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What Foods and Recipes Remind You of Your Childhood? Carrot Cake? Marinara Sauce?

by on ‎07-26-2013 04:45 PM

I am ready for the weekend, foodies, how about you!? Yesterday was a very special, very busy day. I traveled to Ypsilanti (ip-sa-lan-tea), Michigan with Mary and two members of our production crew to have lunch with Dwight at Haab’s Restaurant—our Foodie Road Trip contest winner!
 
Dwight, Mary, and David at Haab's
 
We were up early and caught a flight from Philadelphia to Detroit. Ypsilanti is just 20 minutes from the airport and home to Eastern Michigan University…what a quaint little town. Haab’s—now run by a fourth-generation owner—has been serving up comfort-food favorites since 1934. When I asked the owner of the restaurant why folks keep coming back, he said, “For most of our patrons, it’s like coming home again. We serve the kind of comfortable, consistent food they’ve enjoyed for decades.”
 
Ask anyone in town—like Dwight, Heather, and Rachel—why they love Haab’s and the food will certainly be mentioned. But, they’ll also tell you that Haab’s owners go above and beyond to support the community. And, they’ve been doing it every day for nearly 80 years. Haab's history is written on its walls in old photos and a glance of the menu will tell you why the locals have fallen in love with this place.
 
Haab's Restaurant
 
So what did I have? Chicken in a basket with four pieces of fried chicken, homemade shoestring French fries, and a hot buttered biscuit with honey. YUM!
 
Our flight home yesterday was a little delayed—and by little, I mean six hours! So, it was a late night and an early morning today…I scheduled an appointment for landscapers to come help me curb my hedges. With all the rain we’ve had this summer, my shrubs and flowering bushes were out of control and I needed professionals! Then, I was off for a much-needed trimming myself...
 
Haircut
 
And now, I’m dreaming of Homemade Summer Peach Ice Cream—Sunday’s recipe on In the Kitchen with David.
 
David's Homemade Peach Ice Cream
 
Homemade Summer Peach Ice Cream
 
This recipe is prepared with the Kitchen Aid 13-Cup 3-in-1 Wide Mouth Food Processor (K35182).
 
Go to David's Recipe Item Page for the full list of items that David has used in his recipes.
 
Ingredients:


4 cups frozen peaches, defrosted
1 (9.6 oz) can peach nectar
1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup whole milk
1 tsp unflavored gelatin
1 tsp lemon juice


Directions:


Puree 3 cups of the peaches with peach nectar in a food processor until smooth.


Add the peach puree, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, and milk to a medium-size sauce pan; stir to combine.


Place 3 Tbsp of the peach mixture in a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over the surface of the liquid and set it aside.


Bring the mixture in the sauce pan to a slight simmer over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and scoop a cup of the heated mixture into the bowl with the gelatin. Stir until dissolved. Stir the gelatin mixture into the rest of the ice cream base and refrigerate overnight. Chop the remaining peaches into 1/4” pieces. Refrigerate them until you’re ready to freeze the ice cream base.


Pour the chilled ice cream base into the canister of an ice cream maker and begin to freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. When the ice cream reaches a soft-serve consistency, add the chopped peaches and let the machine run until they’re distributed throughout. Continue to freeze according to the manufacturer’s directions.


Foodies, homemade peach ice cream is my all-time favorite and a recipe that is rooted deep in my childhood memories. I remember coming back from a family vacation and we were minutes from the North Carolina/Georgia border when my mother stopped at a roadside farmer’s market. We walked out of there with baskets full of fresh, ripe, Georgia peaches and went home to cook peach cobbler and homemade ice cream. My brother, sister, and I ate ourselves silly and I’d do it all over again in a heartbeat.
 
I’m sure all of you have memories like that. For today’s blog question, tell me about them. What foods and recipes remind you of your childhood? Did your grandmother make the best carrot cake? Maybe you can still taste your mother’s strawberry jam? Or, was it your father’s famous pasta sauce? I’m headed out for a quick walk then I’ll be back to work on some head notes for my new cookbook. Believe it or not, about 35-40% of the recipes have been tested and completed already. Be sure to join me Sunday at Noon ET—we’ve got a VERY special announcement to make and you won’t want to miss it!
 
Keep it flavorful!
—David