Ice cream (part 2)

We all have a favorite flavor of ice cream.  Even I, the girl who will enjoy any flavor, am partial to vanilla.  Boring? I think not!  My husband on the other hand is not obsessed like me, but he does like ice cream. We can only find his favorite flavor in one place.  The Chocolate Moose makes an ice cream called Grasshopper.  I have no idea where they came up with the name because there are not any bugs in it!  Grasshopper is a mint ice cream with oreo cookie chunks.  So good.

I have a few varieties of mint growing in pots.  Pineapple mint, regular, and catnip.  That's right, catnip is part of the mint family.  More about that later.  I thought I would attempt to make some Grasshopper ice cream.  I got some oreo's, milk and cream, cut some pineapple and regular mint and went to town.  I used the Scoop Adventures Double Mint recipe plus cookies.  I put the oreo chunks in the ice cream maker in the last 10 minutes of churning.  The paddle beat the cookies into smithereens leaving me with a batch of brown mint ice cream.  Not too appetizing really.  I added some more cookie chunks and a bunch of green food coloring as I put it in the container.  It helped.  I learned somethings and tried it again!

This time with 3 mints . . . including catnip.

I wanted to make a double batch and did not quite have enough regular mint, so really that is the reason I threw in a little catnip, just to make up the difference.  If you want to try this, just be aware, catnip seems to be a strong flavor and nearly overpowered the regular mint.  Catnip has a little more earthy flavor, but still lightly minty.

This time I made the ice cream and added the cookies as I spooned it into the container.  My husband helped with this part.  The result is a mint ice cream with oreo cookie chunks.

Well, it's melting, gotta go!

A bit about catnip:
If you drink mint tea, check out the ingredients list.  Some teas actually have catnip in them.  There are many uses for catnip.  Are you anxious, have a migraine, or an upset tummy? Try some catnip!  I am not suggesting that you will be instantly cured, but you might feel a bit better. There are some chemical compounds that are actually used in things you might be taking for some of these afflictions.  Here is a website that may provide more info if you are curious.