Vegan Macerated Strawberry Ice Cream

The flavor of this ice cream is spectacular. Pineapple and I love the taste and texture. Pineapple states that she could "mainline it". Unfortunately, I am sensitive to strawberry seeds so I can only consume this once per week or I pay a digestive price.

One peculiar thing to note is that coconut enhances the strawberry flavor. So although you could substitute standard dairy cream for the coconut cream, I do not recommend doing that. You will enjoy the flavor of this ice cream more if you use coconut cream.

Goat Milk Ice Cream

This particular recipe has been variously called "unctuous," "stinky," and like "moldy laundry." The ice cream definitely leans "goat heavy" which is something that not everyone likes.

Since I am sensitive to cow's milk but not goat milk, I thought this might be a good alternative for me. Because I like the flavor of goat milk, I like the flavor of this ice cream (although I don't love it).

Pineapple, on the other hand, doesn't like the flavor of goat milk, so this ice cream does not work for her.

That being said, this ice cream is definitely an experience which people will talk about. We tried this out with various relatives and friends. They each delighted in seeing each other's reactions to the strong flavors brought by this ice cream. Some people like it. Most do not.

Vegan, Gluten-free Cookies and Cream Ice Cream

It's surprising how well this version of cookies and cream turns out. Typically, Pineapple and I quickly finish off the pint.

This recipe is based off of the recipe for Vegan Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream, so I am supplying a set of short instructions for quick reference

Pineapple Jam

 This is going to be a tricky post to write and read because I need to differentiate between pineapple (the fruit) and Pineapple (the person). But I will try to make sure this is absolutely clear.

I've been making jams, lately, and pineapple was a natural extension of my foray into jam-making. Pineapple worried that this jam would be too sweet, so I took some extra steps to keep the sweetness low, which seems to have worked out wonderfully.

Plumcot Sorbet

I picked up some Speckled Plumcots recently and left them on the counter for a few weeks. They started out with green speckles all over, but after a couple of weeks on the counter they shifted toward a dark red color.

Since they sat out so long, I decided to turn them into a sorbet. This sorbet might be my new favorite! I love the flavor and texture. I also do not need to "re spin" the sorbet so it's extra easy to scoop some out when I want.

When I serve this, I tend to pair it with some grape sorbets.

Papaya Sorbet

I miss papaya from the time that I spent in Thailand. I could get it fresh on the street at just about any time. So when I found that I could buy a bag of frozen papaya at my local Safeway, I decided to see if I could make a sorbet with it.

The flavor isn't strong, but enjoyable!

Strawberry Lemon Sorbet

This sorbet goes surprisingly well with a dark chocolate ice cream.

Vegan Chocolate Coconut Ice Cream

This is my standard chocolate "ice cream". Because I cannot have dairy, this is how I get the creaminess that I desire without the dairy. I'm not supposed to consume chocolate, either. More than just a little and my digestion gets upset.

Pineapple enjoys this recipe so I make it mostly for her. The darker version of this recipe is also great for mixing with some of the tart sorbets like raspberry or strawberry.

Blueberry Lemon Sorbet

This is an easy sorbet to create. Some people who tried it also loved to mix it with the coconut vanilla ice cream for an even better dessert experience.

Vegan Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream

This is my standard vanilla "ice cream". Because I cannot have dairy, this is how I get the creaminess that I desire without the dairy. It's also a great base for all sorts of other ice creams.

I've run into several problems along the way, typically with texture. Understanding how to make this ice cream makes it easier to prepare the other vegan ice creams.

Originally I tried using a whisk to make these ice creams, but I often cannot get a smooth texture unless I put in a lot of work (my poor arms...). So I moved to using a blender to mix the ingredients and that worked better.

Sometimes, however, I would get a clumpy texture in the final ice cream. It appeared that the coconut cream had split like a typically dairy-based recipe might. With dairy, splitting cannot be fixed and you must start over. But with coconut cream, splitting means that you need to mix the cream for longer to get the ideal smooth, creamy texture. I detail how to do that in the first step of the instructions, below.

Raspberry Lemon Sorbet

This is a straightforward, delicious sorbet. I prefer buying frozen raspberries because they will be fresher than a clamshell of raspberries. Pineapple says it might be a little too sweet, so you might cut out 1-2 tablespoons of sugar.

Eggnog Ice Cream

Apparently eggnog is now in season for Easter. I personally do not consume it because it contains both milk and eggs. But Pineapple loves eggnog so when I saw it in the store long after Christmas, I picked up a half-gallon for her.

On a whim, we wondered if we could turn it in to an ice cream via the Ninja CREAMi and found success!

This is an easy treat for anyone who does not need to avoid dairy or eggs. Although it's not compatible for me on the Paleo API protocol, for many other people this would work. We may try and create a version which works for me, but that will have to come some other day.

