I’m a lucky lady! It’s my job to think about tasty ways to use Tillamook Ice Cream in the kitchen. With the Olympics on my mind, I can’t help but be inspired by English food. I found myself staring at my freezer full of Tillamook Ice Cream and a light bulb went off…well two lightbulbs to be exact.

Lightbulb number 1: It’s been years since I’ve had an English trifle and it was time to change this fact. I wanted to put a milkshake twist on things so I grabbed my Oregon Strawberry Ice Cream out of the fridge and got to blending

Ingredients
3 scoops Tillamook Oregon Strawberry Ice Cream
2 tablespoons Sherry
4 lady finger cookies
1 handful mixed fresh berries
½ cup milk

Directions
Combine all the ingredients in a blender and mix. It tastes absolutely decadent but it lacks the custard flavor that a classic English trifle is known for. My solution: substitute the Oregon Strawberry Ice Cream for French Vanilla. French Vanilla is known for it’s custardly smoothness so it’s bound to be a good option.

Lightbulb number 2: A friend of mine always orders a London Fog when we go to coffee shops. For those of you not hip to fancy tea orders, that’s Earl Grey tea with vanilla and warm milk. Trust me, it’s tasty. So what would be even tastier? London Fog in milkshake form, of course.

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
4 Earl Grey tea bags
2 cups water
3 scoops Tillamook Vanilla Bean Ice Cream
¼ cup milk

Directions
In a sauce pan over high heat add the sugar, tea bags, and water. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Discard tea bags and place the mixture in the fridge to cool. Once the tea is cool, add 1/3 cup of tea mixture to the blender along with the Tillamook Ice Cream and milk. Blend. Try not to eat all in one big gulp.

I found that last direction hard to follow. I drank mine rather quickly and then found myself using my finger to get every last drop out of my glass. It’s not something I’m proud of, but I dare you not to do it! It’s impossible :)

By Kelly

The ingredients – plenty of Tillamook!

There is nothing I love more than cheering on my fellow Americans competing in the Summer Olympics. Watching the world’s countries come together, each contributing their best to one single event, is thrilling. I get swept up in the excitement and start to think I missed my calling when I opted to play with my Easy Bake Oven instead of dedicating 12 hours a day to track & field or table tennis as an 8 year old.

I may not be able to represent my country in this year’s events, but I can bring nations together in my own little way. To celebrate the Olympics I am collecting the best of America and England, this year’s host nation, in my kitchen. Representing the United States of America after winning the World’s Best Medium Cheddar Cheese award is Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese, and for the United Kingdom I’ve selected the English muffin. (The English muffin was a clear choice given that it has the country name in its title.) The Olympic Games are all about bringing nations together, so I opted to make a grilled cheese using my two competitors.

Step one: Make English Muffins. Sure, you can buy them but making them seemed like an Olympic feat so I went for it. Using a recipe I found online I greased up my griddle and produced some pretty spongy muffins, if I do say so my self.

With the English muffins cooling on the rack, I grabbed America’s representative, Tillamook Medium Cheddar Cheese, and went to slicing. Although it wasn’t a team event, Tillamook Salted Butter made an appearance when I slathered it on the inside of my English muffin in preparation for the big event – grilling the sandwich. I opted to put the muffins on the griddle inside out because they were already pretty toasted on the outside.

Grilling on the griddle

One look at the final product and I knew I had created a grilled cheese worthy of any gold medal. If the Olympic committee opts to add competitive sandwich making into future Olympic Games, I am sure to obtain my childhood dream of representing my country. In the meantime, I will sit back, eat my tasty sandwich, and enjoy the blend that American and English products can create.

What English staples do you make with Tillamook products?

By Kelly