During the summertime we have guests visiting almost every weekend. Friends, family...the people we love and don't get to see a lot during the year. Last weekend our friends from Boston were visiting and they brought us an ice cream maker as a gift. WHAT A GIFT!  ICE CREAM?? As I'm sure you can imagine...we've been going a bit nuts with homemade ice cream around here! Our very first ice cream as photographed here...was Vanilla. We had to keep it simple for starters to make sure we could figure this bad boy of an appliance out! Here's how we made it: Simple Vanilla Ice Cream - by Cuisanart and with their ice cream maker: 1 cup whole milk 3/4 cup granulated sugar pinch of salt 2 cups heavy cream 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract Directions: 1. In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer on low speed or whisk to combine the milk, sugar and salt until the sugar is dissolved. Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or overnight. 2. Turn on the Cuisanart ice cream maker; pour the mixture into the frozen freezer bowl and let mix until thickened, about 15-20 minutes. Not kidding...it was THAT easy!  And it was better then they sell in the stores....OH MY! Of course the real fun part came when we broke out the ice cream waffle cone bowls and the fun toppings that we found in our cupboard.... The kids weren't really sure where to begin.... Sprinkles, Smarties, Fresh fruit and a slated caramel to drizzle... They didn't leave anything out! I like to keep my ice cream simple....a chocolate square or some crushed nuts....that will do it for me! Next up...strawberry ice cream!  Can't wait to try.