July 2022 | gianna1.com

God Bless America 🇺🇲

July 2022 is here!

Here in Georgia the temps are high 90's since June. What to cook in this heat? Well, thank God for air conditioning!

When I was growing up we did not have air conditioning, so when mom put the oven on, the kitchen was unbearable.

Kids in my neighborhood would open up the fire hydrant and blast it on everyone. What they should have done is asked the Police Athletic League to place a sprinkler attachment to the hydrant. But NO, then they wouldn't be able to scare everyone!!!

School was out and so I was home every day to go out and play with my neighborhood friends. We would make due with concrete alleyways and yards. One of the mothers would fill up a plastic pool. We'd sit in the pool all day, and play with our dolls.

Meanwhile, mom would send me to the store or mercantile to buy a few things she needed.

Fourth of July was a patriotic time here in the city neighborhoods. Some years we would go to the beach by bus and stay at the beach till it closed at dark.

The Bronx Zoo was walking distance from my home.

Here's the bus we used to take to the beach.

The famous zoological park of the Bronx

When we were little, my father would bring us to the zoo. It was so big, you had to pick and choose what to see and visit. The elephants park was one of my favorites. To this day I love elephants. The only part I did not like was the smell in hot July. It was so bad, we'd had to hold our noses.

My favorite books to borrow from the library were the series of Babar the Elephant.

Spending hours in the hot sun 🔆 never knowing the effects on the skin.

Loved my Babar

Couldn't get enough of my Babar books.

Chocolate ice cream pie.

Ice cream pie

It's Fourth of July weekend. Grilling shrimp and making a few hot dogs. For dessert I made something so easy, I feel guilty giving you the recipe.

1 ready made chocolate pie crust

1 quart of cookies and cream ice cream, softened

Chocolate ganache (recipe follows)

Whipped cream for topping

Directions:

Take ice cream out of freezer, allow to soften but not melt.

Spoon the ice cream into the pie crust to one level, to the top.

Prepare ganache by melting 1 cup of chocolate chips with 1/2 cup heavy cream. Place bowl with the ingredients in the microwave and melt for 30 seconds at a time. Stir vigorously and right before your eyes, the dark chocolate ganache appears. It should be smooth.

Pour the ganache to the top of the completed ice cream pie. Carefully cover the pie and place in freezer.

After several hours or before serving, remove from freezer and top each piece with whipped cream or cover entire pie with whipped cream.

It's a winner!

Note: you can choose any flavor of ice cream or pie crust.

It's a great dessert for a hot July day!

Happy Birthday America 🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲

Even out the ice cream before adding ganache.

Consistency of ganache

Comments

04.07.2022 01:43

Jill Clark

Jan, I can picture you playing and jumping in the fire hydrant water. I SO wish you would write a book about your life. Every time you make one of these installments, I just soak it up. Thank you!

06.07.2022 00:37

Jan Conte

Oh, you're too kind. I had a typical Italian immigrant childhood. Every day was a learning experience. Thank you for always giving me a positive reaction to my writing.

03.07.2022 05:59

Kim Mashburn

This looks so good and it's easy! We love ice cream so I'll have to try this. Love the story about the summers of your childhood! Cherished memories!

03.07.2022 18:28

Jan Conte

Thank you for reading my blog. Yes, many memories of the hot July's back when I was a youngster. Try the easy ice cream pie.

Let's get baking!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

1 whole thin skinned orange, remove the stem and cut in quarters. Keep the skin on the oranges.

In a clean large food processor, add the orange quarters, 1 1/4 cups of sugar, three large eggs, 1 tsp of vanilla, 1 tsp of orange extract, 1 tbsp of Triple Sec liqueur, optional, 2/3 cup vegetable oil.

Pulse all ingredients in the processor and then puree until mixture becomes a batter with specs of orange peel.

Add to the processor:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Process all dry ingredients until they are entirely incorporated into the batter.

Bake in a greased and floured spring pan, using a parchment paper circle on top of the greased bottom.*

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place in the center rack of the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven.

Remove from your oven and let it cool down completely. Dust with powdered sugar or make a drizzle of 1/4 cup powdered sugar and fresh squeezed orange until thick and smooth. Pour onto the cooled fresh orange cake.

Cooking with Love

with Gianna Conte (Jan)