I scream, you scream...

I've been trolling the internet for raw and sugar-free recipes recently and stumbled across several for raw ice cream.  As disgusting as that may sound, I've fiddled with the recipes to come up with a delicious concoction that is every bit as tasty and satisfying as regular ice cream.  I used nothing more than what you see above and I ended up with two pints of ice cream.  Keep in mind, my recipes are not exactly raw.  But they're still healthier than store-bought.  I promise, you'll never go back to regular ice cream again. 

Sugar-free Chocolate Ice Cream

1 cup cashews
1 cup rice milk
3/4 cup honey
1 apple
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa (unsweetened)
2 tblsp coconut (I like coconut.  If you don't like it, don't put it in because you can definitely taste it)

Put it all in your food processor (or blender) and mix. I got a new ice cream maker to try this out in ($20 from Target. It's small, but perfect for the three of us.), but I'm sure you could play with the recipe and come up with something that will work in a blender. Maybe add frozen fruit or ice?

We ate this one right out of the ice cream maker bowl, so the consistency was like soft serve.  Creamy, but not solid enough to scoop.  It was sweet and chocolatey and perfect to curb your cravings.  Between the two of us, we ate the entire batch.

Sugar-free Blueberry-Bannana Ice Cream

1 1/4 cup cashews
1 1/2 cup rice milk
3/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp grated cinnamon
1 cup blueberries
1 bananas

Again, just puree it all in your food pocessor and dump it into you ice cream maker.  Follow the instructions, and voila!  You have a creamy, delicious ice cream that is also healthy.  We made this one after the chocolate and were all ice creamed out, so we stuck it in the freezer.  Three hours later, it was frozen enough to make lovely, heaping scoops for our bowls.

There are other ingredients you can use in place of sugar. We tried dates with our first batch (I don't have any pictures, but it was strawberry), and while it tasted good and creamy, it was also quite grainy. We all ate it, but when we used apples instead of dates, the texture was much better.

Lily can't get enough of it.  And she loves helping me make it. 

While we were making some this morning, we were listening to music and Lily kept slapping her legs saying, "Stop that!"  When I asked her why, she said "because I don't want them to dance.  I'm making ice cream right now."  She always seems to make everything more fun, this girl of mine.
 
Next I am going to test out pureed dates to make healthier brownies.  Wish me luck.

Listening to Never Had Nobody Like You by M. Ward.  It features Zooey Deschanel, who I was surprised to find has an amazing singing voice.