healthy ice cream recipes Archives - Raising Generation Nourished

Healthy Kids and Teens Occasional Treats Real Food 101 Real Food Tips

Dairy Free Pumpkin Ice Cream

September 3, 2023

You can still enjoy your favorite fall pumpkin spice flavors even if it’s scorching hot outside with this super rich and creamy dairy free pumpkin ice cream!

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Scorching hot September…

It may surprise some of you that aren’t from around here that it really does tend to be pretty hot around here in early fall! We are typically off to the first few weeks of school in shorts and tank tops, and absolutely still spend after school evenings and weekends at the beach with our toes in the sand!

Local pumpkin ice cream discovery…

The little beachy town ice cream stands around here have really figured out how to extend their seasonal revenue and take advantage of those warm summer temperatures that sneak into September. We were on the way home last week when the girls discovered the sign on one of these ice cream spots advertising pumpkin ice cream, and they just had to know what this could be! I wouldn’t have minded letting them try a bit, but they weren’t carrying a dairy free option, and we just don’t tolerate it well, so I told them we could easily make it at home. We set to it right away, and the result was…delicious!

Like frozen pumpkin pie!

If you were to blend up pumpkin pie into a milk shake, that would be a great description of this ice cream! At first taste, all 3 girls exclaimed, “It tastes like Thanksgiving!” We made the ice cream super creamy with full fat coconut milk and yogurt. The yogurt gives just a slight tang that really works with the flavors, and of course those signature pumpkin pie spice staples swirled throughout.

The Method :: Blend it up!

My dairy free ice cream method couldn’t be easier. In fact, I wrote an entire e-book this summer with 15 yummy ice cream recipes that can all be blended up in a blender! Simply dump all of the pumpkin ice cream ingredients into your blender and blend until super smooth.

The Method :: Churn it up!

Once your ice cream mixture is blended up, you can churn it in your ice cream maker. My ice cream maker takes a good 35 minutes to fully churn. From there, you can serve it “soft serve” style, or fully freeze it in a freezer safe container. By the way! That ice cream maker in the photo is a good decade old! I’ve had it a very long time and it makes a really great investment if you’re making ice cream during the summer to save money and also control the healthier ingredient choices.

Talk to me about those toppings!

I decided to top our pumpkin ice cream with dairy free whipped cream. You can whip your own coconut cream from a can with maple syrup, or I like to use the So Delicious brand coconut whip (you can find this at most grocery stores in the frozen section by the whipped cream)! I also ended up crumbling some gluten free graham crackers on top!

Freezer safe storage

When I was first starting to make my own ice cream, I used empty coconut oil containers to store ice cream, and that absolutely works! If you plan to make ice cream on the regular, it’s nice to have dedicated ice cream freezer storage. These cute quart rounds, and easy to scoop longer containers, not only keep the ice cream frozen well, preventing freezer burn, they will keep your freezer organized better…and they are super cute!

Print Recipe

Dairy Free Pumpkin Ice Cream

Author: Renee Kohley – Raising Generation Nourished

Ingredients

2 cups full fat coconut milk
1 cup full fat coconut yogurt or more coconut milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
3/4 cup coconut sugar or organic cane sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 – 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp sea salt

Instructions

Make sure that your ice cream maker bowl is completely frozen before starting your ice cream.
Blend all of the ingredients together until smooth. I use my high speed blender, but any blender should work.
Pour the ice cream mixture into your ice cream machine, and churn according to the manufacturer's instructions, until thick. My ice cream maker takes 35-40 minutes to do this.
Once the ice cream is churned, you can serve it "soft serve" style right out of the ice cream maker, or scoop it into a freezer safe container and freeze for at least 4 hours until hard.

Notes

I find scooping homemade ice cream much easier if you let the frozen container sit at room temperature for about 15 to 20 minutes before scooping.
These cute quart rounds, and easy to scoop longer containers, not only keep the ice cream frozen well, preventing freezer burn, they will keep your freezer organized better…and they are super cute!
If you love making this kind of easy homemade ice cream, you’ll love my e-book, Simple Homemade Ice Cream. It is filled with 15 recipes for homemade ice cream from classics like chocolate, mint chip, and butter pecan, to new twists like S’mores, cherry cheesecake, and sea salt caramel!

Did you love this easy homemade ice cream?!

