Written by Jenny of Cook Like Ina.

As Spring has sprung here in Australia, my mind wanders to food for the Summer months. Especially ice cream, now I love nothing more that dipping my spoon into a wonderful creamy ice cream, especially if I have made it myself. If you are like me and have a home ice cream churn that needs the main bowl frozen for 24 hours and don’t have the room in your freezer or who doesn’t remember to keep it in the freezer, then these recipes are for you.

There isn’t a custard in sight that you have to stand and pray over so it doesn’t become scrambled eggs, or the all day process of making a base then getting it cold in the fridge then churning it, then freezing it. Mind you I have made ice cream like that, and will probably do it again in the future when I am organised and have the time, but these recipes are for those of us that are time poor or who in the morning think, “gee I wouldn’t mind some homemade ice cream for dessert tonight”. These recipes are for you.

Photos & Written by Peta of Peta Eats

Let’s be honest here, we’ve all done it. Been going for that euphoric experience only to be disappointed and let down. That moment of panic and shame and then the sick feeling in the stomach as you stare at the results and think ‘What the hell will I do now’ and then, depending on who is home, a house full of rude words you’d never say in polite company.

I had that recently while making my Lemon Overload Cake. The white chocolate I was using to cover up the pieced together outside of the cake seized. I thought I had done it right. I put the white chocolate in with the cream and put it over a barely simmering pan of water and as soon as the chocolate started to melt it seized.

Written by Jamie of Life's a Feast.

Mention France to anyone outside of the country and Paris will immediately jump to mind: the Louvre and the Eiffel Tower, her panoply of restaurants, the Mona Lisa and Romance with a capital R. Or Provence with her fields of fragrant lavender, her quaint villages and her rich, vivacious garlic-kissed Mediterranean cuisine. Short on time and dollars, few tourists venture outside of these well known, well-trod vacation spots. But France is a network of wonderful cities all connected by the greatest train system in the world, and each city, town or village offers some hidden beauty, a wonderful mystery and a fabulous story.

Written by Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz.

For me ice cream is one of the ultimate treats in the summertime. OK yes I like it year round but in the summer it’s even better. For years I wanted an ice cream machine and never bought one or got one under the Christmas tree (trust me I put it on my “Santa List” a couple of years in a row). But last summer everything changed: I got one, for free! A perfectly good used one cluttering a friend’s pantry.

Ever since then I have been making my own ice cream. I generally like unconventional foods and flavors, and the same goes for ice cream. I am NOT a vanilla gal! This year has been an exploration of sometimes explosive, sometimes subtle uncommon ice cream flavors.

Written by Kellypea of Sass & Veracity

When I think of the Fourth of July, I think of picnics. No, not just any picnic, but an event that involves big groups of people and sometimes, yes, even spans more than one day. I'd like to say that the "more than one day" involved preparation for the event, but from what I remember, it was more about people showing up the day after to help clean up and then end up staying, breathing new life into the party. Goodness my parents knew how to have fun.

Earlier in my life, the groups were made up of extended family members who weren't all that picky when it came to choosing a picnic spot as long as they could see fireworks. And when fireworks weren't available, then someone's house worked just fine. But because my father was in the Navy, we moved quite a bit. Soon, the groups that gathered to celebrate Independence Day were made up of servicemen my father worked with and their families, brought together by their orders thousands of miles from home. Those were the very, very best of times.

My memories are rich with long hot summer days, barbeques with seemingly endless supplies of food, swarms of children running barefoot through the grass, and when adults weren't paying attention, plots to sneak sodas or sweets we weren't supposed to have. Of course we could barely wait for the fireworks at the end of a very long day, because the Navy provided the fireworks and we always had a front row seat. The drive home cramped in the back seat of a VW Bug with my brother and sister leave a lot to be desired, however.