Summer Camp Disney Gal Style-Summertime is Ice Cream Time

“When you’re curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.”~ Walt Disney

            The teacher is in with this week’s Summer Camp activity.  Throughout the summer, I’ll be pulling from my bag of tricks to give you quick and easy ideas that are not only fun and educational but that can be done with little or no preparation utilizing items that you already have on hand. Last week we grew Magic Beans in a cup.  Your bean plants should be well on their way. I know at our house, even the adults were amazed by the sudden dirt to spurt transformation of the plants right before our eyes

            . Summer officially begins tomorrow, June 21 and nothing says summer quite like ice cream. No need to run to the store-you have everything you need right in your kitchen. Best of all, there’s no need for an ice cream machine because our special summer treat is made in a Ziploc bag. Let’s get shaking!

YOU WILL NEED:

1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla  

1 tablespoon sugar
4 cups ice
6 tablespoons of rock salt (regular salt will also work)
2 quart size Ziploc bags
1 gallon size Ziploc freezer bag

THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT:

What does the salt do?
Just like we use salt on icy roads in the winter, salt mixed with ice in this case also causes the ice to melt. When salt comes into contact with ice, the freezing point of the ice is lowered. Water will normally freeze at 32 degrees F. A 10% salt solution freezes at 20 degrees F, and a 20% solution freezes at 2 degrees F. By lowering the temperature at which ice is frozen, we are able to create an environment in which the milk mixture can freeze at a temperature below 32 degrees F into ice cream.

HOW TO MAKE ICE CREAM:

Fill the large bag half full of ice, and sprinkle the salt over the ice. Seal the bag.  

Pour the milk, vanilla, and sugar into the small bag, and carefully seal the bag.

3.  Place the sealed small bag with the ice cream mixture inside of the large bag and seal the large bag.

4.  Turn on some fun Disney music, create your own Disney Dance Party and shake the bag until the mixture magically turns to ice cream. The whole process takes a few minutes.

5.  Wipe off the top of the small bag, to remove any excess salt. Add fresh fruit to really make it a summer time treat and ENJOY!

TIPS:

Freezer bags work best because they are thicker and less likely to develop small holes, allowing the bags to leak. You can get away with using regular Ziploc bags for the smaller quart sizes, because you are double bagging.  If you plan to do this indoors, using the gallon size freezer bags will help save you from a potential disaster later on.

Using 1/2 cup of milk will make about 1 scoop of ice cream. If one scoop is not enough, it certainly works to double the recipe but you might not want to increase the proportions more than that -- a large amount might be too big for kids to pick-up because the ice itself is heavy.

Lucky enough to be traveling to a Disneyland Resort this summer? Be sure to check out Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlor on Main Street or the newly opened Ghirardelli Soda Fountain and Chocolate Shop on the Pacific Wharf in Disney California Adventure Park.  And if you’re like thousands of others, summer time is the perfect time for a Dole Whip, located at the Enchanted Tiki Room, which is celebrating its 50^th birthday this year. Are you a Walt Disney World frequent visitor? What's your favorite ice cream spot? Maybe it's the Kitchen Sink at Beaches and Cream-let us know where your favorite ice cream hang outs are. Whether at home or on the road, ice cream with the family makes every day a magical one.

It's not too late to grow your own Magic Beans-here's the link to last week's fun  and some updates of how our plants are doing just one week later.

Gayle is a Disney Gal that loves churros for breakfast, still gets giddy with delight at the first sight of the “Disneyland next exit sign”, loves the overwhelming emotions and memories that come with each and every return to the Happiest Place on Earth and dreams of one day being the Captain of the Jungle Boat. To learn more about Gayle, click here