Secret Ice Cream

 This ice cream has a secret. A secret ingredient. Can you guess what it is?...

Quick oats! Did you guess? Well believe me, oats will make your ice cream the thickest, creamiest, most scoop-able homemade vegan ice cream ever. I promise. It does take some preparing ahead to cook the ice cream base and chill it, but it's so worth it.

This is kind of a re-do of my first-ever post. It had a super duper dreadful picture, and as it is getting crazy hot here in Texas and our freezer is working again, I thought it would be the perfect time to update. I made it a bit healthier too!

 
Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups water
• 1/3 cups quick oats (you can use regular oats too, just blend a bit longer)
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2-3 tsp mint extract
• 1/2 tsp butter extract
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 can coconut milk (I use Imperial Dragon, it's 90 calories per serving and thickens up really well!)

Directions:

• Add water, oats, cornstarch, extracts, salt, and sugar to a blender and blend until oats are smooth (about 40 seconds, I'd guess).
• Pour into a pan and heat on medium, whisking until thickened (a couple of minutes).
• Scoop back to the blender and add coconut milk. Blend until combined, scraping sides down if necessary. You can add 2-3 leaves of spinach to make it a lovely pale green color if you want (it won't taste like spinach, I promise!), but I was out of spinach this time!
• Pour into a container and put in fridge overnight or for at least a few hours.
• Make sure that your ice cream maker tub is in the freezer!
• Get your lovely base out of the fridge -- it will be super thick, that's part of what makes it so creamy!
• Process according to the ice cream maker's directions -- I just pour it in while the motor is running and process for about 10-20 minutes, pushing the ice cream around with a rubber spatula if it stops churning before I think it's done.
• Scoop back into your container and freeze for at least 2 hours, to harden. If it's super solid when you go to eat it, thaw it on the counter for 5-10 minutes. The oats really help it scoop easier though!

Ohmygoodness, I can't get enough of this stuff right now, and for way less than $4.19 a pint (the price of my favorite vegan ice cream at the stores around here), it's kind of dangerous. But, it's only 105 calories per 1/2 cup, which is really, really not bad for ice cream, so indulge! I even added chopped semi-sweet chocolate to mine to make mint-chip -- my favorite!

cals per 1/2 cup: 105kcal | fat: 5.88g | carbs: 12.64g | prot: 1.05g

Paschal is wondering what I'm doing -- the sunniest room is kind of the cats' room, but I usually put them outside before taking photos. He's mighty curious about the ice cream though...

Hello World

I've been following veggie blogs and thinking of starting my own for a while now so here I am-- hi! My name is Kelsey, I just graduated from Texas Tech, I've been married for 2 years to Sam, the most amazing person in the world, and we have three dogs. I love cooking-- a love that has become more necessary and also more used since I became vegan about a year ago. I also like sewing and managing my etsy shop, which is complete disrepair right now, but will hopefully be running again at some point soon. Right now Sam is in graduate school and I'm a very lucky stay-at-home wife who's looking for work. That's about all for introductions, I think. I'm really excited to post my first recipe-- here it is!

(Vegan) Mint Chip Ice Cream

I love ice cream in the winter-- especially in the winter. I eat ice cream in the summer too, but it seems a little too sticky and creamy for super-hot Texas summer days, so the bulk of my ice cream eating tends to happen in the winter. The oats give this ice cream it's creaminess- it's seriously the creamiest ice cream I've been able to make since going vegan!

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• 1 can coconut milk, shaken (I used Imperial Dragon brand)
• 2 tsps mint extract
• a couple of leaves spinach, to give it a green color--you won't taste it, I promise
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)

Directions

1. Place first 4 ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.
2. Pour into a saucepan and heat on low-medium, whisking, until very thick.
3. Scoop the mixture back into the blender and add the next 3 ingredients. Blend again.
4. Pour the mixture into a container to cool in the fridge or just stick the blender carafe in the fridge. Wait an hour or two until the mixture is fairly cold.
5. Melt your chocolate chips in the microwave or in a double boiler.
6. Freeze the ice cream according to your ice cream maker's instructions.
7. After the ice cream is fairly frozen and it's almost finished, drizzle in the chocolate while the ice cream is still churning-- this makes little flakes and chunks of chocolate as it freezes once it hits the cold ice cream.
8. Transfer to a bowl and freeze for an hour or two before scooping out and enjoying. If it's too solid to scoop, let it sit on the counter for 20 minutes or microwave for about a minute and a half before scooping.

Nutrition Info:  Makes 7 servings of 1/2 cup each. 206 calories, 11g fat, 29g carbohydrates, 2g protein

Whew, my first blog post finished. Have an amazing day, everyone!