Creamy Coconut Milk Marionberry Ice Cream ~ It's an Ice Cream Party

You scream, I scream, we all scream for Ice Cream.  Yum.

Had sort of an ice cream party this weekend.  A few of my friends made ice cream and we all posted on FB. It began with Felicia, she just bought an ice cream machine last week and she was anxious to get started.  She asked for some ideas and I gave her some tips as well as went shopping with her to pick out some key ingredients. She promptly whipped up some chocolate chip ice cream using bananas and coconut milk as her base.  I got to try some and it was delicious. I didn't get a picture of hers though.

Last week I gave Rachel some of my organic cherries I put up in the freezer last weekend.  This weekend she made some Cherry Pecan frozen yogurt. She used: Greek Yoghurt, Coconut Milk, Homemade Vanilla (w/alcohol to ensure it doesn't turn to a brick in the freezer), Fresh Cherries, Honey, Handful of Pecans.  She described it as "Rich and Delightful".  It looks like it is.

Rachel's Cherry Pecan Frozen Yogurt

Barb made homemade apricot preserve cream cheese ice cream.  Looks very creamy. 

Barb's Homemade Apricot Preserve Cream Cheese Ice Cream

It all looked so good, I had to join in with my vegan version of ice cream.  Wasn't sure which flavor I wanted to play with.  It was a toss up between cherry and marionberry.  I mentioned it to Barb and she said she wanted some marionberry. I was lucky enough to be at Payton's Produce when a berry picker came in with his berries a couple weeks ago.  He had fresh raspberries and two flats of plump fresh marionberries.  I took home three flats of his raspberries and one flat of the beautiful marionberries.   I mixed up a creamy coconut milk marionberry ice cream.  

Deb's Creamy Coconut Milk Marionberry Ice Cream

Creamy Coconut Milk Marionberry Ice Cream

Makes 6 cups

Ice Cream:

3 cups organic full fat coconut milk, chilled

2 cups fresh marionberries, or substitute your favorite fruit

3/4 cup agave nectar

1 tsp almond extract

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

seeds of one vanilla bean

1/4 tsp sea salt

Combine all ingredients in a blender, and process until well blended.  I strained the berries and used the juice in the ice cream mixture.  About five minutes before the mixture was finished I added whole berries.   Pour the mixture into an ice cream maker and process according to your maker's directions.  Mine takes about half an hour. Once processed, pour into freezable container with a lid, and place in the freezer for at least a few hours, or overnight to firm up for best results.

I mixed about 1 TB pure maple syrup to about 1 cup berries for a juicy berry topping.

Simple Vegetable Soup & Raw Chocolate Raspberry Pie

I just did the basics last week, pot 'o black beans, a big salad, a simple vegetable soup, and a raw chocolate raspberry pie. I am lucky enough to still have a few berries in the freezer from last summer.

Vegetable Soup: broccoli, carrots, red onions, sweet peppers, garlic, Jerulsalem artichokes, and brown rice.

Raw Chocolate Raspberry Pie

Crust - Raw Almonds,  Med Jul Dates, coconut flakes
Filling - raspberries, coconut butter (pureed coconut flakes), organic cocoa powder, and agave.
Topping - Cashew Coconut Creme

Chocolate Tofu Pudding ~ Vegan

I finally got a decent blender for the food I want to prepare.  The blender has really become my main cooking tool.  I bought a Blendtec. It came with a pretty nice cookbook too.  I've tried quite a few recipes already.  This pudding is of the first I tried.  I made really good creamy chocolate pudding in like 90 seconds.  The pudding was as warm as if I simmered it on the stove top. It also made the cashew coconut creme the way I like it, creamy not grainy.  This blender made it with a smooth creamy texture in just a couple minutes.   Before this, I ground my cashews and nuts in the food processor then transferred them to the blender, stopping and scraping them down for quite awhile.  I am pretty impressed with it already.  It took me a long time to break down and buy one.  I've bought whole cars cheaper than this blender.  Of course, I probably would drive cars most people wouldn't. A fancy new car has never been one of my top priorities. But, if I put together all the cheap blenders and food processors I've killed because of the use I put them through, I've probably spent more.

Chocolate Tofu Pudding
 10.5 oz soft tofu
¼ cup non dairy milk, plain or vanilla
5 TB vegan margarine, melted
2 squares semisweet chocolate, broken
½ cup agave, maple syrup, or sucanot
1 tsp vanilla

I put this on the soup cycle twice.  It took about 90 seconds.  If you don't have a blender like this, I would blend it all up in the blender anyway and then simmer on the stovetop a few minutes until it was bubbly and getting thick.  Chill for at least 1 hour.  Top with cashew coconut creme.