Pineapple Sorbet

This particular sorbet took several iterations to get right. Our first attempts weren't very systematic, but we finally took a slow-and-steady approach to iterating on this and now we have a fantastic sorbet to share.

We tried this with varying amounts of lime juice, sugar, lime zest as well as with raw, grilled, and sous vide pineapple. Several different iterations are good, a few were the best, and we are sharing the best here.

In particular, we found that the agave nectar (or corn syrup) is necessary; it allows the sorbet to be smoother and less grainy than just pineapple. Incorporating lime juice will enhance the pineapple flavor, so it's highly recommended.

Sous Vide Pineapple

Pineapple is an amazing fruit. I love the flavor, tartness, and sweetness.

The first recipe I tried when making a sorbet was with canned pineapple. I loved the final texture of the sorbet, but unfortunately a tinny flavor permeates the canned pineapple and thus the sorbet.

My wife, Pineapple, and I wanted something similar to the canned pineapple result, but without the tininess. This means we wanted to preserve the texture, keep the pineapple flavor high, make the fibrous texture low, and eliminate the tin.

For our next attempt we chose to go with raw pineapple; we filled a pint with raw pineapple, froze it, and processed the pint on "sorbet" but found that the flavor wasn't sweet enough and the pineapple flavor was dull. Also, my mouth and my gut do not like it when I eat more than about a scoop of raw pineapple.

Lemon Sorbet

Corn products do not agree with my body so I try and avoid them. Thankfully agave syrup is an acceptable substitute for corn syrup, so I use it instead.

Lemon juice is a common ingredient in my sorbet recipes. I often make several different ice cream/sorbet pints at the same time so that I can select among them when a craving strikes. Consequently, I will prepare 1-2 cups of lemon juice and just use 1/2 cup for this recipe.

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup cane sugar (I prefer organic)
• 1 tablespoon agave syrup (or corn syrup)
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (I prefer fresh juice from lemons which requires 2-3 lemons in this case)

Directions

1. Prepare the lemon juice
1. Cut lemons
2. Squeeze out lemon juice
3. Scrape out the pulp
4. Blend the pulp and lemon juice for ten seconds
2. In a large bowl, mix the cane sugar, warm water, agave syrup, and lemon juice until the cane sugar fully dissolves
3. Pour the mixture into a CREAMi Pint
4. Freeze for 2 hours and check whether the pulp has risen; If so, stir the mixture
5. Freeze for 22 more hours
6. Process on Sorbet
7. Serve and enjoy!

Grape Lemon Sorbet

I've been experimenting with sorbet recipes for use in my Ninja CREAMi. This recipe was an instant hit, and everyone is likely to enjoy it. It's a sorbet derived from the same flavor combinations in my grape lemonade smoothie.

Pineapple and I have gone through two iterations to get to this and on the second iteration we tried it with three different kinds of grapes, in the order shown in the following photo: black seedless sabel grapes, red seedless table grapes, and green seedless grapes. 

Vegan Sweet Potato Pie Ice Cream

One of the experimental ideas Pineapple had was to create a sweet potato pie-style ice cream. So we experimented a bit. She gave me a basic idea of what she wanted (sweet potato and cinnamon with the ice cream base) and I tried it out. The first iteration needed cinnamon. The next, needed something crunchy. Finally, it needed some salt and now we have a winner!

The cinnamon and sweet potato really shine in this ice cream. The salt helps keep the sweet potato lively. The texture of the ice cream is amazingly smooth and the mix-in helps you get the crunch that would normally come from the crust of an actual pie. The oat milk is also necessary to help bring in the pie crust flavor.

You will need to cook the sweet potato beforehand. The Ninja CREAMi is not intended to blend anything; a frozen, raw sweet potato will probably damage the machine and would likely give you a fibrous, stringy texture. Cooking the sweet potato in the sous vide will preserve the sweet potato flavor while softening the sweet potato and breaking down the fibers. You could try baking or boiling the sweet potato, but I cannot guarantee the results.

Ninja CREAMi: Ice Cream is Back!

There are 2 big things I miss on my diet: ice cream and potato chips. I can now have ice cream again, albeit a little different from what I used to get.

Because dairy (i.e. cow's milk) now bothers my digestion I cut it out entirely. I found some sheep's milk and goat milk ice creams, but those include guar gum which makes my mouth feel fuzzy. I've gotten pure coconut ice creams, but those also contain guar gum.

I've purchased several different sorbets. Sometimes they work for me, but only if they do not include guar gum or other bean derivatives nor anything I am allergic to like mango or kiwi. Consequently, for me there is a dearth of other sorbet options. So I often do without.