It's so Ice to See You! Vegan Ice Cream Recipe

    Yes! It is officially summer! I completely love the warmer months. We have no air conditioning here, but maaaan - I'd much rather be too hot than too cold! Wintertime has it's perks (comfort food!) but I would not sneer at a chance of perpetual summer. Once it began to warm up at last the plants in the garden immediately started to grow in earnest. I planted some sweet basil expressly for mucho pesto this year. I can't wait for the cherries!

    And what better way to compliment summer than fresh, delicious ice cream? I am a total ice cream fiend (pretty sure it runs in the family) but because of this diet and before that just a general trying-to-avoid-cow-stuffs thing, I really haven't been able to indulge in the greatest treat on the planet recently.

    Well, all that's changed now... :) For those of you avoiding The Moo, or those with some spare fruit, or time, or really just anybody who loves sunshine and happiness (aka ice cream), this is for you! (I noticed my diet has been very slow deteriorating - I don't have the discipline to say no to sugar for this long. Maybe I should be upset, but I'm not!)

    Notes at the end.

Vegan Blueberry Ice Cream
If I knew how much it made... Enough to serve 4 people comfortably - including seconds!

2-4 c fruit (2 c blueberries for me*)
1-3 c milk (1 c soy, 1/2 c coconut cream*)
1/2-3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
(other extracts or flavoring like rum, lemon, etc. would be great!*)

    1. In a saucepan, heat fruit, sugar and milk until sugar dissolves (should take less than 5 minutes).

    2. With a hand- or regular blender, blend together until mostly smooth. Mix in the vanilla and other flavorings. If you wish to have distinguishable pieces of fruit, mix them in at this point.

    3. Place in the fridge for 1-2 hours, or until the mixture is cool.

    4. Use your ice cream maker as per manufacturer's instructions. Or if you don't have one, try this dude's method.

    5. Homemade ice cream is best eaten that same day. After the ice cream maker produces a soft serve consistency, you can allow the ice cream to solidify a bit more in the freezer for about 30 minutes, then it's a good idea to eat it up*.

    *You can sieve out the skins, but I would suggest leaving them babies in; the skins have all the good stuff.

    *Hemp milk is very creamy stuff and makes great ice cream if you have it. Mine had a bit of a smoothie-like texture, which was good but not the consistency I wanted. Next time I'll use more milk.

    *I slightly curdled my milk on accident by adding lemon juice to the hot liquid... Consequently, the exact same way I make paneer. My head is full of air. I don't know how to add the lemon juice to the mixture without curdling it, but uh... Don't do what I did! Still tasted good, but I was a little concerned how things would turn out.

    *These pictures were taken the second day. My ice cream (I guess partially due to its not-very-creamy nature) did not scoop very well, as you can see. Needs more milk! I think.

    This ice cream was very simple to make and utterly delightful. It was extremely well received around here!

    Enjoy!