Pumpkin Spice Ice Cream (Dairy Free and No Added Sugar)

I always think it is fun to have pumpkin ice cream this time of year. This is a great choice and it is dairy free and sugar free. With a nice creamy texture. It was approved by my grandson.

Ingredients

1 C canned coconut milk
2 1/2 to 3 bananas cut up frozen pieces
1/4 C canned pumpkin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg
sprinkle on nutmeg on top if desired

Directions

Pour all the ingredients into the blender and blend and stir until smooth. Eat soft serve or put in covered air tight container to harden and put in freezer.

Strawberry Banana Ice Cream (no added sugar)

So my all time favorite homemade ice cream that my mom used to make was strawberry banana ice cream. It is brings back lots of memories when I eat it. It is sweet to eat certain foods and a flood of memories come back to your mind. Well I decided to make a variation of my mom's recipe. I took out the  2 C sugar and the cream. Judging from my daughter scraping the dish to get every bite it was a success. 

This a creamy a delightful ice cream with out all the calories and sugar. Yum!

Ingredients

2 frozen bananas chopped up

1/2 C vanilla almond milk (no added sugar)

3 T fresh squeezed orange juice

1 tsp lemon juice

1 C frozen strawberries chopped up

Directions     serves 2

1. In a blender blend the bananas, milk,  orange juice and lemon juice together until creamy. It may require a little stirring in between pulses.

2. Fold in the cut up strawberries into the ice cream. You can save a few for on top. 

3. Serve right away. Yum!

Banana Raspberry Swirl Sundae (Dairy Free)

This is wonderful guilt free treat that whips up in minutes. So easy and so good. It is dairy free as well. I can never have too many raspberries and the bonus is they are so good for you. :) YUM! You can double it if you want to make more.

Ingredients

1 frozen banana chopped up
4 T Raspberry jam or  Raspberry Chia Jam

Directions  serves 1

1. Blend and pulse the banana until all blended.
2. Scoop into dish and swirl in the raspberries. Enjoy!

Guilt Free Peach Ice Cream (No added sugar)

 So it is that wonderful time of year when peaches are in season. They taste wonderful in ice cream. I came up with a guilt free peach ice cream. I work hard exercising and I am sure you do too. So this is a great way to enjoy peach ice cream with out sacrificing the flavor. Yum! So easy to make.

Ingredients

1 C frozen peaches

1 frozen banana chopped up

2 T plain greek yogurt

1 tsp vanilla *optional

Optional cut up fresh peach

Directions  serves 1 or 2

1. Place peaches, banana, yogurt, and vanilla  in the blender. Stir and blend until creamy.

2. Scoop into dish and fold in fresh cut up peaches if desired.  

Wonderful refreshing treat. 

Strawberry Ice Cream (Dairy Free)

I am looking forward to spending the 4th weekend with some of my family. I love America. I realize that I could do more to show my appreciation for where I live. I hope that you are getting to spend time with family or friends too. My time is moving fast to have my son Derek leave for 2 years. I try not to think about it too much. We are going to miss him like crazy. He will be serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He will be blessed for his service. It will be a lot different around here.

This is a wonderful treat to whip up. It is fast and easy and very refreshing. Dairy free. It will serve one or 2. 

Enjoy a nice long weekend. 

Ingredients

1/4 C almond milk

1 T honey

1 1/2 C frozen whole strawberries

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Directions (serves 1-2)

1. In a blender blend milk and honey until they are combined.

2. Pour in the strawberries and lemon juice and blend until nice and creamy stirring if necessary. 

3. Scoop into a bowl and enjoy a yummy treat, or put in freezer until ready to serve.

Guilt Free Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream (No added sugar)

Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream

Frozen Sliced Bananas

 So I have been thinking about Challenges of life that come to all of us. Yesterday I was thinking about my sweet sister in law who is dealing with her serious health challenges with such faith and strength. She is teaching the rest of us so much. I heard about a friend of my daughters who found out he had cancer, and was asking for prayers. I know challenges make us stronger, and we learn from watching others deal with their challenges. They are still tough when you are in the midst of them. It is hard to watch people we care about go through hard things.

