Happy pre-fourth of July everyone! Despite my best efforts to track down a long lost friend with a cottage, jet ski’s and pontoon boat, Luke and I are sticking around Chicago this weekend. :)

While my poor husband is stuck working all weekend, I’m planning to hit up the pool a lot, watch some fireworks and of course make some delicious grub. I just love all the red, white and blue themed recipes I’ve come across…

I found these adorable red, white and blue cupcakes over at Tidy Mom blog.

These “pretzel sparklers” would be a bit hit with kids, I’d bet.

For the adults? I’m digging this fourth of July cocktail.

I love this american fruit-flag! It would be delish with some fresh farmer’s market berries.

Photo credit: http://www.rd.com

Of course, it doesn’t get much more all-american than a good old hot dog!

I’m planning on baking my second-ever cheesecake since my last one turned out so yummy. This time it will be a classic New York cheesecake decorated with some patriotic berries.

Photo credit: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com

Photo credit http://www.bonappetit.com

How are you guys planning to celebrate? What foods are you most looking forward to eating?

I’m thinking about selling my wedding dress.

The concept of selling my dress seemed like a no-brainer to me since the darn thing was EXPENSIVE and I will never wear it again, but I was taken aback at the responses my friends/family had to the idea.

Them: What do you MEAN you may sell your dress!?!?

Me: I mean, I may sell my dress.

Them: Doesn’t it have sentimental value to you?

Me: It DID but now, taking up room in my minimal closet space, it’s more an annoyance.

Them: What if your daughter wants to wear it?”

Me: A) By the time I have daughters getting married, wedding dresses will probably be in black with a 60 ft train.

or

Me: B) Based on Luke and mys massive heights, our daughters will be 6’4 and would never fit into my dress.

:)

In all honesty though, selling wedding dresses has become a hot trend. It’s a great way for former-brides to recoup some $$ from that dress they wore for 12 hours and it lets other brides, who may not have budget for an expensive dress, feel beautiful on their day for less.

I’m still not 100% going to sell it though, as many people have told me that a wedding dress can end up having a lot of sentimental value to the bride, her family and eventually her daughters. I think I’m going to wait and see if I get any nibbles and then go from there.

About My Dress

So if you’re in the market, or know someone who is, my dress is a gorgeous french, alencon lace gown. It’s by the french designer Cymbeline and is called “Agadir,” and has been professionally cleaned with no flaws. (better photos coming)

It’s a street size 6 to 4 and I was just at 6′  with heels when I wore it. I’ll even throw in a matching floor-length veil. Asking price is $1,800 (44% discount off store price).

Email my at abattylife@gmail.com if you’re interested!

This Saturday, Luke and I made our monthly trip to the farmer’s market to pick up some butter, cream, meat, veggies and fruit. I sampled some of these sun-ripened cherries and knew I had to whip something up with them.

They were ridiculously sweet, soft and juicy, all perfect requirements for some out-of-this-world ice cream! It helped that we also picked up some amazingly thick, creamy heavy cream from a local dairy farm.

You really cannot beat fresh farmer’s market produce.

So back to the cherry/chocolate ice cream. This recipe is super simple to make and resulted in what was seriously the best ice cream I’ve ever had.

The only gadgety thing you need is an ice cream maker. If you don’t have one, I suggest you invest in one immediately! Homemade ice cream is worlds better than store bought.

To make this recipe, you will need the following ingredients:

INGREDIENTS

Start by pitting your cherries. This can be a bit tricky if you don’t have a cherry pitter, but I used the end of a chop stick instead and it worked well.

Next, heat up your milk, one cup cream, cherries and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Once it starts steaming, lower the heat to low and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Then run the mixture through a blender to puree together. Pour the mixture into a large bowl and place in the fridge for a couple hours until it’s cooled throughout.

While the concoction cools, chop up some dark chocolate (I used 85% cacao bars from Trader Joe’s) and about 10 cherries so you’ll have some yummy cherry chunks mixed into the ice cream.

Remove the liquid from the fridge and add the remaining 3/4 cup cream. Pour it into your ice cream maker (make sure you DON’T add the chocolate and cherry chunks at this point. That comes later.) and let it run for 25 minutes.

Your ice cream will be very hard to resist at this point, so you’re best to not even taste it!

It should be soft so you can easily scoop it into an air tight container. Fold the chocolate and cherry chunks into the ice cream and place it in the freezer for 1-2 hours.

When you’re ready to dig in, let it thaw for 5-10 minutes so it’s easily scoop-able. Then just enjoy the awesomeness that is cherry/chocolate ice cream!

We got our CD of photos from Jeremy yesterday and there were sooo many amazing photos (about a 1,000 total!). I’ve cut it down to my favorite 200 and posted them on Facebook.

Click here to check them out and add me as a friend if we aren’t already!