Marshmallow Crisp Milkshake

Beach Saturdays. Sunscreen by the gallon. Ryan was on duty at Miramar. Standard week.

Caleb, 8, wants to be a firefighter still. Has not deviated. Hazel, 5, opinions about everything. Has Donna's directness without the diplomacy.

Watermelon at every meal this week. The hot weather demanded it.

Megan called from D.C.. We talked twenty minutes. The relationship is better now than it was.

I made a casserole because I always make a casserole.

The kids' soccer game was Saturday morning. The other parents brought oranges and Capri Suns. I brought a thermos of coffee for myself and a folding chair I bought at Target three years ago that has been to four duty stations now. The chair is a more loyal companion than some of my friends.

Donna sent a recipe card in the mail this week. She has been doing this for years. The recipes go in the binder. The binder is full. The newest one is for a green bean casserole that uses fresh green beans and fried shallots and which I will absolutely make for the next holiday.

Ryan came home tired Wednesday. He showered, ate, sat on the couch, was asleep by eight. Standard for a Marine who has been up since four-thirty for PT and stayed late for a brief. The schedule is the schedule. The body adapts because it has to.

I went for a walk Sunday morning before the kids got up. Half an hour. The fog was burning off. I needed it. Some weeks I get the walk in. Some weeks I don't. The week tells me which.

Caleb's school had a fundraiser this week. I baked cookies because I always bake cookies. The cookies were the standard chocolate chip. They sold out in twenty minutes. I am the cookie mom of this PTO and I have stopped fighting it.

I made a casserole for a neighbor whose husband is deployed. I dropped it off. She cried. I told her, eat the casserole, baby. The food is the saying. The casserole was a mostly-frozen tater-tot situation that took fifteen minutes of effort and six months of practice to perfect.

Hazel and I had a hard moment Tuesday at homework time. She is in a season of testing limits. We worked through it. We always do. She is mine.

I sat at the kitchen table Tuesday night writing in the journal. Volume 11 now. The handwriting has not gotten neater. The journals are a record of the life I am living, in the moment, in tiny script that I will look back on someday and not be able to read. That is okay. The writing was the thing.

Dad called. He has been gardening. He is sending zucchini updates again. The PTSD is managed. He talks more than he used to. He is becoming his own version of healed, which I did not think was possible at fourteen.

Ryan's friends came over Friday for a beer. I made wings and chips. They demolished both. Standard Marine appetite — they eat like they are still on rations. The kitchen looked like a battlefield by the end. They cleaned up. Marines clean up. Donna would have been impressed.

Base housing is base housing. Beige walls, beige carpet, beige expectations. The dryer venting is in a stupid place. The kitchen has no dishwasher. We make it work.

The military spouses' Facebook group had a small drama this week. Two women fighting over the playgroup schedule. I muted notifications and cooked dinner. Some weeks the group is the lifeline. Some weeks it is the source of unnecessary stress. The skill is knowing which week you're in.

We ate watermelon every single day this week because the heat left no other choice, but by Friday night — with Ryan’s friends demolishing wings in my kitchen and the kids still wired from soccer — I needed something that felt like an actual treat, not just hydration strategy. Hazel spotted the marshmallows on the shelf and that was that. This milkshake is not sophisticated. It is not in the binder. It is exactly what a Friday in base housing in the middle of summer calls for.

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 0 min | Total Time: 10 min | Servings: 2

Ingredients

2 cups vanilla ice cream
1/2 cup whole milk
1 cup rice crispy treat cereal (or 1 large pre-made rice crispy treat, broken up)
1/2 cup mini marshmallows, plus extra for topping
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Whipped cream, for serving

Instructions

Blend the base. Add the vanilla ice cream, milk, and vanilla extract to a blender. Blend on medium until smooth, about 20 seconds.
Add the mix-ins. Add the rice crispy treat pieces and mini marshmallows to the blender. Pulse 4–5 times so they break down slightly but still leave some texture — you want little chewy bits throughout.
Taste and adjust. If the shake is too thick, add milk one tablespoon at a time and pulse again. It should be thick enough to hold a spoon upright.
Serve immediately. Pour into two tall glasses. Top with whipped cream and a small handful of mini marshmallows. Serve right away before the marshmallows start to sink.

Nutrition (per serving)

Marshmallow Crisp Milkshake — When the Heat Calls for Something Cold and a Little Ridiculous