Cashew Coconut Creme

about a 1/3 cup raw cashews (soaked in water for an hour or more)
1/3 cup confectioner's sugar
the creme from a can of coconut milk
the seeds from one vanilla bean blended until smooth and creamy.

Baked Apples with Tamarind Sauce

I got our meals for the week finished pretty early today, we still have a couple salads left from the vegan/vegetarian potluck, the Chana Dal is put away, I made another dish with Lima beans and roasted vegetables, (post to come later), and some baked apples.  I made some tamarind sauce for my Chana Dal and used the rest of it to make a nice sauce for these apples. I stuffed them with chopped pineapple, raw cashews, dried currants, a little maple syrup, some date sugar, freshly ground cinnamon and nutmeg.

Blueberry Goodness and other Culinary Delights

Morgaine and I put our culinary delights together this weekend.  I like going out to her place. She lives on an island on the Columbia River.  It's not very far, about 20 miles, but it seems like I've gone somewhere far when we're out there.  The scenery is a bit different driving along the river, there are many shorebirds and a fresh coastal smell. It was a great break.  She's also a whole foods cook, working with the freshest, local ingredients available. We both love the adventure of just trying something that sounds good with the ingredients currently available, recipe in hand or not.  Dessert was very blue and very tasty.She made some blueberry pie with local blueberries she put up last summer.

I made a vegan blueberry pudding cake, a variation of the lemon pudding cake I've made before from the Vegan Dad cookbook.  I substituted blueberry juice for the lemon juice in the recipe, used orange zest instead of lemon, and put a layer of fresh blueberries on the bottom of the pan before the cake batter.

They were very good together, parfait style with a little soy whipping creme.

For our dinner, I made vegan AuGratin potatoes and roasted a whole acorn squash.  She made some wonderful whole grain bread, vegetables tempura with a nice variety of fresh vegetables, onions, carrots, yams, and more.  She also made a sweet and sour sauce for the vegetables and some sautéed chicken breast.  Most of the meal was plant based.  This is where my flexitarian comes in.  I didn't enjoy a whole portion of chicken breast, but I did have a small taste.  After all, someone did go to the trouble to make it, I am going to show my appreciation for her cooking and try it. I also know that she obtains her animal protein from the most local sources. I used her homemade sauce over the tempura vegetables, it was a great combination.  Together we came up with a great feast and there was some jolly conversation in the room after dinner, but soon there was a quiet that came over the house as everyone settled in very well fed and relaxed.

Vegan Au Gratin

Homemade Fresh Whole Grain Bread

Tempura Vegetables

Lemon Thyme Pound Cake & Citrus Tofu Tacos

Lemon Thyme Cake

I made  Lemon Thyme Pound Cake, a Martha Stewart recipe. Another find from the jail waiting room. ::) There was an old copy of Martha Stewart Living. I jotted the recipe down really fast on a piece of scrap paper, then was pleased to find it online when we got home. This is a vegetarian recipe as I used eggs.  But, I use fresh local eggs from chickens that really do go outside.  I don't use eggs much, but when I do, I only use eggs from a local source. Martha's sauce is a Muscat lemon thyme syrup. I made a nice syrup with pomegranate juice, a little lemon juice, apple juice, agave, and thyme. My cakes didn't come out as bright yellow as Martha's. That's because I use unbleached whole grain flour and unrefined sugar.

Before the cake we had some  vegan Red rice and citrus tofu tacos. I used a brown rice medley. They came out very nice. My husband likes the grande size.

Mine was a little smaller.

Vive Bene

Vegan Blueberry Cheezcake

This is one of my favorite vegan cheezcake recipes for the Vegan World Fusion Cuisine cookbook.  I've made this for non veggies and didn't mention there was no cheese in it until it was enjoyed by all. I only made a couple changes.  I used 1 12 oz. package of firm tofu and one container of Tofutti, Better than Cream Cheese instead of the 2 lbs of tofu in the recipe. I adjusted the liquids as it blended for the right consistency. I also used coconut milk instead of the soy milk.

Shaka's Vegan Cheezcake 
      Vegan World Fusion Cuisine

Filling:

2 lb Tofu, firm
1 C Sucanat
1/2 cup soy milk
1.2 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup lemon juice, fresh squeezed
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
2 1/2 TB Arrowroot powder
2 TB Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp sea salt

Crust Dry:

2 C spelt flour
1/4 C Sucanat
1 TB Arrowroot powder
1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
1/4 tsp sea salt

Crust Wet:

1/3 C Safflower Oil
2 TB Maple Syrup
2 TB Apple Juice, fresh (I used some of the applesauce I canned last summer.)
1 tsp Vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350º.  For crust, place dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl and mix well.  Place wet ingredients in another bowl amd mix well.  Add wet to dry, mixing well with hands, crumbling the ingredients together repeatedly.  Press into the bottom of a 10" spring form pan.  Bake for 5 minutes.  (I used a ten inch pie plate this time.)
    