Then you’ll love my e-book, Simple Homemade Ice Cream! It’s only $4.99 and is filled with 15 yummy dairy free ice cream recipes that are easy to make! There are classics like chocolate, butter pecan, and mint chocolate chip, as well as new spins on fun new flavors like sea salt caramel, cherry cheesecake, and s’mores!

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Healthy Kids and Teens Occasional Treats Products & Books We Love! Real Food 101 Real Food Tips

Simple Homemade Ice Cream :: An e-book for every family!

June 28, 2023

Use this simple, easy to follow Simple Homemade Ice Cream e-book to create 15 yummy ice cream recipes!

A new project for summer!

Ok, ok, I realize we are already at the end of June, but have you ever decided to create an e-book before the craziness that is May with kids in school?! Not my brightest moment, but I am super proud of this project, “Simple Homemade Ice Cream,” and cannot wait to hear about all the fun, yummy ice cream recipes you make this summer with the kids!

My first E-Book! “Simple Homemade Ice Cream”

Part of the “taking a long time” to get this done part happens to be because I’ve never made an e-book before! It is a whole different ballgame than my other published products, Nourished Beginnings, and The Little Lunchbox Cookbook. I can do the writing content part all day long…but the figuring out the technical, computer part of publishing?! I am happy to say I figured it out with some extra time, and I think it was worth all of the online tutorials, late nights and early mornings to bring this to you. You’re going to find 15 ice cream recipes in this e-book, some that are absolutely classic (like Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Butter Pecan, Rocky Road, Rich Chocolate, and Mint Chocolate Chip), as well as some new, fun twists (like S’mores Ice Cream, Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream, Triple Berry Ripple, Sea Salt Caramel, and Chocolate Covered Strawberry!). I’ve also included a recipe for how to make sorbet with any fruit you have on hand, as well as links included for my favorite ice cream recipe ingredients!

FAQ’s

DO I HAVE TO USE AN ICE CREAM MACHINE? Your ice cream will turn out creamier & fluffier using an ice cream machine with the recipes in this e-book, though you can technically blend it very well & freeze in a container without churning it. You will not have the same scoop-able texture though.
WHAT KIND OF MILK SHOULD I USE? My household is dairy free, so all of the recipes in this book are non-dairy! I prefer to use full fat coconut milk (this is my favorite coconut milk for cost effective, creamy ice cream!), but if you like oat milk, macadamia nut milk, or almond milk, those will work too. If you tolerate dairy, full fat milk or cream (raw if you can get that is best!) swap perfectly in all of the recipes.
HOW DO YOU SWEETEN ICE CREAM NATURALLY? Whenever I can at home, I try to date-sweeten our ice cream. Sweetening with fruit keeps the fiber up which naturally helps our blood sugar from spiking. I have found that doesn’t change the flavor for most ice creams, & dates are packed with minerals & vitamins too! If you do not have access to dates, maple syrup or raw honey work well too. Coconut sugar, maple sugar, & date sugar work as well, but keep in mind they will darken the color of your ice cream. You’ll notice organic cane sugar in some of the recipes, & if you stay away from sugar, you can swap the cane sugar for any of the natural choices above.
DO THE ICE CREAM RECIPES HAVE EGGS? If you are familiar with traditional methods for making ice cream, you’ll know that typically egg yolks are used to set the ice cream & also make it creamy. There is nothing wrong with eggs if you can tolerate them! This method usually involves cooking & tempering the eggs into the ice cream mixture – which also means cooling it off before churning. It’s a more time intensive process, & I have found that my blender methods & using full fat milks yield the same creamy ice cream in a more realistic time frame for busy families, as well as families that don’t tolerate eggs.

Tell me about your ice cream containers!

Ice cream containers have made ice cream making something I actually want to do on a weekly basis. Let’s face it, when you have to take up those precious storage containers in your stash for something other than leftovers, you tend to think twice! But super fun storage options like these cute quart rounds, and easy to scoop longer containers, not only keep the ice cream frozen well, preventing freezer burn, they will keep your freezer organized better…and they are super cute!

My endgame…

I created this little Simple Homemade Ice Cream recipe book for families looking to create beautiful summer memories with their kids, & who want to show them that ice cream doesn’t just have to come out of a carton from the store! I want to empower you, whether you are mom, dad, grandpa, or auntie, that you can take control of the ingredients coming into your home, even for something as simple as a special summer treat like ice cream! You’ll notice a very simple rhythm of ingredients as you work through making these recipes. In all reality, you’ll realize that just about any store-bought ice cream can be re-created. Take these recipes & run with them! If you have a favorite store-bought flavor that isn’t included here, find one in this book that is similar in technique, & make the swaps! My endgame is for you to show this generation of kids that we can both care about the ingredients we put in our body & have fun at the same time…because it’s ok to enjoy food & make some memories!

