Something for your ice cream maker, and something for your pasta

We've tried several new recipes this week, and two of them are certainly worth passing along (though we also really dug oven baked pizzadillas... think pizza baked into a quesadilla. Delightful).

The first is a recipe for lemon ice milk, which is basically frozen, milky lemon deliciousness. We were looking for something relatively light, both in taste and in fat, etc. This really fit the bill. Jeremy liked it so much he told me he wants to eat it nightly, indefinitely. High praise indeed. Here's the recipe:

Lemon Ice

Juice of 1 lemon

Lemon zest to taste (I'd probably zest at least half the lemon)

2/3 C sugar

2 C 2% milk

Whisk together the sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest until well combined. Slowly add milk into the lemon/sugar mixture while whisking rapidly. Immediately pour into ice cream maker and turn it on. Don't let the mixture sit before freezing, or the milk will probably curdle.

A few notes:

The sugar amount is variable; the recipe called for 1 C, we used 3/4 C, but we thought it was a little too sweet. Maybe 2/3 C is the "sweet" spot? Perhaps only 1/2 C?

The type of milk you use is also probably variable. I probably would've used 1% if we'd had any, but we only had 2% and nonfat. I guess I could've mixed. The lighter milk you use, I think, the icier the treat will be. 2% was pretty good.

The original recipe was double this recipe. This amount was enough for our family, but a larger family would want to double the recipe. Jeremy wants me to double the recipe next time so we can have more leftovers. Just note that once you put it into the freezer it will get VERY HARD, so plan to let it sit out for at least 40 minutes until softened, then stir before serving. Enjoy!

Homemade Lemon Ricotta (adapted from Cooking Light magazine)

2 C 2% milk

1/2 C plain Greek yogurt

2 tsp. cider vinegar

1 1/2 tsp grated lemon rind

1/4 tsp kosher salt

Combine first three ingredients in a medium saucepan. Heat over medium-high heat until small curds form, which for me happened pretty quickly, though I kept heating until just before the boiling point. Strain through a sieve lined with a double layer of cheesecloth; let stand for 5 minutes (you can also let it drain through paper towels, which is what I did since I am both sieve-less and cheesecloth-less, but I would've much rather done as the recipe instructed). Discard liquid. Scrape cheese into small bowl. Stir in rind and 1/4 tsp salt.

That's it! It's so easy and delicious. We sprinkled the cheese over some linguine with summer squash and tomatoes, and the whole dish was so summery and nice.

Photo of Lemon Ice from allrecipes.com; photo of lemon ricotta and pasta from Cooking Light magazine (myrecipes.com).