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Melissa McEwen
This blog is about the intersection between evolutionary biology and food. But also about practical applications, sustainable agriculture, and general tasty things. I originally started eating this way to heal from chronic health problems and...it worked!
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"Paleo" Ice Cream?
Yeah, it's my party and I get to be a dessert-making paleo deviant if I want to. For my birthday I decided to make some ice cream from The Ice Dream Cookbook. I first heard about this cookbook on The Healthy Cooking Coach, a blog by chef Rachel Albert-Matesz. Her husband Don writes another excellent blog called Primal Wisdom.
Yes, I know paleolithic humans didn't have ice cream, but sometimes we need to indulge. When I started doing paleo I tried a handful of paleo dessert recipes, with uniformly terrible results. It mostly involved dumping a bag of $12 nut flour in with some eggs and a pitiful amount of honey. The results were uniformly like insipid heavy omelettes. Maybe I just can't follow recipes to save my life. That coupled with the fact that I'm not exactly the best photographer in the world contribute to me posting relatively little on the subject.
But I tried Ice Dream and it's very good and while it might not be perfect, for those of us with non-paleo family and friends, it's better than serving up some Haagan Daaz. The basic idea is it's coconut milk made creamy and custardy with gelatin or agar and then sweetened with a variety of sweetener options coupled with stevia.
I hadn't liked stevia before this. Stevia, for the uninitiated, is a non-caloric sweetner made from the leaves of a shrub. It's sweet....but it also has a bit of a bitter aftertaste, especially to a super-taster like me. By itself, it tastes kind of horrible to me. But now that I've made some of the recipes from the Ice Dream cookbook I realize the secret it to pair it with small amounts of more delicious sweet things and other strong flavors. I've only made a few flavors from the book, but mango was one of the best. I couldn't taste the stevia at all.
The other sweeteners you pair stevia with are fruit, honey, maple syrup, or the less-preferable agave (because it's basically HFCS and has now been banished from the health foodie community). Yes, that does mean that there are carbs, but nearly half of commercial coconut milk ice creams and without nasty additives like carraggean.
A great thing about this dessert for me at least is that it's really satisfying. I didn't feel the need to eat much. It's sweet enough to be a birthday treat, but not too sweet.
You can try some of the recipes and see some luscious photos at Yasmeen Health Nut and Diet, Dessert, and Dogs.
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Ice Cream is the one food I
Ice Cream is the one food I really really miss. That ice cold creamy sugary fatty taste. God its good. So I understand.
You should try Coconut Bliss
You should try Coconut Bliss Ice cream, if they have it out there in NY. It is made in Oregon, so perhaps not. It is quite tasty, made with coconut milk, and agave syrup. My fav is the chocolate hazelnut. Not something for everyday, but a good rare treat, especially for b-days. It is EXTREMELY tasty, your non-paleo friends will enjoy it just as much! Though, yes, it may be a bit sweet for those who have cut out sweeteners, but not too bad.
While it is tasty and I used
While it is tasty and I used to buy it, it has both agave and carrageenan, which have some concerns. My homemade ice cream uses stevia, so it's not so damaging to your insulin levels, and gelatin, which is soothing and nourishing. If you have an ice cream maker, making your own is sooooooo much better for your health and tastebuds. If you don't have an ice cream maker...it's a great thing to have!
Happy Birthday, Melissa!
Happy Birthday, Melissa!
Happy Birthday! Thanks for
Happy Birthday! Thanks for stopping by my blog and encouraging me the other day! Yum, icecream! Sounds like a great birthday treat for sure. For me, for now I have to avoid anything sweet as I just know it would be too easy to start bingeing on the junk again until my taste buds are more used to enjoying healthier options! Keep up the good paleo work ;)
Frozen durian also makes good
Frozen durian also makes good ice 'cream'. Durian is quite sweet naturally (27 carbs/100 gm, kind of high but it has 5 gm fat/100gm as well.), with a custardy texture. I guess you could blend durian with coconut milk but its easier to just throw whole durian in the freezer and maybe drizzle some coconut milk over it. Very tasty.
Thanks so much for the link!
Thanks so much for the link! I think it's funny that we are pretty much on opposite ends of the eating spectrum (paleo vs anti-candida vegan), yet here we are both enjoying the same ice dream. ;)
I've actually come back round to agave after reading about the different brands and processing practises--some brands are NOT highly processed and filled with chemicals, and are still what I'd consider a "natural sweetener" comparable to maple syrup or Sucanat in terms of how good/bad it is for you. This article talks about the different types of processing and why, even though agave IS mostly fructose, it isn't necessarily bad for you.
happy birthday! That recipe
happy birthday!
That recipe sounds good. I made some ice cream by freezing bananas and blending them with a bit of coconut milk. Its amazingly good and it has the same texture as ice cream made with dairy.
Hey, don't hate on Haagen
Hey, don't hate on Haagen Dazs :) The simple flavors have just five ingredients; Milk, Cream, Sugar, Eggs, Flavoring.
Furthermore it has the highest fat/carb ratio of any ice cream I have found. About double what the coconut milk ice cream I found at whole foods had. And it tastes amazing and REAL.