Today has been the best day. I mean WONDERFUL. Which is good, because yesterday was a little dramatic. Dramatic because, well, I’m nursing a baby who happens to be teething. You do the math.
That is all I’m going to say about that.
But today was great. Baby slept late, I woke up feeling rested, and I’d spent a little extra time in the kitchen the day before so that I had virtually no food preparation left to do. All I did this morning was brown a roast and throw it the crockpot with some rutabagas, turnips, and carrots. YUM.
Poppyseed and I went to let Rainy out of her stall so that she could munch around in the pasture for the day, and then I dropped her off at her new in-home daycare. I made a few calls, got on a training call, and then even managed to sneak in a quick Crossfit workout over my lunch hour. I got so lucky that it was only a 7 minute workout, so I was in and out with minimal sweating. It isn’t often at all that I get to work out without a baby in tow, so I really REALLY appreciate those small things.
I had an appointment with a customer during the early afternoon, and I was so happy that it went well! Maybe Lola made some money today. I felt so good about it when I left that I decided to just go pick up P early and spend the afternoon with her. (Oh the joys of working for oneself!)
She was in a finicky mood when I got her home. She was so so so sleepy but just not in the mood to be in her crib. I rocked her a bit and laid her down, only to hear crying five minutes later. I repeated the process, thinking that after a day in daycare she may just need a little more winding down. I rocked and rocked her and honestly just enjoyed the smell of her hair. She used to NEVER let me rock her like that, so now that she does I really soak it up. On the third try, she went down. Ah, sweet sweet naptime.
I’m really excited about tonight. I happened to run into an old study buddy at the grocery store last week. She and I were both nutrition majors, and she invited me to grab a glass of wine with her tonight. Reader, let me tell you, knowing that I have plans to have a glass of wine on a Thursday night (not on my own premises) feels WILD to me, haha! Oatmeal said he’d do the bath and bed routine with Poppyseed so that I could do this little fun thing. I’m looking forward to it.
So…. the point of this post. I did the easiest thing yesterday that turned out so delicious. I have had birthday party ideas on the brain. Something that has been on my to-do list for a few weeks is to experiment making either almond or coconut ice cream. I have a Hamilton Beach single serve ice cream maker, so I thought I’d try it out. It was a very easy machine to use. For one thing, it is very small and so it takes up almost no space in my pantry. Another thing I love about this little guy is that it is really easy to operate – it has ONE button and so it’s simply on or off. Easy breezy. It comes with two small bowls that you just put in your freezer until they are really cold. Then you pour your mixture into the bowl, put the lid on top, and press power. It churns for 6-12 minutes and then it’s done! Very simple and easy to clean up, too.
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As for the ingredients, I chose them because I was looking for something dairy free (Poppyseed has not yet had any dairy) with minimal extra ingredients. I almost bought the coconut milk from the refrigerated section of my grocery store, but then I looked at all of the ingredients on the label. I know that a lot of paleo cookbooks and blogs use coconut milk from the refrigerated section, but for some reason it just bugged me that there were so many words that ended in “-ate.” It occurred to me that the canned coconut milk that I often cook with has a nice creamy consistency… it seemed perfect for ice cream. Plus, it had far fewer miscellaneous ingredients other than the coconut milk itself.
I chose maple syrup as a sweetener because I think I’m supposed to avoid giving P honey for another year…. not quite sure what the rules are on that. I’m sure agave would work well, too.
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So, here you go. Simple, yummy, super creamy homemade ice cream. It was Poppyseed’s first real dessert, and she liked it!
Ingredients:
- One can of full-fat coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
- 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract (I’m not crazy about the brand I have pictured here because it contains corn syrup, but I didn’t notice that when I bought it!)
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Directions:
- Make sure your ice cream bowl are very, very cold. I left mine in my deep freezer for a few hours before using. Open your can of coconut milk and use a spoon to stir it up. Otherwise when you turn it upside down the coconut water and thick milk may have separated, and it can get messy to pour it out.
- Pour the coconut milk, maple syrup and vanilla into your bowl and place the lid onto the bowl. Turn the power on and let it churn for 10 minutes, checking it often. Once it looks like it’s hardened to the consistency of soft-serve yogurt, it’s done. Remove the lid and let it sit for another few minutes to continue to freeze. Top with fruit or eat as is. Yum!
Notes about this particular ice cream machine…
I like it because it’s small, easy to operate, and takes up little space. It’s great for 1 or 2 people who just want a quick snack.
The disadvantage of this product is that the lid does not fit securely on the top of the bowl. So once you turn it on, you sort of have to stand there and hold it in place. If you don’t hold it in place it sort of wobbles and just looks insecure. Also, the ice cream along the edge of the bowl gets ROCK hard. So you sort of have to scrape the edges as it melts. If someone has an ice cream maker that they find to be more user friendly, let me know! (I don’t want a giant machine that involves rock salt and all that business if you know what I mean!)
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Let me know if you come up with any tips that I can use to make this little snack even easier to make or more delicious. We are always on the lookout for healthy snacks that are made of few ingredients and don’t take an hour to make!