simple strawberry ice cream (less than $2 a quart)

[For this week’s {MM}, go here.]

Thanks to those who commented on Friday’s post about blogging.

I realize most of my readers aren’t bloggers, so you probably don’t care about the discussion, but I think it’s a relevant topic even for non-bloggers as we are all affected by the shifting trends in online media.

The key questions we’ll have to answer & figure out in the coming years are: how do we pay for content on the internet?  Is there value in non-commercial work? Does commercializing something artistic devalue the end product (the content)?

I am interested to see how blogging will evolve, & what audiences (the readers) will do to influence those changes.

For the record, there are a few things I think I need to make sure are clear.

I hope every blogger who wants to make money, can & will make as much money as they want. Quality content takes time (& a lot more than you think), money (it costs me nearly $250 a year to pay for hosting, spam blocking, & domain name fees alone), talent, & effort. I certainly don’t expect everyone to work for free. As I said, in the post though, I hope “monetizing” a blog is not at the expense of worthwhile, thoughtful content.

Not every blogger needs/wants to make money, & some of the best blogs, though perhaps not the biggest, fit this category. One such blog is Rinse. Repeat. It’s one of those personal boutique blogs that 1) has beautiful images/layout  2) is well written 3) is authentic & heart felt, & is not “monetized.”

If in the future should I decide to have ads on my site (as I did at one point), or work with sponsors or companies, or start an Etsy shop (not likely in this lifetime, but who knows?) know that I do so with the utmost discretion. And that, when the day is done, I blog because I love it & I’m only here because of you, the reader.

Now then, on to the ice cream. 

Joseph is on a new schedule where he is working 6 days a week.

Monday through Friday he leaves for work at 7 am & gets home around 6.

On Saturdays he’ll now be working 8-5. How long this will last, no one knows. He works at the highest prosecuting Air Force Base in the world (currently) & they have a lot of work to get done. So this means, for the foreseeable future, Saturdays as catch up/family day are no longer.

At the end of the day on Saturday I told Joseph:

“Today wasn’t so bad. I mean it felt like any other day. The house is a mess & there are lots of things that need to get done before Sunday, but it’s okay, we’ll do it on Saturday.”

Except. It was Saturday. Oops.

I didn’t realize how important Saturdays are to our family. It’s the day we all work to get the house ultra-clean (or attempt to), play a little, go the library. Just decompress & regroup, get ready for Sunday.

Sundays are for church, for eating, resting, reading, & being together. I often fail, but I try to get my house in order so that Sundays are quiet, unhurried, restful.

So yesterday wasn’t quite what I wanted it to be. It was like trying to squeeze a Saturday & a Sunday into one, which doesn’t work as one might hope.

One consitency though, is Sunday dinner, followed by the ritual of Sunday dessert.

I can’t tell you how many times lately I hope to try a new recipe for Sunday dessert (I have waay too many desserts in the pinterest queue), but end up making ice cream instead.

Because, we have this adorable no-ice ice cream maker.
[They no longer really sell this on Amazon, but I think when this one dies, I’ll upgrade to this one which is bigger (& pretty).]

Which makes making ice cream one of the easiest, no-hassle, yummy, won’t-heat-up-the-kitchen kind of dessert.

Joseph bought it for me years ago for an anniversary I think, & for the first few years I didn’t touch it. Then one day as I was rummaging through cupboards I saw the dusty little thing & thought, “aw, it looks so sad. I really need to give it a chance.”

So I put it in the freezer for a day–that’s how these brilliant no-salt ice cream makers work–& made ice cream the next.

And I’ve realized, though you can totally make ice cream without an ice cream maker, if you use an automatic ice cream maker, it’s superduper easy (ice cream in 15-45 minutes depending on the recipe) & you determine the hardness. You want creamy soft-serve style ice cream, or harder, really cold ice cream, both are options with an auto icecream maker.

The best thing about this, is you can make your own non-dairy soft serve (which for the record, is nearly impossible to get anywhere) for less than $2 a quart.

Which means, our family of 6 can have soft-serve for about $.20 a serving.

Nice.


simple vegan strawberry ice cream

Total Time: 1 hour

Yield: 4 1/4 c.

Serving Size: 1/2 c.

Calories per serving: 140

Fat grams per serving: 5

vegan, dairy-free easy-to-make ice cream for automatic ice cream makers

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 c. frozen strawberries
  • 2 1/2 c. soy milk (or enough to make 4 c. total mixture)
  • 1/2 raw cashews
  • 2/3 c. - 1 c. sugar (refined or unrefined both work)
  • 1/2 tsp. xantham gum (optional, just adds smoother texture)

Instructions

  1. First, a few things. This recipe only takes 15 minutes, since I used frozen strawberries, but if you use fresh, you'll want to stick your cream mixture into the freezer for about an hour to chill. Also, a good icecream (that is not icy or too sweet) needs fat. Since the strawberries are low in fat & take up a good chunk of space in the mixture, you need to add a little fat. You get some with your soy milk, but I've found it helpful to add a handful of raw cashews to the mix. Raw cashews are pricey, & you might not always have them on hand, so you have 2 options: use coconut milk in place of the soy OR use more sugar. Sugar helps the icecream to gel. This is why "lowfat" ice creams tend to have a lot more sugar in it than regular. I think it's better to have a bit higher fat content than sugar content, but either works.
  2. If using cashews, place cashews in blender & add milk. Blend on high until smooth.
  3. Add strawberries & sweetener. Add more milk until you have 4 cups total in your blender.
  4. Blend on high (I used whole juice option on my Blendtec) until smooth.
  5. If using frozen strawberries, your mixture is ready to go!
  6. If using fresh strawberries: put in freezer for about an hour before mixing in maker.
  7. Pour in automatic ice cream maker & turn on. Ice cream should be hard in about 15 minutes if you're using frozen strawberries, & 30 minutes if you're using fresh. The harder you want the ice cream, the longer you'll let it mix.
  8. Store in freezer until ready to eat. (I keep it in the bowl, since we eat it all in one sitting!) Homemade icecream is best eaten when fresh, but will keep for a day or two. After that, it starts tasting a bit stale, icy--just not as good. So eat it up while it's cold!

Additional Nutritional Info: 19 g sugar, 3.5 g protein, 22 g carbs, 1 g fiber