How to stock your pantry without going to the store!

You know that you can get mixes, baking ingredients, and tools. But how long will it take to get your order?

We're struggling to keep up but given the flood of orders and challenging supply issues, we're doing pretty well. At this time, most orders are going out within three days.

But to do that, we're taking an occasional "vacation"--we're shutting the store down for a day so that shipping can catch up. That's about twice a week--though we're hiring new people so that we can eliminate the "vacations" and get your orders to you sooner.

We're planning on a "vacation" day on Monday to catch up with the weekend orders.

Our facility is on "lock down" to protect our staff. But those that live nearby can call and then come to the back door and pick up their orders over $25.

Please be careful and take care of yourself and your family.

My new favorite homemade ice cream recipes

Merri Ann got me some steel cut oats in little microwave cups--like Quakers only bigger. Microwave them for 90 seconds, let them sit for a minute, and then add milk or water.

They're really quite good, especially with milk added. Here's how I made them the best ever.

I took a big ice cream scoop and dropped a two-plus inch ball of pineapple mango ice cream into the hot oat cup and stirred it until the ice cream half-melted. Yep, it was really good.

I did it at work and of course, Merri Ann found out. She suggested I not do it every morning.

It was worth it.

We've been developing mango ice cream recipes. Those brave folks that volunteered to test the ice cream found it outstanding. Eliza said it was "the best ice cream ever." It is pretty incredible.

Fresh Mango Ice Cream

3 cups cubed fresh mangos

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided

1 1/2 cups whole milk

2 3/4 cups heavy cream

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place 2 1/2 cups mango, 1/2 cup sugar, and lemon juice in the blender and blend until smooth.
In a large bowl or with your stand-type mixer on low speed, combine the milk and remaining sugar until the sugar is dissolved, about two minutes.
Stir in the heavy cream, mango puree, and vanilla.
Turn on the ice cream machine. Pour the mixture into the freezer bowl. Let it mix for 20 to 25 minutes. Five minutes before it is complete, add the last 1/2 cup diced mango and let it mix completely.

This makes about 14 one-half cup servings. You may need to modify these directions for your machine.

Variations

We have made pineapple mango ice cream and strawberry mango ice cream. (Pineapple mango is my favorite.)

Pineapple Mango Ice Cream

Follow the recipe but add 1/4 cup pineapple juice to the mango mixture before blending. Add 1 cup drained, crushed pineapple to the mixture before putting it in the freezer.

Strawberry Mango Ice Cream

Follow the recipe but add 1 cup diced strawberries with the diced mangos before freezing.