Edit: Stomach Bug Part Deux has struck. I'm not going to be posting any new recipes for St. Patty's Day, but I do have some older recipes that fit the theme that I will highlight.
A few days ago my fabulous mom brought me a clipping of several recipes from The Costco Connection. She said she thought I could adapt them. (She's so supportive!)
When I saw green ice cream my immediate thought was "St. Patrick's Day!" When I realized I didn't have some of the ingredients, the rusty cogs in my brain began to slowly turn. Out of laziness/lack of funds, a recipe is born! (again)
Why spinach? It's a great homemade food coloring. If you think spinach might be icky in ice cream, you can't really taste it. Think "green smoothie." It's the same thing only frozen. Why cashew cream? I could have done coconut milk, but I'm on a cashew kick. It's really just another nut milk, like almond milk.
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1-1/2 cups raw cashews
2 cups loosely packed fresh spinach leaves
5 cups crushed ice
1 Tbsp vanilla
1/4 cup maple syrup
4 Tbsp arrowroot powder
1/8 tsp stevia (pure powder)
Soak cashews in water for at least 4 hours. Place them in a food processor and blend until smooth. I stop frequently and scrape down the sides of the bowl. It usually takes 5 minutes or so. You can get a super smooth consistency with a high powered blender, but I don't have one of those. Put cashew paste in a separate bowl and set aside.
Place spinach and crushed ice into food processor and blend until smooth. Again, I stop and scrape down the sides so that the texture is even. Dump cashew paste and the rest of the ingredients in with spinach and ice. Process.
I had some gluten free carob wafers that turned out sub par, so I crumbled some on top of the ice cream. Chocolate shavings would also be nice or stir in some mini chocolate chips. You could substitute 1 tsp of peppermint extract for the 1 Tbsp of vanilla for healthy mint chocolate chip.
I promise you cannot taste the spinach unless you have superhuman taste buds! ;)
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| photo credit |
Note: I'm fairly certain I'm allergic to pistachios. Every time I eat them I get sick. I also have extreme fatigue, both of which, for me, is how I react to foods that I'm sensitive to. I haven't had a formal diagnosis, but it doesn't take a doctor for me to see that they don't agree with me.
When I ate some of this cashew based ice cream, I started exhibiting allergy symptoms. I checked it out on the internet and cashews and pistachios are related. What a bummer!
So my warning is that if you are allergic to pistachios there is a chance you are also allergic to cashews.
For some reason in my pictures the ice cream didn't look as green as it does in real life. I enhanced the photo so you could see how green it is. So the photo has been enhanced, but that is more true to the intensity of color. It's very green!
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