Homemade ice cream - No ice cream maker required

There are few things more decadent than homemade ice cream. In our family, it's the coveted treat for my mother-in-law to make.

But if you've ever made ice cream yourself, you're in for some work before the reward. There's worrying about the ice, and lots of hand-cranking if you're not fortunate enough to have an electric ice cream maker. (Yes, I know I'm writing a green blog, but let me tell you: Hand cranking until the ice cream is ready is not fun.)

Even if you do have an electric maker, there's lots of babysitting in store. Add in clean up and storage of the maker the rest of the year (not to mention the cost of the contraption itself), and it's quite a lot for that quart of goodness.

Which is why Merle makes it for us.

That's why I was surprised when I stumbled across a homemade ice cream recipe in an ABC book written by my kindergarten teacher the other night. Even better, it was three ingredients -- and it required no ice cream machine. You can hardly go wrong as far as ease of preparation.

So last night, my daughter and I opted to make up our first batch of homemade ice cream. Of course, we're already tweaking the recipe due to ingredient availability in our house! (I think the original called for chocolate instead.)

Strawberry Ice Cream
1 can condensed skim milk
1 cup milk
1 lb. strawberries, diced

Mix the condensed milk and regular milk together until well blended. Add in strawberries. Freeze.

I've yet to try this frozen, but gauging from the fact my little one couldn't stop licking the spoon, I'm guessing it won't last long.