Homemade Icecream! (Mango / Chocolate / Coconut & Ginger / Macadamia)

Home-made ice-cream! Definitely one of my favourite summer staple desserts or snacks enjoyed by young and old alike. In keeping with my food philosophy of nutrient-density and utter simplicity, my basic Vanilla ice-cream recipe calls for only 4 ingredients:

2 tablespoons vanilla bean powder
5 egg yolks from pastured hens (reserve the whites for omelettes or scrambled eggs)
500g full fat cream
3 tablespoons maple syrup (could substitute raw honey)

Blend ingredients in a food processor until well mixed.  It's that easy. The key will come down to the quality of the ingredients so buy the best quality you can afford.

Pour into iceblock moulds (for iceblocks) or small glass containers (for ice cream) and freeze (will keep for 2-3 months in freezer).

Take glass container of ice cream out of freezer and place at room temperature about 15 minutes before serving to soften. To remove iceblocks from moulds, run under hot water for a few moments.

Iceblock moulds can be bought from any homeware store (eg Peter's of Kensington, Wheel and Barrow etc). More expensive über groovy ones can be purchased from Seed Clothing.

Other ice-cream variations to basic recipe:

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Mango ice-cream:    

The flesh of 5 mangos5 egg yolks500g full fat cream5 tablespoons coconut oil Note- no sweetener required as mango is sweet enough

Chocolate ice-cream:

5 tablespoons raw cacao powder5 egg yolks500g full fat cream 3 tablespoons maple syrup 

Coconut and ginger ice-cream:

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger 5 egg yolks1 can coconut cream (I prefer the Ayam non-organic brand without the guar gum additive to the organic brands that all contain guar gum). 3 tablespoon maple syrup 

Make up your own flavours. I recently experimented with strawberry and with banana/coconut. Or freeze your favourite breaksfast smoothie. If dairy doesn't agree with you, opt for coconut cream instead of cow's cream. Or if cream is too rich, substitute yogurt for a frozen yogurt dessert.

With only a couple weeks to go before summer ends, what are you waiting for?!

Various ice-block moulds sold at Wheel & Barrow Homewares

Cool ice-block moulds sold at Seed Clothing

frozen banana and berry smoothies

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I often get asked what I put in my morning smoothies. Here's what I'm doing this summer: - 1 banana (a good use of overripe bananas is to peel them and freeze them in between baking sheets in a container. Pop one out whenever you need) - a handful of frozen berries or 1/2 tablespoon of raw cacao powder and 1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder - 1 cup home made kefir (Turkish yogurt) (or full fat yogurt if you have no kefir) - 1 tablespoon cold /frozen beef stock - yes I try to incorporate gelatinous bone broth into as many things as I can...click here to read more about that  (trust me, you won't taste it at all...) - 1/2 tablespoon of coconut oil (I like Aclara Health or Nuis) (optional)

Blend with hand held blender until smooth. A winner with kids (big ones too!).

I team this with pastured eggs on steamed buttered greens with sides of avocado and sauerkraut (and my obligatory macchiato).  If in a rush, make the smoothie a complete meal by adding a couple of raw egg yolks (do not add raw the whites- to find out why click here). If you need to be out the door super early, throw the smoothie ingredients altogether the night before and just blend in the morning. No excuses for leaving the house on an empty stomach!

Variations: add coconut water instead of milk, try fresh mango instead of berries or banana.

my morning macchiato

Avocado boats

Struggling to think of a non-sweet snack? I just dished up an "avocado boat" to my 2 little possums for their afternoon tea.

1. Cut an avocado in half and throw out the seed.
2. Drizzle with tamari (wheat free soy sauce)
3. Sprinkle some activated sesame seeds (optional) and some finely chopped nori (seaweed) and you've got yourself a quick Japanese flavoured savoury snack full of healthy fats!

Other variations: add a spoonful of goats curd or home made cream cheese into the well where the seed was.

Other quick snack ideas that my kids love:

• Home made ice blocks (I will post a blog on a recipe for these soon)

• Fruit with cheese and/or activated nuts

• Veggie sticks (e.g. cucumber, carrot) sprinkled with sea salt

Quick. Simple. Enjoy!