I need this e-book! How do I get it?!

We’re keeping it super simple here, friends. Because that is the season of life I’m in right now. Simply hop through this link and you can order through Amazon! That’s it! At just $4.99, I’m hoping everyone can start making ice cream this week!

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Healthy Kids and Teens Occasional Treats Real Food 101 Real Food Tips

Strawberry Banana Ice Cream :: Dairy Free & Fruit Sweetened – No Added Sugar!

June 11, 2022

This strawberry banana ice cream is all of the banana split flavors you love in one scoop! And this dairy free ice cream is only sweetened with whole fruit – no added sugar needed!

Strawberry Banana Ice Cream :: Dairy Free & Fruit Sweetened - No Added Sugar!

We. Made. It.

Just *look* at those faces, my friends! Those are the faces of the last day of school, and we are pumped about the next couple of months of beach sand between our toes, sunshine on our faces….and summer ice cream!

A fun, fresh ice cream for summer!

We are *oh so close* to our Michigan strawberry season, but when I made ice cream last week, we weren’t quite there yet. So when the girls asked for strawberry ice cream for the first days of summer, I decided to combine the few strawberries I had with banana. The result is a sweet, creamy ice cream bursting with the flavors of a banana split! So fun!

So let’s talk about sugar…

Last summer, I started playing around with the idea of date sweetened ice cream to avoid added sugar in our beloved ice cream on a hot day. My kids were shocked that the ice cream was only sweetened with fruit, and it became an almost weekly staple for a fun, frozen weekend treat. When we use whole fruit to sweeten where we can, we can avoid huge the dramatic blood sugar spikes that white sugar can cause. The fiber in the fruit slows the spike, and I’ve definitely noticed how much of a difference that makes – even compared to honey-sweetening. For this strawberry banana ice cream, adding a whole banana to the dates adds even more yummy, sweet flavor, and my kids were all over this!

Those beautiful red strawberries!

I can hardly wait for fresh summer strawberries, but for this batch, I used frozen. Both work great, so use what you have. I didn’t add any sugar to the strawberry sauce that gets swirled into the ice cream because the ice cream itself is plenty sweet. To get the strawberry sauce made, simply simmer with some lemon juice for about 10 minutes until it cooks down.

Homemade summer ice cream game changers!

Because let’s face it…the last thing you need is something fussy on your plate whilst managing the summer activities for the next 2 months! So let’s ditch the multi-step ice cream approach and toss it all the blender! This method makes an ice cream base in minutes, which makes the thought of making homemade ice cream much more tolerable, yes?!

The ice cream maker investment

I am not a huge fan of multiple kitchen appliances on my counter. For the most part, I’m quite minimalistic when it comes to my kitchen. But my ice cream maker?! I’ll always recommend this one for any real food kitchen, because homemade ice cream is an easy swap for store bought – and way more cost effective than any healthier options in the store. I’ve had my ice cream maker for about 10 years, and it still works great. I’d say I have about the middle of the road when it comes to ice cream makers – there are some that are less expensive, and definitely those that cost more.

The strawberry swirl method

Once your ice cream is churned, we need to get that pretty little strawberry ribbon in there! Just put half of your ice cream mixture into the bottom of your freezing container, and then spoon half of the strawberry sauce on top in little dots. Use a spoon to gently swirl the sauce, and then layer the rest of the ice cream on top. Spoon the rest of the strawberry sauce on the top, and swirl again. This ensures those yummy strawberries are in every bite!

Ice cream container options

You can freeze your ice cream in any empty container that you have! For years, I froze ice cream in empty coconut oil jugs. I liked using old loaf pans for easy scooping for a period of time too. If you make ice cream often, I think you would enjoy getting an ice cream container like these for easy storage.

Swaps and switches!

One question I think some might ask is how strong the banana flavor is. I would say with the 1 banana, the banana flavor is pleasantly mild. If you prefer a stronger banana flavor, adding another banana would definitely work. I would suggest making the ice cream base as is, and then tasting it once blended – you can always add another banana if you want. I also wanted to mention that if you want to use oat milk, cashew milk, macadamia nut milk, or almond milk, any of those will swap for the coconut milk fine. If you tolerate dairy, you can swap the non-dairy milk for whole milk or cream.