I Scream , we all Scream for Ice Cream!

Have you been to the grocery store lately and seen the size of the ice cream section ??? WOW!! What  a selection  ! I scanned the grocery store ice cream aisle tonight and saw shelf upon shelf of frozen desserts. They came in all sizes from the 500 ml ( pint sized) Haagen Daz kind to the 4 litre never-turns-liquid- EVER variety. ( When I was a teenager, I discovered that this was true! )

There is full fat dairy, dairy free, sugar free with artificial sugars, regular and a range of  all kinds of flavours I never thought I would see outside the 31 flavour Ice Cream shop I worked in a million years ago.   

Sad to say though, that even among the choices that there were, none, NOT ONE could I buy and take home with me for my family to eat. Most are made with many stabilizers, artificial ingredients, sugars, colours, dairy  or any number of things that we choose to stay away from. 

Perhaps this is why we have a bit of an Ice Cream obsession in our house. My littlest one wakes up and says first thing ' Can I have ice cream for breakfast.. Pleassssssee??????'

Sometimes I think I am the ONLY mom who says 'Sure honey, what flavour would you like today ?'

We have made a variety of Ice Creams in our days and a variety of ways.  Today, it was Strawberry Banana Goji Berry with Some Lacuma.  Since my little one had been very active in her own cheffing skills today, and decided to chop up some nuts and put them in cupcake holders, it was a fancy event! 

I did not take a picture with the fancy cupcake holders, and instead took a picture of the bowl that was intended to go into my tummy!

   Here it is with a delicious Chocolate Sauce and a Cherry on top!

The recipe is easy.. we used a high speed blender for it. I am not as certain how easy it would be in a regular blender, you may have to stop and push down the ingredients many times.

The ice cream was melting FAST in the hot afternoon sun. You can see puddles of ice cream floating through the crunchy chocolate! 

Strawberry Banana Lucuma Ice Cream 

1 1/2  cups  almond mylk 

1 cup frozen strawberries

2 frozen bananas

1 teaspoon lacuma

3 tbsp goji berries

Blend all in a blender, stopping to push down if you need to. It is ready when smooth and creamy.

       Chocolate Sauce

1/4 cup coconut oil melted

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1-2 tbsp agave ( to taste)

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Pour over ice cream by the teaspoon.  It will harden fast when the sauce hits the ice cream, as the coconut oil will harden quickly! Gives a nice 'crunch'.

The Lucuma is not necessary, but a nice touch to the ice cream. It adds a lovely flavour. 

Brazil Ganache Swirled Vanilla Ice Cream

Making Lemons out of Lemonade.. well.. more like making Brazil Ganache Swirled Vanilla Ice Cream instead of Brazil Ganache Truffles!

I was really excited to try this fantastic recipe from the Cafe Gratitude dessert book called Sweet Gratitude. I even followed the directions to a 'T'. Which is unusual for me, as I usually take recipes as a 'jumping off point'. But.. alas.. I waited and waited for it to harden in the fridge, it stayed soft. I put it in the freezer, and that firmed it up nicely! Though making into balls for the truffles was not successful as when it touched my hands it melted into a puddle.

After many attempts, and lots of oozing chocolate truffles.. a new direction was needed. Dani was so great at trying so many things to make it work! We talked about all the other ways we could use this fabulous Ganache.. as it IS fab. just very liquidy. On Cakes, in Ice Cream, ON Ice Cream, as it is , but frozen. We put it away for the night, and the next day she made some Banana Vanilla Ice Cream..We mixed in some of the Ganache and VOILA!

Sometimes I consider it a miracle that we even GET photos of food. As there are always so many people clamouring to eat it right then! Lucky for me, I managed to have a vivid reminder of this one. So I can make it again.. and again !

After shivering and shaking from the frostiness of the ice cream, we decided to make another Batch! This was awesome too,, and SO easy..well the Ice Cream part is a snap, the ganache takes many steps and more time and patience.

Here is the Recipe for the Ice Cream. The Ganache is more complicated to make and write down,so... I will put that down tomorrow! Enjoy this vanilla ice cream today!

Banana Vanilla Ice Cream

2 Frozen Bananas
1 Tbsp Liquid Vanilla*
( or you can use Vanilla extract or beans from the pod).

Cut the banana into 1-2 inch peices and place in Food Processor. Add Liquid Vanilla . Use the ' S' Blade on the food processor...Turn Food Processor on and let the mixture blend, scraping down when moving up sides and off blade.
You can choose to let it be more 'solid' and finish off the processing when firm. Or you can let it go on longer, until it is still cold, but creamy. This usually just takes a few minutes to do.

* Liquid Vanilla is made from taking the pods of the vanilla beans, after scraping them out, and placing them in water overnight. Put the water and the vanilla pods in the blender and blend until all the pod is broken down. Keep in fridge.