Holidays always bring memories. Sometimes it’s funny the memories they bring.

I was plundering through the fridge a couple of nights ago and realized we had a nice sized bowl of sweet potato cobbler left from Thanksgiving. It was the very last bit and I didn’t want it go to waste. What better to do with that than make Sweet Potato Cobbler ice cream!

As I was putting together the ice cream, out of the blue from the caverns of my mind came an image of me and my childhood best friend Libby making ice cream. Actually, it was Ambrosia. In our infinite wisdom of nine, we had decided to make dinner for our moms including dessert. That was a pretty ambitious undertaking for such young girls.

We grabbed a few of mama’s cookbooks, picked the recipes, made a grocery list and convinced my great uncle who lived next door to take us grocery shopping. We loaded the grocery cart and put the order on mama’s tab at the store. We got home, unloaded, and began dinner.

We had selected Pork Chops, Rice and Gravy, and some type of vegetable casserole. We hung a sheet between the dining room and kitchen so we could pretend it was a real restaurant. We decorated the table, lit candles and gave each of our moms a menu.

The dinner was awesome!!! …Except for a few “very small” things. First, we had bought FROSTED flakes instead of regular corn flakes to bread the chops, so they were definitely a bit on the sweet side. Then, we decided to serve the pork chops on top of the rice, all on a silver platter. Apparently, when I turned to head out of the kitchen, I turned a bit quicker than anticipated and all of the pork chops AND rice, slid right off the platter onto the kitchen floor! We stood there staring at the floor, and our dinner ON the floor, in shock. We quickly picked up all of the rice with our hands, tried to pick out as much dirt as we could, and put it back on the platter with pork chops on top. See! Like nothing ever happened.

We quickly served the meal, giggling the entire time. Libby’s mom asked what the crunchy little black things were in the rice. We said…pepper. It was better than saying whatever was on the floor that was picked up with the rice. I think the good Lord will forgive us that one little white lie. Needless to say, Libby and I skipped the rice.

Finally, it was time to serve our gorgeous Ambrosia for dessert. Oh my STARS! One bite and we immediately realized we had mistaken the salt tub for the sugar. After an initial gag reflex on our parts, and letting out a huge belch, we realized our moms had eaten their entire bowls. Even though there were glances of sheer and utter horror exchanged between them, they never uttered a word. …except at the end of the meal to tell us what a delicious, beautiful dinner it was. And then again when they saw the EXTREME mess in the kitchen. Those words uttered weren’t quite so pleasant. 😉

That’s the true meaning of family, friendship and the spirit of the holidays.

Sweet Potato Cobbler Ice Cream

* The cobbler recipe was handed down from the wife of a former co-worker. A special thanks to Lynne D. for her recipe.*

Ingredients:

• Vanilla Ice cream, softened: homemade or store bought
•  4 large sweet potatoes
• 1 1/2 cups  sugar
• 2 tbsp  flour
• 1 tsp  cinnamon
• 4 tbsp  vanilla/butternut or vanilla flavoring
• 1 1/2  cups water
• 2 1/2  deep dish pie crusts
• 2 sticks  butter

      

Directions:

Microwave sweet potatoes for 10 mins. Peel potatoes, cut into thin slices and place in a 10×14 pan. Spread sugar, flour, cinnamon and vanilla over the potatoes. Add water. Shake pan to blend ingredients. Break pie crusts into pieces and place on the top. Slice butter and place on top. Bake @ 400° for one hour or until crust is brown. Let cool.

Once cooled, fold cobbler by cups into softened vanilla ice cream. Blend well. Place in containers and allow to refreeze overnight. Serve with drizzled caramel and extra cinnamon if desired.

Even Santa knows life is too short to eat ugly food!