Ice Cream Can Be Made In Minutes

The Express programs at local schools are designed to be safe havens for children. The programs offer lots of activities to keep busy minds and hands occupied - including, as Angela Peters knows, cooking experiences that are loads of fun.

Peters, a fifth-grader at Jefferson Elementary in Spokane, learned to make miniature doughnuts, cookies, brownies and pizzas made with English muffins at her Express program. But her favorite was ice cream; the recipe is so popular at her house that it’s included in the family cookbook.

The instructions are simple: “You take a big Ziploc bag, put ice in it, and salt. In a small Ziploc bag you put a cup of milk, 6 teaspoons sugar, and vanilla. Zip it up, put it in the big bag, and shake it up until it’s all chunky. Put it in a bowl and eat it.”

Peters helps out mom Linda in the kitchen quite often. She can reel off the foods she likes to help with: cookies, spaghetti, cabbage rolls, steak, roast beef with French dip, sloppy Joes.

She makes breakfast when her family is running late and often packs a sack lunch for dad Kenneth.

Angela’s Ice Cream

From Angela Peters, Spokane.

1 gallon-size zipper-style storage bag

5-7 ice cubes

2-3 teaspoons salt

1 quart-size zipper-style storage bag

1 cup milk

6 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon flavored extract, such as vanilla or peppermint

Combine ice cubes and salt in large bag. Combine milk, sugar and flavoring in small bag; seal. Place small bag inside large bag and zip closed. Shake until milk mixture forms chunks, about 5-10 minutes. Empty small bag into bowl.

Yield: 1 cup.

Kid cook alert: How about a kids’ cookbook that’s shaped like a giant sandwich and features 25 fun, easy-to-make microwave recipes? Lynn Gordon’s “Messipes: A Microwave Cookbook of Deliciously Messy Masterpieces” (Random House, $12.99) offers such treats as Hot Chili Volcano and Crazy Corn Muffins. Look for it at bookstores.

, DataTimes