Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

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This is what a treated myself to for Mother's Day.

I really enjoy this recipe. It's no cook and pretty standard. I think the lemon juice in this recipe
gives the berries a kick and cuts through the sweetness perfectly.

Addition: * I forgot to mention this. While I definitely like ice cream to
have some heavy cream in it, if you wanted to, you could take this and make it fat free.
I've made it with fat free half and half, instead of cream. It still tastes delish,
but it does change the texture,,,,a little more like ice milk. And if you wanted to
make it even creamier, you could change out the 2% milk with whole milk.
Not to blabber on but, you could use any combination of cream and milk you wanted,
 as long if the total liquid stayed the same.

I remember the long involved process making homemade ice cream use to be. 

Now, it's really a no brainer if you have the ice cream maker. 

When it comes out of the machine, the ice cream is like a soft serve. 

If you want it a little firmer, just put it in the freezer for a few.

My hubby and I ended up going out for an impromptu dinner at Chili's that night and brought home their molten lava chocolate cake, without the ice cream, and ate it with ours. OMG!

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream

3 cups fresh ripe strawberries, stemmed and sliced
4 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 1/2 cups 2 % milk
2 3/4 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

In a small bowl, combine the berries with the lemon juice and 1/2 cup of the sugar. Stir gently and allow the berries to macerate in the juices for 2 hours. Strain the berries, reserving juices. Mash or puree half the berries.

In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer or whisk to combine the milk and remaining sugar, until sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream, reserved strawberry juice, mashed strawberries and vanilla. Turn the machine on; pour the mixture into freezer bowl, and let mix until thickened, about 20-25 minutes. Five minutes before done, add the reserved sliced strawberries and continue. At the end of 25 minutes(give or take), the ice cream will have a soft and creamy texture, so if a firmer consistency is desired, transfer to an air tight container and freeze a couple hours.