2. Place all filling ingredients in a large blender and blend until smooth  Pour on top of crust and bake for 1 hour or until top turns  golden brown and center does not jiggle too much.  Allow to cool before running knife around the edge and removing from the spring form pan.

For the topping I just took the blueberries, about 1 lb, a cup of sparkling apple juice, 1/3 cup sucanat, 11/2 TB lemon juice, a dash of cinnamon powder and heated it all in a small saucepan until it started to boil.  I added about 21/2 tablespoons of Agar flakes to the mixture and let it simmer until it was dissolved, stirring constantly.  Since it was so cold outside, I just put it into a bowl and set in on our deck on the table to chill.  After it was completely cooled and thickened, I poured it on the cooled cheezcake.

Enjoy!

Dairy Free Chocolate Mousse

Live Chocolate Mousse

Found a variation of a vegan chocolate mousse I make with avocados & bananas.  This one replaces the bananas with fresh ground almond butter and I added about 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract.  This is very rich and creamy.  A small serving goes a long way.

Serves 4

• 3  avocados (2 cups mashed)
• 1/4 cup plus 3 Tbs. raw agave nectar
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. raw cocoa powder
• 3 Tbs. raw almond butter
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• Pinch ground cinnamon
• Pinch ground nutmeg or cardamom
• 1/2 tsp. flavored extract such as mint, cherry, orange, almond, hazelnut, or coffee, optional

Purée all ingredients in food processor 3 to 4 minutes, or until smooth and creamy, scraping down sides of bowl occasionally. Transfer to bowls, and serve immediately.

Coconut Pudding with Pineapple/Orange Pureé

Friday Vegalicious Recipes posted a recipe for coconut pudding.  Thought I'd give it a try, it sure looked good when I noticed it. This is a very easy and tasty pudding made with coconut milk, toasted coconut flakes, agave, and corn starch.  Toasted Coconut, Pineapple/Orange Pureé.  Hmm...Piña Colada Pudding.  :D This recipe is for mango and kiwi pureé, but I didn't have either of those.  I did have a pineapple and some tangelos. I garnished it with crushed stevia leaf.

Almond Butter Madeleines

 
I told you I was going to make some Madeleines today.  Up until about a week ago, I had never heard of them.  Apparently they are a little cake with quite a long history.

"Some sources, including the New Oxford American Dictionary, say madeleines may have been named for a 19th century pastry cook, Madeleine Paulmier, but other sources have it that Madeleine Paulmier was a cook in the 18th century for Stanisław Leszczyński, whose son-in-law, Louis XV of France, named them for her. The Larousse Gastronomique offers two conflicting versions of the history of the madeleine.^"

They're pretty easy.  I tried them first using a recipe from Cook Almost Anything.  The first time I made them, I followed the recipe pretty closely.  This time I substituted Almond butter for the butter, date sugar for the brown sugar, and sucanat for the white sugar.  They came out pretty nice.  I think I'll try another batch or two this weekend using some egg substitutes to get a vegan version.  These look like a nice treat to take to work Monday, it is Valentines Day, a good day for bringing treats.  OK, any day is a good day to bring treats. 8-)

Almond Butter Madeleines

adapted from a recipe by Cook Almost Anything

1/2 cup ground raw pistachios or raw almonds
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour, this time I used spelt flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sucanat slightly ground in the food processor
1/3 cup date sugar
3/4 cup almond butter
about 2 TB vegan margarine
2 eggs

Combine vegan margarine and almond butter together and warm just to melt.  Set aside to cool.

Sift together the ground pistachios or almonds,  flour and baking powder and set to one side.

Place the eggs, sugars into the bowl of a food processor and process until combined. Add in the sifted flour mixture and pulse to amalgamate. With the motor running, slowly pour in the cooled, melted butter - stop as soon as it has been mixed through.

Spoon out the batter into a sealable container and store in the fridge to rest - from a few hours to overnight.

Lightly oil and flour the madeleine molds and carefully spoon in the batter to two-thirds fill each cavity. Bake in a preheated oven, 350°,  for about 10-15 minutes or until golden and cooked through.

Allow to cool slightly in the tray before dislodging them. Let them cool completely, ridge side up, on a wire rack.

Finish off with a dusting of icing sugar before serving.

