Saying goodbye to Spring with storms and mango ice cream

Wow, haven't there been some severe storms in Queensland the past couple of weeks? Thankfully we haven't been in the firing line unlike Warwick and some other towns where there has been a lot of property damage. We did get some rain from them though though not a great deal but certainly enough to cause the weeds to seemingly grow overnight. 

Last week the sky was blue one minute and the next minute storm clouds had moved in turning everything dark. I ran inside for my camera to take a couple of photos before the rain started...

 

 ...hoping that there were no green clouds on the way as there have been so many hail storms recently which have been breaking windows and wrecking crops. Thankfully there was no hail but I was quite pleased when the storm had moved on as they have been very destructive as I have mentioned. According to the weather forecasters things should settle down for a while after Wednesday this week and I think it will be a little cooler as well which will help when so much gardening needs to be done.

As it has been so very hot and humid lately, I have been having a few cravings for ice cream. However, I haven't seen too many sugar free ice creams around..if any..so I thought I would experiment with the Mango Ice Cream recipe that I made last year. Our Simple Living Toowoomba co-ordinator, Margy, made some at one of our workshops. Instead of 1/2 cup sugar I used 1/2 cup dextrose. Here is the recipe if you would like to try it:

Mango Ice-Cream

1 cup milk

1 cup cream

1 egg

1 cup freshly sliced mango

½ cup sugar (I replaced the sugar with dextrose)

½ teaspoon vanilla

 

 

 

 

 

Process all ingredients in a food processor until mixture is smooth.  Refrigerate 1-2 hours or until completely chilled.  Stir mixture again...put into ice-cream maker (or just blend again and freeze in a container). Margy used an ice-cream maker and it gives a different consistency from the ice-cream put into the freezer. 

 

 I was happy with the result and it was very refreshing on a hot day.

Due to the heat I haven't been in the garden very much but noticed today that it must be Day Lily time and there were a few Dahlias there as well but for some reason they certainly aren't looking their best and perhaps it has been too hot for them. I do hope they come good though as they looked absolutely stunning last year. 

As tomorrow is the first of December the countdown is on to Christmas now and I need to get ready for the visit from my grandchildren who are bringing their parents with them as well...of course :-) They will be leaving Mt.Isa on my little grandson's first birthday so thankfully he won't remember his big day sitting in a car seat driving through the Outback probably in over 40C heat. The girls have been wonderful travellers and hopefully he will be as well. This will be his first long trip. I am looking forward to walking through Queens Park looking at the lights in Toowoomba's Christmas Wonderland. On the page linked to there is a short video of this annual event if you would like to take a look. It is run by volunteers and the gold coin entry donation raises money for Lifeline, the Toowoomba Hospital Foundation and the Toowoomba Hospice. If you are in town from Dec 5-24 don't miss seeing these Christmas lights. Over 80,000 people visited the Christmas Wonderland last year and it is well worth a visit.

Have a great week everyone and stay safe during the storms if you live in Queensland.