Frozen treats

It was 104° yesterday. Here in Tucson, we spend most of our time and money trying to stay cool. On the weekends we stock up on Eegees, a local frozen treat. They're loaded with Vitamin C so I can justify them as being somewhat healthy. Unfortunately, an Eegee habit gets expensive, and they do not disclose all of the ingredients.

We also stock popsicles in both freezers. I know my kids aren't drinking as much water as they should to keep up with the heat, so I let them have low sugar popsicles. Safeway has a generic line of fruit flavored popsicles that we like better than Dreyers Fruit Bars, but we'll buy either depending on the flavors they have in stock. Both brands vaguely list "natural flavors" in their ingredients though.

One more treat comes around frequently in the summer: Smoothies. We buy frozen fruit at Costco, two different bags. I use the berry mixture without strawberries, and for the rest of the family we buy the mango-papaya-strawberry blend (I can't eat any of that!). The mango blend makes an instant sorbet if you can run it through the blender or a juicer while it's still frozen. To get it moving around in the blender, a little plain yogurt helps. It still comes out thick enough to eat with a spoon. If you want it drinkable, let the fruit thaw substantially and add some juice to the blender as well. After a workout I like to whip up a yogurt, frozen fruit, orange juice and coconut water smoothie. Hubbie gets a banana in his for added potassium.

It would seem that we have plenty of treat options to beat the desert heat, but I really have to make my foods count. I need more nutrients. I want something that tastes like a real treat. I want comfort food! I scoured the web for homemade ice-cream recipes and never did find what I wanted in an ice-cream. I want the creamy consistency but with low sugar and high nutrients. I also don't want to spend so much on heavy cream just to make a quart of fatty ice cream. For the cost of the cream I can sometimes find a sale on multiple gallons of prepared ice cream. But we have to keep focus. We are allergic to stabilizers, fruits, proteins and flavorings in prepared foods. Good news! I am developing a recipe for a homemade ice-cream made with your choice of almond milk or rice milk, and fresh summer fruits or your favorite flavoring.

Photo by iHateAllergies

For the first experiment, I'm adapting Emeril Lagasse's recipe for Fresh Peach Ice-Cream. I used vanilla almond milk instead of heavy cream, and only 1/2 cup of sugar because the almond milk is already sweet. Already we've cut sugar and avoided lactose. If you're allergic to tree nuts, use rice milk instead. This recipe uses cooked peaches, which may be OK for people with OAS. Can we please everyone? Unsweetened Blue Diamond Almond Breeze (Vanilla) is "Free of: Dairy, soy, lactose, cholesterol, peanuts, casein, gluten, eggs, saturated fat and MSG"! Read the label on your dairy free milk and choose whichever brand or type is safe for you.

This recipe is a great start. I was worried that the lack of dairy would create a gritty ice-milk. It's a little fluffy if you eat it when it comes right out of the freezer, but if you scoop it into a bowl and take your time eating it, you will enjoy the creaminess that you didn't think you could achieve without milk. You won't believe this dairy free when you try it. I chose almond milk for this recipe because it has higher numbers for the common nutrients, as well the added antioxidant benefits naturally occurring in almonds. I used a flavored almond milk to compensate for cutting most of the sugar out of the recipe, so the ice-cream tasted more like almond milk than peaches. The remedy for this problem is to add fresh diced peaches to the ice cream maker during the last few minutes of the mixing process.  Success! Personally, I think this is a great substitute for ice cream.  I am thrilled with the texture and my ice-cream is good for me.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar

2 tbsp butter

7 peaches, peeled and diced (2lbs) plus one to mix in.

1 Quart non-dairy milk (Unsweetened Blue Diamond Almond Breeze Vanilla used here)

Emeril's instructions, adapted for my ingredients:

In a large saute pan, over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir in the sugar until it dissolves. Add the peaches and saute for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the peaches soften. Remove from the heat and cool completely. In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, puree the peach mixture until smooth. In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, combine the peach mixture and non-dairy milk. Bring the mixture up to a gentle boil. Add 1 cup of the hot milk mixture to the beaten yolks and whisk well. Add the yolk mixture back to the cream mixture and whisk well. Continue to cook for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the mixture can coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat, and pour into a glass bowl. Press a piece of plastic wrap to the cream mixture (this will prevent a film from forming) and cool completely. Pour the cream mixture into a frozen ice-cream cylinder and process according to manufacturers directions.

Note: This recipe creates a custard style mixture which gives this ice-cream a smooth texture and richness later. It may take longer than 4-6 minutes to get a somewhat creamy consistency, be patient and keep an eye on the pot so your mixture does not scorch.   1 quart liquid = about 1 quart ice-cream.  Cooking fruit releases juices, so this recipe gave me about 1 1/2 quarts of delicious peach ice cream.