Tag: Luca

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Homemade Gelato (no ice cream maker needed!)

When Luca and Alberto get cones of gelato thrown at them, I knew the dessert had to be incorporated into our Luca day. In our family, ice cream is taken seriously. So it was natural we had to do something with gelato.

I had never considered doing something without an ice cream maker, but I scoured Pinterest until I came across this recipe and new we could tweak it to try our own. I was so excited for the success of it!

Please note that this recipe takes time and it’s better to make it earlier in the day so you can enjoy it in the same day!

Ingredients:

– 2 C milk (we used 1% but a higher fat milk would probably be better)

– 1 C heavy cream

– 4 egg yolks

– 1/2 C sugar

– 1/3 C blended strawberries/flavor of your choice

Directions:

– Heat the milk and heavy cream over medium heat until it begins to foam (but not boil).

-While it’s heating, whisk your egg yolks and sugar together. Make sure they are well blended.

– Once your milk mix is simmering, remove it from the heat. Slowly pour around half of it into your egg mixture, whisking consistently so you don’t cook the eggs and have to start over.

– Then, worming quickly, pour the egg mixture back into the saucepan with the rest of your cream. Whisk quickly as you pour, continuing to make sure you don’t end up with scrambled eggs in there.

– Heat over medium heat and add your blended strawberries/ flavor. Continue mixing until it thickens (but you don’t want it boiling at all).

– Pour into a large bowl or dish and place in the freezer.

– Because we aren’t using an ice cream maker, we took turns whisking the mix every thirty minutes for around 2-3 hours. This is to make sure you get a good texture and don’t get ice crystals!

– Let it freezes for 6 hours at least for a decent texture. Serve on top of sugar cones and enjoy!!

Note: We kept ours overnight, uncovered, in the freezer after trying it. I would suggest covering any leftovers!

We made strawberry for our Luca day and have since made peach as well!

Don’t forget to check out our Trenette al Pesto and Portorosso Cup Triathlon!

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Portorosso Cup Triathlon (Luca)

How is it July today? I can’t keep with this year. Maybe because last year seemed slower with how things were, this year seems to be flying by as things get back to ‘normal’ bit by bit.

In Luca, the three main characters enter a triathlon to win money for the thing they (or at least 2/3 of them) want most: a Vespa.

The triathlon consists of three events: swimming, pasta eating, and cycling. We decided to recreate the fun triathlon the best way we could.

The dragons lined up on our front porch, waiting for the event to start.

I decided it “wouldn’t be a race”, but instead I used the stopwatch on my phone to track each person’s time. (Had we had a group of kids the same age, verses three spread out, it would be totally fun as a true race.)

To keep track, I made this fun print out (provided below!)

We have a small blow-up pool, so we came up with jumping-jacks in the pool (as many as they are old to give the little ones a slight advantage).

After pool, came pasta! We used the Trenette al Pesto as our pasta (except my youngest dragon who insisted on having spaghetti-os is instead).

Real life. I didn’t clear the table foe these pictures. Oops!

After pasta, which I kept encouraging them to slow down and really eat (they didn’t listen), we had their scooters/bikes staged at the end of the driveway. We live on a cul de sac, so the deal was for them to go around it once. My middle dragon decided he would go all the way up our hill, then down and around the cul de sac. Otherwise I think he would’ve caught up to his bigger brother.

My oldest lead with the best times overall (no surprise). My youngest dragon was very happy to be slow and steady with it all.

After racing, they all played in our little pool for a good length of time and then enjoyed… what we have coming up for our Luca day next! Come back Monday to see.

Click the image to download and print! Clipart provided by disneyclips.com

Note: Our inflatable pool was a gift, purchased from Amazon. It’s super cute and fun. Please note that it doesn’t hold as many as the listing says. My two middles (4&6) can sit in it at the same time and they are on the smaller side.

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Trenette al Pesto (from Disney Pixar’s Luca)

Disney Pixar’s Luca released to Disney+ on June 18th. Our family has since watched it at least three times (but it’s probably more… let’s be real). No spoilers. This flick is so wonderful, the dragons begged for a Luca Disney day ASAP.

When trying to find out what to cook, or rather what the specific pasta they had in the movie was, I stumbled across this Buzzfeed post that highlighted it! Much to my delight, Disney had already provided a recipe for Trenette al Pesto!

We knew we had to give it a try, but made some changes with what could be found at our local grocery store.

Ingredients:

– 40 to 50 leaves of fresh basil

– 2 cloves garlic

– dash of course salt

– 2 TBSP Parmesan cheese

– 2 TBSP Romano cheese

– Handful of Pine Nuts (around 2-4 TBSP)

– 1/2 C Olive Oil

– 1 Golden Potato (or 5-6 miniature ones), diced

– 1/2 C to 1 C green beans, snapped small

– 16 oz/ 1 lb Capellini Pasta

Directions:

– Start with your Pesto. Put your basil, garlic, and a dash of course salt into a food processor. Add a little bit of olive oil and pulse. (I didn’t have fresh garlic so I used 1tsp of already minced garlic.)

– Add more olive oil, your cheeses, and eventually your pine nuts bit by bit, pulsing your pesto. You want to make sure it all gets mixed together but doesn’t turn to into a paste. Set it aside.

– Fill a pot with water and bring to boil. Add a dash of salt. Put your potato and green beans in there for eight minutes, then add your capellini pasta and boil all together for another 3-4. (Save some of your pasta water!)

– Put your pesto into a large bowl. Add 2TBSP – 1/4 C of your pasta water to your pesto. (I didn’t measure mine completely, but that’s what I’m guessing it was around.)

– Drain your pasta and then add it to the bowl with your pesto. Use what kitchen tools you have to turn the noodles and mix, coating it all well with your pesto.

Serve immediately. Top with extra basil leaves for garnish if desired!

Everyone in my house are almost two bowl fulls of this and we still had leftovers! You might want to save some (if you can) for one of our upcoming activities!