Homemade Ice Cream - Almond Joy

My son loves ice cream; I blame him for my pregnancy cravings that were not easily squelched without a few scoops a day. If only I had know then what I know now. Being dairy and sugar intolerant, I could have saved myself from a lot of digestive upset, energy depletion and unnecessary ingredients. If I had also known how easy it is to use a home ice cream maker I could have saved myself a trip to the store as well. Once my son was born, and my "cravings" had to come to an end I became a researcher for all things healthy. He inspired me with his perfect little body, to keep it that way...pure and clean. It's been a bit of a challenge "going against the grain", as I am not always supported by friends and even family, but I know in my heart that I'm doing the right thing and his health is worth the criticism I sometimes get. I truly believe that parents would not feed their children the things they do if they knew the ingredients in them, they have equal amounts of care and love, they simply don't know. How can they know when our culture has done such a great job disguising ingredients and keeping the truth about food unknown. Unless you research and dig deeper the truth about these ingredients remains fuzzy. This lead me to the truth about most ice creams out there and why you should make your own.  Here is the ice cream maker we use.

Most of the supermarket ice creams are made of modified milk products. Modified milk ingredients can be a number of things, but mainly are by-products of other dairy products which are cheap fillers. To top it off, many store bought ice creams contain massive amounts of sugar, artificial colors and flavorings, which can even include MSG. The list of yucky ingredients goes on.....which gets me back to why homemade is best. With all that said, you can find some qulaity ice creams out there, but it's such a rewarding experience to whip up your very own concoction, and kids LOVE this!!  Here is our latest flavor of the month.... We call it Almond Joy.

Chocolate Almond Joy:

• 1 can of coconut milk, we like Whole foods 365 label (not a lite version and not in a carton)
• 1/2 cup of almond butter
• 3 teaspoons cocoa powder (we love Green and Blacks Organic)
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/8 of a teaspoon of salt

Put all ingredients in your ice cream canister. Add Almond butter by dropping in small amounts at a time to avoid it all sticking together. Allow your machine to do the work for approximately 15- 20 minutes. If you prefer a harder ice cream put in freezer until desired consistency.  Enjoy!!!!