Dairy Queen Blizzard Battle: Pumpkin or Apple?

Are you Team Apple Pie or Team Pumpkin Pie?

That's what Dairy Queen asked Tina and I when they reached out to us about their Blizzard Battle! Though Tina and I are both pumpkin fans, when our contact offered to send us pumpkin or apple swag, we decided the best idea was for one of us to be sent pumpkin and the other apple.

So as you can see, I was sent a lovely package of pumpkin themed goodies, along with a couple of gift certificates to try the Blizzards.

to divide the swag though, so Tina got the apple swag and I got the pumpkin swag and we both got gift certificates to Dairy Queen to try the Blizzards. 

When I took my family, I opted for the smallest size of each of the two Blizzards so I could try both. Small is not, well, small. In this supersized world we live in, I shouldn't have been surprised. I don't think I could have finished one of the smalls, never mind two. Anyway, in the name of science, I ordered both and knew I wouldn't be able to finish.

As you can see at left, my girls thoroughly enjoyed some cones with rainbow sprinkles while I was there doing the hard work of research for our blog about ice cream.

And what's a trip to Dairy Queen without a crown?! (Actually, I think my oldest had been wearing that crown all day and it was pure coincidence that she was wearing it...!)

And in the end? Surprise! I was totally Team Apple! I loved the flavor and the cinnamon-y pieces of pie crust mixed in.

I wonder what Tina will choose as her favorite? Do we have to switch gear? Here's the swag that Tina got in the mail -- but last I heard she hadn't made it out to DQ yet to actually try it out! Tina...we'll be waiting!

And readers, we'll be waiting! Enjoy your autumn -- if you are a pumpkin and/or apple fan like we are, this is your season!

Both Apple and Pumpkin Blizzards are wonderful. I do suggest you head out to try them out before the season ends!

The Only Ice Cream Recipe You'll Ever Need?

My dad sent this link to me the other day. Titled "The Only Ice Cream Recipe You'll Ever Need," it immediately caught my eye. I finally got to watch it. I have three cups of black raspberries in my freezer and I just watched the video (see below) and checked out the recipe to see if this is how I want to use my raspberries.


Frankly, I am not sure.

I have a recipe I love. It's from The Ultimate Frozen Dessert Book by Bruce Weinstein and Mark Scarbrough. It's the recipe they have for Raspberry Gelato, which I have altered slightly. It's gorgeously colored and amazingly tasty.

That being said, I do want to try this recipe, if only to see if it lives up to its hype.

But to waste this season's only three cups of black raspberries on something I don't know to be good, when I have something completely trustworthy on my bookshelf?

I think I'll visit this recipe again with something not so "precious" to me.

I'll report back when I do try that recipe.

In the meantime, do follow through with watching the video -- it's really quite informative -- and head on over to the article for a great chart. Melissa Clark gives her viewers/readers the basics and the rules and then invites them to break them and adjust accordingly. That's fair and worth some experimenting with (albeit with some less precious commodities)!

Rocky Road: The Movie

Yes, seriously. A movie called Rocky Road about ice cream! We like ice cream and we like movies, that's why we were pretty excited to hear about this new flick.

Sunday, July 20 is National Ice Cream Day and also the premiere of UP's original Rocky Road. Head over to your UP channel and tune in at 8PM. 

We can't tell you how it will be, but it looks like a sweet (yes, pun intended) story about a wall street banker who gets laid off, moves home, and drives an ice cream truck. Could be kind of cheesy, but it's ice cream and movies and it's on the UP network, which means it promises to be "uplifting." (Don't know what UP is? I didn't either. Check it out here.) I'll try to catch it, because if it makes you happy, even cheesy can be good!

And it stars Mark Salling of Glee fame, if that catches anyone's fancy.

But as LaVar Burton would say, "You don't have to take my word for it!"* Check out the preview below.

*On a non-ice cream note, if this quote is lost on you or if brings back fond memories, head over to Kickstarter to see how Burton is bringing his signature line! Whee!

Brigham's Sundae-in-a-Box Giveaway Winners!

We have chosen our winners for the Brigham's Sundae-in-a-Box Giveaway!

Thank you to everyone who entered and if you didn't win, don't worry, you can still head over to Brigham's to vote for the flavor you'd like to see make a comeback as well as share your favorite memories and enter for a chance to win a Brigham's ice cream scoop!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winners will be notified by email with instructions on how to claim your prizes.

A big thank you to Brigham's for sponsoring the giveaway and Happy 100 Years!

Brigham's: Coffee

Since a bunch of people tried Brigham's Coffee Ice Cream, I am just going to compile the quotes:

"It's coffee." (Yes, I have very insightful friends...)

"It's a good base for toppings."

"It's a mild, generic coffee [flavor]."

"It's great for toppings."

"It's great with hot fudge."

"It doesn't even really taste like coffee, which is a good thing because I generally don't like coffee flavored anything."

"I liked it. It wouldn't be my first pick, but I'd eat it."

"Both of these are really good." (From my mom, who tried both the Coffee and the Mocha Almond.)

By the way, after complaining that two of my stores only had limited flavors, today I stopped at a more local store and hit the motherlode. It was all I could do to not buy all of the flavors. I settled on Paul Revere's Rocky Ride. I'll report back when I try it!

Don't forget, only one more day to vote for your favorite retired Brigham's flavor for a chance to win one of ten prizes of a Sundae-in-a-Box from Brigham's!