“It’s almost as easy to stand up as it is to sit down.” ~Charles Lindbergh
It’s almost as easy to make this recipe as it is to buy some ice cream or a frozen treat at the store!
Really? Really.
Follow along, and you’ll see that this recipe—which was published in 2014, one of the best years for travel that I have personally experienced—may be one of the easiest recipes in the Cook the 40 Challenge.
Cook the 40
Why take on Food & Wine’s best-ever recipes from their forty years in publication? Because if you’ve been paying attention, you know that’s one of the things I’m doing this year!
Besides, I’m hoping that taking on these 40 recipes will also add some fun and new favorite foods to my life. If even half of them end up being tasty, this will be a worthwhile cooking endeavor.
And if the recipes are super simple and easy? Even better!
40 Years of Food & Wine
According to the September 2018 anniversary issue of Food & Wine, and editor Hunter Lewis, https://twitter.com/notesfromacook?lang=en, what makes a good recipe is it being delicious, of course, and (I think even more important sometimes) the best recipes “tell a story worth repeating.” Well said, Hunter.
This recipe may tell a story that is worth repeating, or at least tell me that it will be worth making it again…
Recipe Number Twenty
According to the magazine, Justin Chapple is the Food & Wine Culinary Director, and he has introduced the audience to several fun food hacks. This food hack (aka easy recipe), as described in the issue “was inspired by the Spanish chef Ferran Adrià of elBulli, who made an ingenious ice cream by blending frozen fruit with sugar and fromage blanc – no ice cream maker needed.”
This recipe uses sweetened condensed milk to make it even easier than the Spanish inspiration. Did it work? Fun food hack, indeed!
Let’s Make This Fun Food Hack!
All this recipe took was pulsing the frozen fruit along with the condensed milk, vanilla and a pinch of salt in a food processor until blended.
You can then serve immediately or place in the freezer to enjoy later. Or both!
Where Was I When This Recipe Was Published in 2014, What Was I Doing and Where Did I Go?
Oh, 2014! This was a great year for travel and just an all-around great year for the most part.
I lived in New Braunfels, worked in San Antonio, and besides taking many road trips in Texas, up to Arkansas to visit family, and even a long weekend trip to Atlanta late in the year, this was the year that three of my best friends and I went to Italy and Turkey!
Be Someone. In Houston, and everywhere. 
I love traveling with my best girl.
Celebrating Cindy’s 45th birthday in Atlanta.
Comadres in Italia & Istanbul!
Traveling with some of my best friends from high school has been mentioned in other blog posts, but 2014 was the year we took our first international trip.
We started talking about it back in 2011, started saving and planning in 2012 and 2013, and in 2014, we finally went!
The trip saw us visit Rome, Florence, Positano & Pompeii, Venice, back to Rome and then Istanbul before we flew back home to Texas.
It was an amazing trip—the food, the drink, the sights, and especially the company. Together, my best friends and I fell in love with seeing the world together.
Oh, pizza in Italy! 
And I can’t forget about the wine.
Sweet gelato. 
Cooking class in Florence.
Take the Easy Way Out
“It’s almost as easy to love a good life as it is to complain about a not so good life.” ~me
Good food, good times and the best experiences. It’s an easy life to make, and an easy life to love.
Elda XO
For more information about this fun food hack, click here to be taken to the Food & Wine link: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/almost-instant-soft-serve#spotim-comments
Enjoy + love your life, too!
