Eating snow with a spoon.

Have you been graced with some wintry mixes yet? Now, unless you don”t have to work, or you”re going to the mountain, or you don”t have to clean off your car, or you have a pair of snow shoes — snowstorms can be kind of a pain. But next time it snows, don”t be upset — just grab a few items out of your cupboard and take advantage of that snow to make

Yes. Ice cream. Made out of snow. Have I got your attention yet?

Now there are a bunch of recipes online for snow ice cream (what .. people actually know about this already?), however, because I am obsessed with Paula Deen, we”re going to follow her recipe. And it”s so simple! You”re going to be kicking yourself for just finding out about this awesome treat now. Here”s what you need:

8 cups of SNOW (or shaved ice if you can”t wait till the next storm)

1 14-oz can of SWEETENED CONDENSED MILK

1 teaspoon VANILLA EXTRACT

TO MAKE (the basic recipe): Place the snow into a large bowl, then pour in the condensed milk, followed by vanilla. Mix and voila, snow magic! However, if plain vanilla ice cream just isn”t thrilling enough for you, grab these as well:

FOOD COLORING

SPRINKLES

Add a few drops at a time of the food coloring until you get the color vibrancy you want, depending on how much snow ice cream you”re working with. Scoop into bowls and top with sprinkles before serving! After a bite of this, you”ll be begging for it to snow each night!

What are your favorite snowstorm treats?

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T-shirts to Sweaters, Salads to Soups

As the temperatures slowly drop, the pant legs and sleeves grow longer. The tank tops and shorts we’ve enjoyed during the warm summer months are replaced with pants, long sleeves, sweatshirts and sweaters.  While I try to hold on to my shorts and tees as long as possible, soon it’ll be time to change over my closet to fall and winter clothing.

fall picture

http://www.flickr.com/photos/moreoh/

But, just as important as changing over your wardrobe for the changing weather is changing over your pantry. During the summer, when the weather is hot and humid, I try to eat light and fresh—fruits, salads, and grilled meat.

When the weather turns colder, however, I turn to more flavorful, savory and fulfilling foods.

 

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Soups

I’m a big soup fan during the colder months. I usually stock up creamy, hearty soups such as:

Tomato Soup

New England Clam Chowder

Beef Stew

Cream of Mushroom

Squash Soup

 

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Warm, Fulfilling foods:

Pasta

Pasta sauce

Hot Chocolate

Hot Apple Cider

Oatmeal

Coffee

 

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Spices

I’m a big spice packer, too. My favorite part of fall is apple picking and of course, making lots of apple treats! I keep a few fall spice staples on hand, including:

Apple pie spice

Nutmeg

Cinnamon

With my pantry fully stocked, I’m ready to hunker down for a wonderful, crisp fall and winter!

Do you stock up your pantry for the season? What are some of your favorites to include? Share with us here as a comment or on our Facebook or Twitter!