Our Little Backyard Bash with Dr. Pepper Ice Cream

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For more ideas on how to create your own #BackyardBash, check out the tumblr page at www.drpepperbash.com

If you follow along with me on any social media you already know that last Saturday was Anika's last softball game of the season. We made it to the final round of tournaments and ended up in second place and the team all received medals to commend them for all of their hard work and determination. It turned out there was only four middle school softball teams, so theoretically coming in second place shouldn't have been that hard - but several girls on our team (including Anika) had never played before, and in middle school everything starts getting competitive, so our team had a bunch of catching up to do. From my observation we started out with the least experience, needed the most improvement, and managed to achieve that. This last week during tournaments the girls literally spent 2-3 hours every night practicing - and obviously it paid off for us. Saturday night the whole team had a sleepover at one of their houses, and they all celebrated their accomplishment and the end of the season! Last night after Anika came home, I decided to have a mini Backyard Bash for her with a couple special goodies to celebrate her achievement. 

I had some left over Dr. Pepper that I had purchased on a spur of the moment Walmart trip for 4th of July goodies and ended up with a bunch leftover, plus a few extra decorations, so I threw together a little display for her and went to work creating - Dr. Pepper flavored marshmallows and Dr. Pepper ice cream to be exact.

I had never made marshmallows before, but found a good recipe and adapted it a little to create a hint of Dr. Pepper flavor. They were really fun, but we quickly found out that they don't make s'mores very well! They pretty much melt back down into a marshmallow-y cream when they get warm. It was okay though because my kids liked eating them plain, or melted all together. (We got smart and placed all of the s'mores on a cookie sheet and then slowly warmed them up so the chocolate melted with the marshmallow). I found a great tutorial HERE, and then added 6 Tablespoons of Dr. Pepper to the mix. I probably could have added a little more for extra flavor, but since it was my first time making marshmallows I wanted to play it safe. :)

The best part of the evening was experimenting with our ice cream maker. I wasn't quite sure how it would turn out because the Dr. Pepper would make it a little more icy than creamy, but it ended up turning out really tasty - and the consistency initially was nice and creamy, but did get a little icy when it had been in the freezer overnight. It still tasted delicious (yes, someone had to check it this morning!) but if you like it creamier I'd suggest to just eat it all when it's made. ;)

Dr. Pepper Ice Cream

What you need:

Ice cream maker
Ice
Rock salt

3 1/2 cups of Dr. Pepper
7 oz. (1/2 a can) of sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups half and half

Follow the instructions on your ice cream maker, but this recipe is super simple. Pour all of the ingredients in the container and then pack ice and rock salt around. Turn the machine on until you have an ice cream consistency. Our turned off automatically after about 30 minutes. Scoop the ice cream out and enjoy!

I love taking little milestones and using them to create a special memory. I'm glad that softball season is over, only because it was so time consuming. I'm excited to slow down a bit and enjoy the rest of our summer. It won't be too slow for long though - fair is coming up in a couple weeks and Anika will be showing her lamb. :)

Thanks #CollectiveBias for another great opportunity to share our memories!

~Melissa