05Aug

Vanilla Ice Cream recipe (dairy-free and sugar-free)

It’s summer and we all love ice cream, right?  The best dairy-free and sugar-free vanilla ice cream I’ve found is this one.  It is really delicious, both with the lavendar and without.  It is creamy and smooth and freezes well.  However, it is quite a bit of work so I don’t always feel like making it.  It also has eggs in it so for people who can’t eat eggs, it won’t work for them.

So I set out this past week with the goal to come up with a very easy vanilla ice cream.  While it’s not quite a creamy, it is still delicious and very vanilla-y.

GAPS note:  I did use canned coconut milk for this recipe and used Trader Joes’ brand which doesn’t have guar gum in it.  However, I still only use this at the most once a week because of the BPA in the cans.  This is the only canned good I still rely on besides sardines and fish at times.  For those of you who are staying away from all canned goods, you can try making this ice cream with your own homemade coconut milk.  There are a few recipes floating around but here one of mine:

Homemade Coconut Milk

Ingredients:
1     box “Let’s Do Organic” Creamed Coconut (you can find it in the baking section in health food stores in a small green box)
14   oz. filtered water

Steps:
1.  Bring 14 oz. of filtered water to a boil, then turn off heat.  Add the creamed coconut from the bag.  Stir until well combined.  You can use less or more water depending upon the consistency you want.  It will have the coconut meat in it so if you want a smoother coconut milk, put the creamed coconut through a strainer.

So now onto the Coconut Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe!  (Dairy-free, sugar-free and egg-free)

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04Aug

Traditional Foods cook-day and GAPS menu plan

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Sauerkraut

This week I had somewhat of a spontaneous “traditional foods cook day” for our family.  When I cook for clients as a personal chef, I call it a “cook day”, so this is where the term comes from.  It all came about when I decided to finally catch up on making sauerkraut and broth, both of which have been somewhat ignored since moving into our new house.

I also had to make tea for kombucha, our weekly yogurt and finish off packaging the soaked and dehydrated nuts I’d made over the weekend.  I had some time while Elijah slept so I got to work!

I have never made all my ferments and other traditional food items in this way – I usually just spread out making these type of foods over the week.  But it actually turned out really well and I got a lot done.

I ended up making the following:

  • Lacto-fermented Sauerkraut with carrots and caraway seeds (followed recipe in Nourishing Traditions without the whey and added grated carrots)
  • Chicken broth (let cook for almost 24 hours)
  • Kombucha
  • SCD/GAPS goat yogurt (we go through about 3-4 quarts of this a week so I make it about twice a week)
  • Soaked and dehydrated sunflower seeds, almonds and walnuts

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