I could die happy....

I am home sick today (really bad sore throat that I have been fighting for a week finally won) and knew I needed calories but was in no mood to eat. A friend posted on FB about the ice cream she made and I thought hmmmmm that would be good. But obviously with the new food rules going to the store to get some was out, so I decided to be creative.

If you read back in the blog I have actually been on the hunt for a good way to make ice cream healthy for a while. I am someone who eats mostly for texture than taste and one of the reasons I keep failing at sticking to any meal plan is I get craving the feel of ice cream and fall off the wagon. I have been determined to stick with the current plan and not fall prey to that, so I had to solve this puzzle.

I have previously tried making ice cream from almond milk (without an ice cream maker) and failed miserably. Almond milk has no fat in it so the result is an ice cube when it freezes. Last week I tried making it with coconut milk and it worked better (it helps that I bought an ice cream maker for that attempt) but the coconut was too overpowering (it just tasted weird not like coconut per se) so I wanted to go back to the almond milk, but knew I had to get more fat in there. I searched the internet for recipes with almond milk to get an idea what people used, but since none met my food restrictions I decided to just go for it.

If you haven't read my last couple posts I am currently eating a ketogenic, low tyramine diet while also avoiding foods I have blood work to confirm I am "sensitve" to (these include dairy, eggs, wheat, and yeast). The goal is to be high (healthy) fats, adequate protein and little to no carbs. This is not an easy way to eat (when you combine the three sets of restrictions) but I have committed myself to making it work. And I know for me that means solving certain texture and taste cravings that will send me off track. So I have worked to be as totally creative with "safe" ingredients to find those same tastes and feels. And truthfully I have been SHOCKED how easy it is. But I still hadn't solved ice cream.....until today....

May I introduce "I Can Die Happy" Chocolate Ice Cream..................

Ingredients

- 1 1/4 cup chilled almond milk (I use almond breeze vanilla)
- 1/4 cup chilled canned coconut milk (you want the canned with the solids well mixed in, this is the fat the almond milk lacks)
- 1 small banana (I keep bananas already sliced and frozen in my freezer for things like this)
- 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder (I like dark chocolate so I used  1 1/2 tbsp cocoa power and 1/2 tbsp special dark cocoa powder)
- 2 dates
-  1 tbsp coconut oil (optional)
- 1 square unsweetened bakers chocolate
- 1 tbsp finely chopped raw pecan
- 1 tbsp raw unsweetened coconut flakes

Prep

You will want to follow the directions for your ice cream machine. I have this one http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-ICE-21-Frozen-Yogurt-Ice-Sorbet/dp/B003KYSLMW/ref=sr_1_2?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1342118769&sr=1-2&keywords=cuisinart+ice+cream+makers and it requires you freeze the mixing bowl before starting (I actually just store mine in my freezer for moments like this).

Next you need to make sure your milk and banana are cold. Again mine worked out of the fridge/freezer. I think having the bananas frozen actually helped the ice cream solidify faster. I did microwave them for about 30 seconds just to soften.

I prepped the dates by putting them in a small bowl with about a tbsp of water and microwaving for 30 seconds I wanted them soft so I didn't get date chunks.

I combined the two milks, the banana, the dates, and the cocoa powders in the blender (I have a ninja I use) til it was all smooth. This went into the ice cream maker and churned for about 15 minutes (til it was thicker than soft serve). I then added in the pecans and coconut flakes and let it churn another 5 minutes.

One the ice cream was done I put it into a freezer safe container.

I wanted to also try putting some more chocolate through it (ribbons were the goal) and I needed another way to up the fat content for my diet. So I melted together (double boiler style) the coconut oil and the bakers chocolate. Once melted I let this cool for a minute (so it didn't melt the ice cream) and drizzled it in and pulled it through with a fork.

The chocolate ribbons didn't happen, but instead had a happy accident, chocolate flakes throughout the ice cream. This was a result of using the coconut oil. For those that haven't worked with coconut oil, it is a solid at room temperature, it melts when heated but then solidifies pretty fast. When the chocolate with the oil hit the cold ice cream the chocolate solidified (think of those hard candy shell chocolates they dip cones into).

The result overall was amazing. The amount of chocolate was perfect. The sweetness was right on, the texture out of the ice cream maker was already of a loose hard ice cream. It was decadent to eat, but it meets all the rules, its healthy and I actually would prefer it over most store bought ice cream I have had. It certainly beat out DQ which is my normal cheat.

For anyone keeping track the calories for the ENTIRE BATCH batch (which should be about 6-8 serving sizes I would guess) is 672 calories, there are 71 g of carbs, 51 grams of fat and 10 g of protein. Assuming 6 servings that is 112 calories, 12 g of carbs, 9 g of fat, and 1.5 g of protein. If you are looking to up the protein (I know some of my readers are) you could easily add protein powder to the recipe! Either way, there is no way a store bought product could touch this on taste, health content or calories!!!!!!!!

Enjoy!