Melted ice cream seems like it should be one of life’s great heartbreaks.

Maybe you had a birthday party and left it out a few minutes too long. Maybe your husband accidentally put the ice cream away in the FRIDGE and not the freezer (ask me how I know).

No judgement here. However you got here, we’re going to repurpose that melted ice cream into something magnificent!

This Brioche French Toast recipe uses melted ice cream in place of the dairy and vanilla extract found in traditional French toast recipes.

The subtle sweetness of the ice cream, along with the perfectly crisp golden brown crust on the French toast may have you melting ice cream on purpose for brunch!

Allow me to introduce you to this ice cream French toast recipe that is made with melted ice cream. It’s a kitchen “hack” that has probably already made the rounds on Tik Tok, but I’ve been making since long before that.

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Mug cakes may have been a social media laughingstock for a little while (something about a sad single girl dessert?) but that’s just silly. Mug cakes are the perfect way to make an impromptu cake for one person (or more!) any night of the week.

There are a ton of varieties of chocolate, vanilla and sprinkle mug cake recipes available online, but not as many seasonal options.

This cake in a mug recipe uses both fresh apple and applesauce to create a fruit-forward fall dessert that cooks in 90 seconds, and gets even better when you top it with caramel.

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For an item that is literally always on my kitchen counter, I actually don’t have a ton of recipes on this blog for bananas! There’s a banana breakfast smoothie and chocolate covered bananas, but I think it’s time to give bananas a little more love around here.

It’s hard to think of bananas without a banana split coming to mind. Truthfully, I’ve never enjoyed traditional banana splits, because I’ve never loved eating just plain, uncooked banana.

I love the flavor of bananas, but prefer them baked into something like mango banana bread, or cooked, like in bananas foster. Give me caramelized bananas over plain ones any day!

So, this caramelized banana split recipe with Hudsonville Ice Cream’s Limited Edition Blueberry Graham Delight is my idea of a perfect summer treat.

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What is Affogato?

Affogatto is the Italian word for “drowned,” and the most traditional version is generally a scoop of vanilla ice cream or gelato with hot espresso poured over it.

I’m hoping more restaurants will take notice of how amazing affogato is, so it starts to become more widely offered in my area. Right now, it’s a pretty rare (and exciting) find on a restaurant menu.

Since I so rarely find it at restaurants, I figured the best thing to do would be to just take matters into my own hands and make a version at home.

I mean, after all, it’s just two simple ingredients. I don’t need a restaurant to make this affogato recipe for me!

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Valentine’s Day is coming up this weekend, and I know it may look a little different for a lot of couples this year.

While we’ve always been homebodies (and probably always will be), we did go out to a fancy dinner last year a few days after the 14th, because we happened to have a babysitter.

I’m glad we did, because it turned out to be our last fancy dinner out . . . for a very long time.

But we’re also totally content to have a quiet day at home with our daughter. A few years ago, we had a Valentine’s Day ice cream sundae party for the three of us.

Other years, we may have a snack board for dinner (like these Valentine’s Day party food ideas) followed up by easy Valentine dessert shooters.

This year, we’ve decided to do a decadent breakfast for dinner and have these malted waffles and Hudsonville Ice Cream.

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On my list of life regrets (although I try not to have too many) is not trying tiramisu when I was IN ITALY. What was I thinking?

I had a rigatoni bolognese recipe and a lot of gelato and some other great desserts, but just didn’t have a chance to try tiramisu in its motherland.

And you know what? Maybe that’s OK. Maybe if I had had it there, it would have ruined all other tiramisus for me, and I would only like strictly authentic tiramisu while scoffing at all others.

Maybe it would mean I would never open my heart to an adaptation like these Frozen Tiramisu Cups.

Are they authentic? No. Are they decadent, delicious and oh-so-easy to put together? Heck yes!

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Everybody who knows me well knows that the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. It’s nice weather and low commitment. There’s no customary big meal to prepare and no presents to buy. It’s just pure relaxation and enjoyment.

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Last Saturday was my daughter Vida’s first birthday. Time really does fly as fast as everybody says it does. It certainly seems like it was just yesterday that I was announcing her birth. It’s been a year of watching her grow like a weed, listening to her sweet baby giggle, and (thankfully!) quite a bit of sleep.

I know a lot of people say that a first birthday party is really about the parents. About them surviving that first year. Truthfully, I don’t feel like we’ve had to “survive” at all.

We’ll be the first to tell you that we completely lucked out – V is a happy-go-lucky kid who is rarely upset except when we try to feed her bananas. So this first birthday party was really about celebrating how awesome the past year has been.

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So, here’s the thing. I am somebody that loves hosting get togethers. I don’t do it as often as I should, but when I do, I love it. But I am, by my own admission, not the chillest of hosts. I overthink everything about the gathering and the way the day will go to the point of absurdity.

Will the dishwasher hold all the dishes? When should I start the grill? Who will scoop the ice cream for affogato coffee? Will it make a mess? On and on and on.

I’ve found that the best way to quell the overthinking voices in my head is to serve food, drinks and desserts that are prepped almost entirely in advance. The kind that you make the day (or the week) before and just pull out at the last moment and serve.

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I don’t deny it: I am unabashedly a homebody. If I have a choice between going out and cozying up at home with Valentine’s Day Snacks and a chocolate brownie pie, or homemade waffles and ice cream, well, the “out” thing better be really good.

And when it comes to Valentine’s Day, I can’t remember the last time Jeff and I even tried to go out. The truth is, we both enjoying cooking, and we’re pretty good at it.

So, the meal we make at home is almost sure to better than any V-Day prix fixe menu out there. And sometimes we’ll just pick one of my charcuterie ideas and have that for dinner.

But really, we just like being together, and most of our life’s special moments are spent at home.

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