Campaign to raise money - Replacement hearing aid for Skillet

I'm trying to help a friend to raise some money that will allow him to buy new hearing aids. I didn't start the campaign, another friend did it, and you can find his message here below. Please, click here if you'd like to open the page with the campaign and make a donation. Every single dollar counts. Thank you very much for your support.

Campaign created by: Thomas Iorizzo

I am creating a campaign to raise money for my friend Skillet. Yesterday his dog managed to get ahold of one of his hearing aids and chewed it. Its not repairable. He got both hearing aids 2 years ago with a disability grant, but he's not eligable for another one for almost 2 more years. The total cost of ONE replacement with the fitting fees is almost $5000. He has one functional one, but it effects his balance and ability to do most normal things like walk and talk to his family. He's being treated for Chronic Heart disease and has had a few heart attacks. So he has no ability to replace the aid himself. He hates asking for help, so as his friend, i'm doing this for him. The hearing aid is an Audible Anthem XL with starkey molded ear buds and a 70 gain amplifier. If this wasn't a neccesity, I wouldnt be asking to help him. Anything you can contibute will be very appreciated.

Spelt Cous Cous Salad

Would you like to know how to make the best spelt cous cous salad you've ever tasted? And would you like to know how to make it taste each time surprisingly different? Well, it is very simple: just open your fridge and dump everything you have in it into a bowl. :D Okay, maybe not really everything. Maybe, you might want to follow a kind of meaningful criteria and your culinary instinct, try to avoid mixing peaches with anchovies – even if it could be a nice experiment to try – so that you won't end up with something absolutely uneatable, but on the contrary, tasty and original. :) Trust me, this is fun, always gives good results, and you'll never get bored eating the same salad. :)

For this dish, I used ready-in-5-minutes spelt cous cous, but feel free to use whatever kind of cous cous you prefer. Wheat cous cous is fine, too, if you have that, or basmati rice, wild rice, whole grain spelt, quinoa etc...according to me, they are all good for cold salads. :)

As for the peas, I had some fresh ones left from the day before, but peas from the can, or frozen peas are also good. It really doesn't matter and it is not important that they are fresh harvested. It would be better, but not necessary. Actually, you know what? I think you'll laugh like crazy after reading my story, or maybe you'll just find it very sad. Anyway, when I was a kid I was so used to eating peas from the can, that when my grandmother gave me hers to eat – just harvested from the field and freshly cooked in a pan – I didn't like them at all because their taste was weird. It was too real. That is what I said, I still remember. It took me quite a long time to get used to the fresh ones and in a way I still prefer the canned ones because they remind me of my childhood. :)

Anyhow...use the peas you like and enjoy your cous cous salad. :)

INGREDIENTS for 3-4 people:

250 g spelt cous cous

40 g fresh rocket salad

100 g peas

100 g olives (green or black)

4 or 5 marinated (in oil) artichoke hearts

1 teaspoon dried Provençal herbs (a mix of rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, savory, bayleaf)

2 or 3 teaspoons olive oil (or as much as you want : ) )

salt & pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Cook the cous cous as directed on the box. Wash and mince the rocket salad. Chop the artichokes and olives into pieces, add the peas (if you use fresh or frozen peas, boil them for 8-10 minutes before adding them to the salad), and pour everything in the cous cous. Add the herbs, and add some salt and pepper to taste. Since the artichokes are already a bit oily, taste your salad before adding some extra oil. You might not need it according to how much oil you poured when you added the artichokes into your mixture. Mix well and enjoy. :)

Ben & Jerry's French Vanilla Ice Cream

Absolutely my favorite ice cream! It's so creamy, tasty, and delicious that I could eat it every day. I took this recipe from the Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream andDessert Book, a book I really suggest to buy. Just a couple of days ago I wrote a post on that book, and if you'd like to check it out you can simply click on the name of the book and my post will open. :)

Anyway, going back to the recipe of this ice cream. The recipe is very very easy to make and the result. extraordinary. Just think that even if I substitute almost all the ingredients with the ones my husband can have, the taste and texture of the ice cream still remain perfect.

