about 1 cup of mixed fruits. I used peaches, cherries, and a banana this morning. Pour over that, 1 1/4 cup of sugar (I said low fat, not actually healthy). Then stir in skim milk or Silk vanilla soymilk. (that's the only brand of soy milk I like). Fill to the top with the milk and a dash of salt. I've also used fat free half and half and fat free soy half and half. Anything like that seems to taste good alone should work although I haven't tried fruit juices yet. In a mixer stir the yogurt in with your milk/fruit and combine thoroughly. Taste it to see if it needs more vanilla or sugar. You want it to be extra sweet because after it's frozen it doesn't taste as sweet. Pour it back in the yogurt cartons and refrigerate several hours. Then freeze in an ice cream freezer.

I've made this without the fruit too and it's great! Who said that you need eggs in frozen desserts!

I honestly believe that the best thing you can bake is Angel Food Cake...now if you don't like it, that's probably because you've only had one from a bakery or from a mix. My gosh I swear that they use Tide for flour in those. Well, my chickens are laying eggs like crazy now and I know exactly what to do with those eggs. Some things are just worth the effort.

Kathy Neal's favorite Angel Food Cake recipe

Preheat the oven to 375

Cake pan, mixing bowls and all utensils must be very clean and free of any grease or oil or this will not work.

Mix 1 c of cake flour and 1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar in a bowl with a wire whisk.

In a separate bowl separate a dozen large eggs. Now if you get a little yolk in it's going to mess up the whole thing so use lots of dishes and only put the whites in the bowl that goes on the mixer.

In a dozen egg whites, about 1 1/2 cups, put 1 1/2 teaspoons of cream of tartar and beat until just foamy with the wire whisk on your electric mixer. Keep beating and add 1 cup of fine granulated sugar slowly. Beat until those peaks stand up stiffly but still look wet.

Add 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract and 1 1/2 teaspoons of a very good vanilla and beat only till blended.

Now, turn your mixer down to the lowest speed and sprinkle in that cake flour mixture you've been saving. Just sprinkle it in a little at a time and let it disappear with the mixer going slowly.

Now, you'll need an angel food cake pan. One that the middle and bottom comes out..I don't think anything else will do. Turn that batter into the pan and kinda spread it out but don't bounce it or shake it. Now this is very important. Take a knife and cut through the cake from the center to the outter edge about fifty times to remove any air bubbles that will make your finished product look like swiss cheese, then cut through from the outter edge to the center to remove those bubbles that are clinging to the center of the pan. See how that batter kinda levels itself out.

Place your beautiful cake into the oven and bake it for about 35-45 minutes. The top will be lightly browned and will almost look dry when it is done. Don't stick a toothpick in it or expect to touch the top to test it, won't work.

It needs to cool completely, upside down. If you have a pop bottle or ketchup bottle with a long neck that usually works or may be your pan has legs on the top edge. Figure this out before you take it out of the oven and don't have a hand to find a bottle. Better yet figure it out before you put the cake in the pan...I know, now I tell you. Some bottle necks are too fat for the hole, you just have to try them out.

After your gorgeous cake is completely cool...waiting for this is the most difficut part but you must...run a long bladed knife around the outter edge and around the center and lift it out of the outter pan. Then run that knife across the bottom and turn the cake onto the most elegant cake plate you own. Becareful when you cut it, use a sawing motion or it will smush.

I like it just plain but you can put fruit and whipped cream on it. Glaze it with lemon juice mixed with powdered sugar, serve it with some lemon curd that you made from those egg yolks you have left over, Chocolate ice cream is good with it too...it just improves whatever you serve with it.

This tastes like something but I don’t know what…

Line a square pan with graham crackers, mix up some instant chocolate fudge pudding and after it gets thick mix in half a container of cool whip. Put a third over the graham crackers put another layer of crackers, put other third on more crackers and the final third of the mixture. Then top with cool whip and chocolate shavings and chill. They’ll think that they’re getting eclairs and you’ve worked for hours.

Pumpkin Pie with Pecans and Tuaca Butter Sauce

Aunt Marg made the best pumpkin pies I ever tasted. Her secret was to use any recipe but double everything but the pumpkin and the spices. Now that I live in the Northwest and Sweet Meat Squash is so avaialble, pumpkin pie is something that we have often. Below is the best recipe I've come up with using Aunt Marg's technique and a few others I've learned. Alterations to the ingredients have already been made.

Preheat the oven to 325F and spray an 8-inch springform pan with olive oil spray. Line the pan with a purchased crust and press it up the sides of the pan as far as it can go. Now you can go to the trouble of making a crust but after all the syrup hits the crust it's going to taste like one out of a box anyway and I promise that no one notices the crust anyway in this pie, it's just to hold in the goodie. Chill the crust for 15 minutes

Pumpkin filling - mix together in a bowl and set aside

1 Cup cooked pumpkin puree I use sweet meat squash when I can

1/4 c firmly packed brown sugar

2 Tablespoons sugar

2 large eggs beaten until frothy

1 cup heavy cream

1 Tablespoon butter softened

1 Tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

a pinch of freshly ground nutmeg

Pecan Syrup -Mix in another bowl

3/4 c brown sugar

3/4 cup corn syrup

3 eggs

1 1/2 T butter melted

2 teaspoons vanilla

pinch of salt

pinch of cinnamon

3/4 cup finely chopped pecans

Pour the pumpkin mixture into the crust and then give the pecan syrup another stir and pour it gently over the top as evenly as you can. The syrup will sink to the bottom making a great pecan surprise in the bottom. Bake it over a piece of aluminum foil for a hour and 45 minutes and set on a rack to cool.

Tuaca Butter Sauce

Ok, this recipe originally called for Whiskey but Lance came in the very day I was experimenting carrying a bottle of Tuaca someone had given him for an early Christmas present. "this is great Mom you have to try it" so we did. Bob loved it. The recipe below is doubled because Bob loves it and we want some for the pie too. It would be great over ice cream or pound cake.

1 stick butter (you know how bad margarine is don't you...please don't substitute.

2/3 Cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 Tablespoon very hot water

1/2 C Whipped Cream

1/2 C Tuaca or Burbon Whiskey .... Kalua would be good..

Melt the butter in a double boiler. Mix the eggs and sugar together then pour them into the melted butter. Add the 1 T hot water and cook over hot water until the mixture coats the back of a spoon 7-10 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool. Pour through a sieve into the cream and add the whiskey.

Cool and serve.