Strawberry Ice Cream (Definitely Not Mediterranean)

Making ice cream for work parties or cook-outs is my go-to recipe because it's ridiculously easy and so good. My mom always made this strawberry ice cream when I was little and it's gotten to the point where I can't eat strawberry ice cream other than this one because everything else tastes like a pitiful mockery of what strawberry ice cream should be.

The cool thing is, you don't even need an ice cream maker to do this, just a food processor. Take one bag of frozen strawberries and let them defrost a little bit on your counter for 15 minutes or so. (You can skip this step, but I'm always nervous about killing my food processor with the totally frozen fruits.) Empty the bag into the bowl of your food processor, and process until they are finely chopped and without lumps.

In a separate bowl or measuring cup, combine 1 cup of cream and 2/3 cup of sugar and stir them well so that some of the sugar dissolves. While the food processor is running, begin to slowly pour the cream mixture down the spout and into the bowl. The color will change from bright red to a lovely deep pink as all the cream is added.

You're basically done. The ice cream is cold and ready to eat since the strawberries were frozen, but you could also pop it in the freezer and firm it up more.

In the summer time, I sometimes make this recipe using fresh NC peaches. I chop them into small chunks and flash freeze them and then follow the recipe. When using other fruits, you might want to play around with the amount of sugar you use -- some fruits have more natural sugar than others.

I also sometimes make this "healthy" by using 2% or even skim milk instead of the cream. It's definitely not as good, but it's passable.

Enjoy!