Here, you'll find the way I make it and the ingredients I use for the all the lactose-intolerant fellows, but also the original recipe, so that all of you who don't have lactose intolerance can simply follow the original one and enjoy their Ben & Jerry's ice cream, too.

Most of the times, I use low-fat goat milk, since my husband can tolerate that, so if you like and tolerate goat milk, you might want to use that, too, and don't worry, its taste won't ruin the final product. No one will taste the goat milk once all the ingredients have been mixed and the ice cream, ready.

I'm almost sure you'll love it and decide to get the book right away, in order to try all the other incredible recipes written on Ben & Jerry's book. :)

LACTOSE-FREE RECIPE

1 cup (200 g) low-fat lactose-free milk or goat milk

2 cups (400g) lactose-free whipping cream 30% fat

2 eggs

¾ (150g) brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

ORIGINAL RECIPE

1 cup (200g) milk

2 cups (400g) heavy or whipping cream

2 eggs

¾ (150g) sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs until light and fluffy (1 to 2 minutes). A little at a time, whisk sugar and continue whisking until completely blended (about a minute or a bit more). Pour in the milk, whipping cream, and vanilla extract, and whisk to blend.

Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacture's instructions.

It makes 1 quart (more or less 1 kg).

A little advice: if you blend all the ingredients for a bit longer (3 or 4 minutes) the ice cream gets hard faster. I don't know if this is just my impression or if it is really like that, but this is what I do. :)

One last thing: if you are looking for a very good brand of vanilla extract I really suggest you either the Pure Vanilla Extract by Spice Islands, which by the way doesn't contain any sugar, or Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract by Nielsen-Massey (the organic one doesn't contain any sugar, but the normal one unfortunately does).

And if you'd like to enjoy your ice cream while looking at a funny running fluffy sheep, you might want to look for her on my Etsy store. :) I love to paint funny little creatures and use them to bring some extra joy to my table. :) 

Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream Recipe Book

Title: Ben & Jerry's Homemade Ice Cream & Dessert Book.

Authors: Ben Cohen & Jerry Greenfield with Nancy J.Stevens

Design & Illustration: Lyn Severance 
Paperback: 128 Pages

Publisher: Workman Publishing New York (January 5, 1987)

A book that everyone should have! It doesn't matter if you are an ice cream lover or not, because you'll surely become one after tasting the homemade ice cream prepared following the recipes of this book.

I always loved Ben & Jerry's ice cream, but owing to my food intolerance I had either to avoid eating it or, in case I couldn't resist giving in to temptation, to deal with a hug stomachache. But now, thanks to this wonderful purchase (I bought it used for $0,01) I can finally enjoy this superb ice cream and use the ingredients I'm not intolerant to without spoiling the taste of it. This is a huge pro of this book, I can use low-fat goat milk, brown sugar, lactose-free whipping cream, and the result is still incredibly good, so good that all my friends never noticed that I used these so-called “alternative” ingredients to prepare it.

The book itself is very well done, the recipes are clear and easy to follow, the layout nice, and the pages are enriched with funny drawings. There's a total of 90 recipes including tasty sundaes, refreshing sorbets, awesome sauces, and incredibly creamy ice-cream concoctions. There's also a chapter in the book dedicated to “The Bakery” where one can find great recipes on how to make giant chocolate chip cookies, superfudge brownies etc...

Until now, I've tried the French Vanilla, Chocolate, Light Chocolate & Mint, Chocolate & Cinnamon, Light Chocolate & Peanut Butter, Coffee, Peanut Butter & Banana, and Honey Apple Raisin Walnut ice cream, and they were all heavenly good!!! Btw, I'm Italian, therefore I know what I'm talking about and how good ice cream should taste like and this is one of the best recipe books for homemade ice cream.