Dairy Free Dark Cherry Almond Fudge Ice Cream

Had some fun with the ice cream maker. I made a dairy free vanilla ice cream mixture with dark sweet cherries, roasted almonds, and fudge.

I thawed a quart of dark sweet cherries I froze while in season, roasted and chopped some almonds, and made a fudge sauce with agave and organic cocoa. I drained the cherries when thawed and added the cherry juice to the ice cream mixture. When the ice cream was just about frozen, I added the cherries and the roasted almonds. Just before I put it in the freezer I folded in the fudge sauce.

Dairy Free Vanilla Ice Cream

Begin by making a substitute for condensed milk.

Condensed Milk Substitute

1/3 cup thick coconut milk (The cream at the top of the can)
1/3 cup maple syrup or agave
1 TB melted coconut butter

Whip all above ingredients together and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Vanilla base for ice cream

3 TB egg replacer
9 TB filtered water
3/4 cup sucanat
Remaining can of coconut milk from condensed milk substitute
Condensed milk substitute (above)
1 pint coconut milk coffee creamer
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/2 TB vanilla extract or the seeds from a whole vanilla bean.

In a large mixing bowl whisk 3 TB egg replacer with 9 TB filtered water until thoroughly mixed and fluffy. Add the condensed milk substitute. Add 3/4 cup sucanat (or brown sugar) and again mix thoroughly. Add the rest of the can of coconut milk and 1 pint of coconut creamer, 1/2 tsp sea salt and the vanilla. Chill mixture for about four hours before freezing according to the directions for your ice cream freezer.

Sweet Dark Cherries

Strawberries, Rhubarb, & Sago

I played with some of the strawberries I put up last spring/summer this weekend. I made this strawberry rhubarb tapioca pudding and some strawberry ice cream. (Ice cream post to come later.)

Strawberries, Rhubarb, and Sago (Tapioca Seed)

I thawed some rhubarb sauce I made this summer and froze and layered it with some cooked Sago. I lightly cooked sliced rhubarb, an Orange, and a couple tablespoons of Agave down to a nice sauce and put some in the freezer last summer. I also thawed out a few strawberries

I found an easy vegan recipe for Rhubarb and Sago from a blog called "Cook Almost Anything" and used my rhubarb sauce.

Coconut Sago
½ cup sago (seed tapioca)
1 cup coconut cream
1½ cups water
½ cup sugar (I used sucanat)

Place the sago, coconut cream, water and sugar into a small saucepan and cook over a medium heat. Be careful not to let the mixture boil and make sure you stir this often so the sago cooks evenly.

The sago will swell and the mixture will become quiet sticky as the starch is released. Once the sago has become translucent, it will be cooked and remove it from the heat.

Layer the pudding and the Rhubarb sauce and chill for a little while.  The pudding gets thicker as it cools, it doesn't take too long to set.  This can be eaten warm or chilled.

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie

A friend, who has been getting to know more about plant based eating, put together a peanut butter pie. We communicate on another forum and sometimes she posts ideas for us to try. Here's my version of Peanut Butter Pie.  I used a coconut pecan crust, but you could use a flaky pie crust or a mixture of almonds, dates, and coconut since it's not a baked pie.  My husband chose the crust.  I asked him what he thought would be good and he wanted one of the nut-crusts. It's a very easy recipe with very few ingredients. 

Although mine is not gluten free, the crust recipe is from the Gluten Free Goddess Blog. The crust is from her gluten-free pumpkin pie with pralines.

First, make the crust:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

1 cup flaked unsweetened organic coconut
1 cup pecan pieces
1/2 cup all purpose gluten-free flour blend (I used spelt flour)
1/2 cup organic light brown sugar (I used organic sucanat)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
5 tablespoons vegan butter (I used Earth Balance)

Place all of the dry ingredients into a food processor bowl and pulse until the mixture looks like coarse sand. Add in the vegan butter and pulse several times in short bursts until the crumbs are moist and begin to fall away from the sides of the bowl.

Dump the crumbs into the cake pan and spread them evenly. Using your fingers gently press the crumbs across the bottom and up the sides- about 2/3 of the way up.

Bake in the center of the oven for about 7 minutes- to set.

Remove the pan and set aside.

Then the pie. I found this very easy recipe for Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie:

    * 1 container tofu, silken or firm (approx 12 oz)
    * 1/2 cup chocolate chips (check the ingredients if you're vegan)
    * 1/2 cup freshly ground peanut butter
    * 2 tbsp non dairy milk
    * 1 pre-made pie crust

Preparation:

Melt the chocolate chips over low heat, stirring frequently to ensure the chocolate doesn't burn. You can use a double boiler if you have one.