I heard a Dad that said he would say to his daughter "just keep swimming" (from Finding Nemo). When challenges came to his daughter. He also talked about the importance of "becoming". That is what this life is all about isn't it. Who are we becoming? I want those words to resonate in my head this year and always. They are a good reminder to me to think about what I am becoming as I go through each day. I have a long way to go.  So I will "Just keep swimming."

So to help you through the challenges of life you can make this "guilt free soft serve ice cream". I woke up this morning thinking something with peanut butter and chocolate sounded really good. This is what   came up with.

Ingredients

1/4 C unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 ripe bananas sliced * frozen (at least 2 hours)
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa
1 T  natural peanut butter (You could add more :)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions (Serves 1-2)

1. Pour into the blender, milk first, and then add the rest of the ingredients. Blend in a high powered blender or food processor may work. I had to stir it a couple time.
2. Serve soft or freeze to harden a little. Happy Weekend!

* Slices makes makes them easier to blend.

Delicious Soft Serve Spinach Ice Cream (Tastes like pistachio Ice Cream)

I was so excited to discover this recipe. Pistachio ice cream is one of my Favorite ice creams. I think some of the reason are I used to buy it at Thrifty ice cream as a child and an adult. It brings back lot of fun memories. My husband and I also enjoyed fresh homemade pistachio ice cream when we were in Maine. It was divine. It is fun how eating certain foods can bring back a flood of happy memories.  

So I made this it took me back to those memories. It was sooo yummy. I loved it. It is a new favorite treat. Serve to friends, and family they will have no idea they are eating spinach. It is a pretty color for the holidays. A high power blender is probably needed to have it turn out the best. (My son even came back for seconds.)

Ingredients serves 1-4 depending on size

1 C almond milk (cold)
1/2 frozen banana
2 C raw spinach washed
1 scoop of chocolate protein powder
1 tsp almond extract
2 C ice cubes

Directions

1.In the blender put ingredients as listed on the recipe. Blend and pulse until it is nice and creamy. You may have to stir it in the middle of the blending time.
2. Serve at once. Yum! DELICIOUS

Homemade Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Honey

One of my husbands favorite kind of ice cream is vanilla bean. He loves to eat it with out anything on it, and he savours every bite. So he was thrilled when I made some fresh homemade vanilla bean ice cream. He loved it! The rest of us loved it too. It was fun to know it didn't have any corn syrup in it. It is hard to find ice cream that doesn't have corn syrup in it. This is not one of those low calorie recipes, but it is a fun treat for Summer. :) My family loves ice cream so it is nice to make a healthier version of it. I have seen real vanilla beans in the store but never bought them. My daughter had a friend who had extra, so I bought some. These were wonderful. The ones you buy in the store are hard and need to be soaked to soften them. The ones I bought were nice and soft. They smelled good too. It really does enhance the vanilla flavor, which I love.

Ingredients:
2 C cream
2 C milk (I used 1 C 1% and 1 C 2 %)
1/2 honey
2 vanilla beans split lengthwise
1 egg

Directions:
1. Combine cream, milk, honey, in a saucepan. Cut the vanilla pods lengthwise and scrape the seeds into the cream mixture. Then throw in the pods too. Heat till it just comes to a boil.

2. In a separate bowl beat egg. Then add a small amount of the hot mixture into the egg, beating it. Then add the remaining cream mixture. Pour back into the saucepan.

3. Put the saucepan on the stove on med low heat and let it thicken. It should reach about 170 on a thermometer.

4. I left the pods in and poured it into a container. Let it chill 3 hours in the fridge or 1 hour in the freezer.

5. Then pour into ice cream maker and follow manufactures directions. (Removing the pods before mixing it in the ice cream maker.) Enjoy!