Once the chocolate is melted, blend together the peanut butter, silken tofu, chocolate and soy milk in blender until smooth and creamy, adding a bit more soy milk if necessary. Pour into pie crust and refrigerate until firm, at least one hour.

It set nicely.  Next time I will double the filling recipe, it didn't fill the 9" pie pan quite enough.  I added a top layer with some cashew coconut cream:  about a 1/3 cup raw cashews (soaked in water for an hour or more), 1/3 cup confectioner's sugar, the creme from a can of coconut milk, and the seeds from one vanilla bean blended until smooth and creamy.

I' guessing its probably a high calorie treat, but this is a whole grain, low sugar, high protein dessert.  The tofu and nuts give it healthy fats and protein.  I think I could eat a piece of this as lunch.

Lemon Pudding Cake - The Process

 

I made this Lemon Pudding Cake from the Vegan Dad's Cookbook again so I could get some pictures of the cake in process.  It's the strangest looking cake I think I've put in the oven. If I had not been experimenting with so many things I would have no confidence that this would come out as pretty and tasty as it did.  This cake looks like dishwater in the cake pan when it's put in the oven.

It's a simple cake and made with few ingredients.  First I started with simple batter: whole wheat pastry flour, sugar, (I used a zero calorie, low glycemic, natural sweetener this time, Erythritol.  Erythritol has not been found to affect blood sugar or insulin levels and has a zero glycemic index.), baking powder, baking soda, a dash of salt, 1/2 cup non dairy milk, 2 TB sunflower oil, 1 TB lemon zest and 1 TB orange zest, and the juice of 1 lemon.

Then I whisked together 1 cup of the Erythritol, use the same quantity as the sugar required, and 1/4 cup flour and sprinkled that evenly on the batter. Then poured 1 cup boiling water mixed with the juice of 2 lemons on top of that.  It looks so strange, like dishwater going into the oven. 

See the layers:

In 40 minutes it looks like cake with a wonderful lemon pudding on the bottom and bubbling up the sides.

It's great warm with homemade coconut milk vanilla ice cream.

Lemon Pudding Cake with Coconut Milk Vanilla Bean Ice Creme

I just made this Lemon Pudding Cake from The Vegan Dad Cookbook.  I got to browse through his book last night and it wasn't difficult to find a few recipes I wanted to try.

This is a very easy cake to make, I used fresh lemon juice, date sugar, and sucanot for the sugars. The date sugar is what gives it the brown color. If this were to be made with white sugar, the pudding would be more lemon yellow.

It tastes like lemon meringue filling with a crispy cake. It's a very different recipe. I should have gotten a picture before it went in the oven. First a thick batter is made and poured on the bottom of the pan. Then flour and sugar are blended and sprinkled evenly over the top of the batter. Then a cup of boiling water with lemon juice is poured over the top. I've never made a cake like it. Next time I will get a picture because it is strange wet looking mess going into the oven. But, it sure came out nice. I made some coconut milk and vanilla bean ice cream too. They went very well together.

A Yummy Vegan Pink Mess

Or, Dairy Free Strawberry Cream pie with Peaches, Cashew Coconut Creme, and Brazil Nut & Coconut Crust

This was a great idea in my head. But by being shy on the Agar because I didn't want it to gel too much, I didn't use quite enough so I didn't get that layered look I wanted. I'm still working with Agar trying to get the right amount for the desired texture. After the first piece was cut this beautiful pie became a big delicious pink mess.  I'll try again, practice is yummy.

The crust is a mixture of 1 cup raw Brazil nuts, soaked for 2-4 hours, 1 cup shredded or flaked coconut, 1/2 cup spelt flour, 1/2 cup sucanot, 2 tsp. cinnamon, and about 5 TB vegan margarine. Mix in the food processor until it becomes a coarse dough.  Press on the bottom and sides of a springform pan and bake at 350° for about 7- 10 minutes.

When the crust was cooled, I added a layer of my canned peaches and a layer of sliced strawberries, frozen right after they were picked in July.

The strawberry filling: I blended 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 2-4 hours, about 2 cups strawberries, 2 TB Agave, and a bit of coconut milk.  I added about 3/4 cup hot water and 3/4 TB Agar flakes, until they were dissolved, to the strawberry mixture, blended a little more, and poured it on top of the layers of fruit. (I should use the whole cup next time.) I poured the filling on top of the fruit.

The topping: Cashew coconut cream with a mixture of 1/4 cup hot water and 1/4 TB of agar flakes.  This chilled for about an hour.  The topping came out with a really nice texture and gelled nicely.  The strawberry portion could have used a little more agar, but this is really a tasty mess.