Make Raw Vegan Gelato In MinutesWith Yonanas Elite, Nothing But Fruit!

Raw vegan cherry banana gelato.

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Creamy Frozen Dessert
Would you believe that you can eat a frozen dessert with the creaminess of gelato and the calories and healthfulness of raw fruit? No, this isn't an April fools joke. I just bought a new kitchen toy that allows me to do just that! It's called Yonanas Elite. It couldn't be easier. 

Basically, you freeze fruit and run it through this machine. The creamy texture comes from perfectly ripened bananas and you add other fruits, etc. to give it different flavors and textures. You can even make desserts healthy enough to enjoy during a raw food cleanse!

Yonanas Elite

Recipes
The machine comes with a recipe book with lots of fun ideas. The combinations are endless and you will no doubt be creating some of your own using your favorite fruits. For convenience, you can buy a lot of different frozen fruits, like pitted cherries, mangos, strawberries, raspberries, etc. in the supermarket.

You can also make sorbets with frozen berries, oranges, pineapples, cantaloup, watermelon, apples and more. It's all in the recipe book and it couldn't be easier!

I think my favorite combination so far is bananas and cherries with walnut pieces and a few dark chocolate chips stirred in at the end.

One of the recipes in the book is green tea ice cream where you simply sprinkle matcha green tea on frozen bananas and then run them through the shoot. 

Making matcha green tea frozen dessert

Make a Raw Vegan Pie
This machine makes the perfect filling for a raw vegan ice cream pie. Just make a pie crust with Raw Vegan Dessert Helper and fill it with the frozen dessert of your choice. Put it in the freezer for at least 4 hours and take out to thaw for 20 minutes before serving.

Raw crust from nuts, coconut, dates, raisins and cinnamon.

I'm excited about trying more of the recipes in their book and creating some of my own. If you come up with some winning combinations, please share by leaving a comment on the blog. Thanks and enjoy!

Watch videos on the Yonanas website for more instruction on how to use this machine.

Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Pecan Ice Cream - Made With So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer

So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer gives this vegan ice cream an incredibly creamy texture!

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Vegan Ice Cream
I typically just use unsweetened soy milk to make a healthful frozen dessert ( see my Mango Peach and Strawberry ice cream recipes) but since the holidays are here, I stepped it up a notch and added some coconut milk creamer for my pumpkin pecan ice cream. Coconut creamer is fat free but does add some calories. However, it makes a big difference in the texture and creaminess of the ice cream. Even so, this dessert weighs in at less than 100 calories per serving with less than 1/3 a gram of saturated fat! 
This ice cream has all the flavors of autumn and winter and makes a perfect topping for holiday pies or a slice of ginger spice cake. 

So Delicious French Vanilla coconut milk creamer is non GMO, vegan and gluten free! 

Texas Pecans are the Best
During my many years living in Texas, I developed a love for the wonderful pecans grown there. I'm not the only one who feels that way. Luther Burbank, the world famous horticulturist, was quoted in 1908 as saying, " If I were a young man, I would go to Texas, knowing as I do the possibilities of the pecan industry and devote my life in propagating new species of the pecan and doing the same work there in nut culture as I have done here in other lines of horticulture. Your pecan is superior to our walnut and you are standing in your own light - why not develop it?"

Pecans make a perfect addition to pumpkin ice cream.

Pumpkin Pecan Ice Cream 
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 8 servings]


1 cup So Delicious French vanilla coconut milk creamer
1 cup unsweetened gluten free soy milk
1 large banana
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 packets stevia, or to taste
1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped raw Texas pecans


Place coconut creamer, soy milk, banana, pumpkin, pumpkin pie spice and stevia in a blender and blend until smooth. 
Add mixture to an ice cream maker and process according to directions.
Add pecans to the ice cream maker during the last few minutes of processing.
Serve immediately.


Per serving (with 1/4 cup pecans): 97.7 calories, 3.1 g fat, 0.3 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 1.7 g protein,15 g carbohydrates, 1.7 g dietary fiber and 12.5 mg sodium.


Per serving (with 1/2 cup pecans): 121.2 calories, 5.5. g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2 g protein, 15.4 g carbohydrates, 2.1 g dietary fiber and 12.5 mg sodium.

Trader Joe's Vegan Mochi - Delicious, Dairy Free And Discontinued!

I Finally Found Dairy Free Mochi But Not For Long!

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Mochi, One of my Favorite Desserts!
I'm not sure when I discovered mochi, that little Japanese ice cream dessert covered with a dough-like, rice based, shell. But it was love at first bite. I especially like the doughy texture of the mochi and the frozen, creamy fillings with flavors like green tea, strawberry and mango. But when I became lactose intolerant and stopped eating dairy ice cream, this was one of the things I missed the most.


The Exciting Text Message
One night I received a text message from my daughter telling me that she discovered a delicious dairy-free  mochi at Trader Joe's. "It's amazing", she said. "You've got to get some!" So the next day, off I went in search of this vegan treat filled with 3 flavors of coconut milk ice cream. 


The Last 2 Boxes
At first I couldn't find it but hidden in the back of the ice cream case were the last 2 boxes of vegan mochi. I couldn't wait to get it home - actually I almost ripped open the box in the store but I contained myself!

Dairy-free mochi comes with 6 per box in 3 flavors:
mango, coconut and chocolate.

Not exactly low in calories but if you can eat just one they are:
130 calories, 4 g fat, 3.5 g saturated fat and 23 g of carbs.

But are they Gluten Free?
Before introducing this product on my blog, I wanted to check if it was gluten free. It's not always that easy to determine since there are ingredients such as "emulsifiers and stabilizers". So I sent Trader Joe's an email asking them if it was gluten free. Their answer was basically, "We always fully disclose all ingredients used in all our Trader Joe's labeled products. Therefore we encourage all of our customers who follow a special diet or that have allergen concerns to always read over all of our product labels carefully". Well, telling me to read the label wasn't very helpful. So, basically, I would say be very careful because unless a manufacturer checks to see if the emulsifiers and stabilizers are gluten free, there could be a problem for those of you with an allergy or intolerance to gluten. But for those vegans not concerned about gluten who are looking for mochi, this product fills the bill.


But Are They Good?
They are a bit different than the ones you find Japanese restaurants but they were quite delicious. My favorite was the chocolate, second favorite was the coconut and the mango came in 3rd place for me - but still good. I read some reviews on-line and most vegans adored the product but some didn't like the dough-like coating.


The Bad News
At the end of the email that told me to read the label, Trader Joe's informed me that this product has been discontinued in their stores due to slow sales! Since it didn't meet a "minimum sales volume", it will be discontinued so that they can sell things that sell better. However, they said if there was enough "outcry" to bring it back, they might reconsider.


Write Trader Joe's
So if this is a product you would like Trader Joe's to continue selling, fill out this little form. You may be able to still find a few boxes of this at your local Trader Joe's. If so, scoop them up!

Raw Vegan Blackberry Ice Cream On Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

Served with sliced bananas for a raw banana split or with a slice of this simple chocolate cake, raw blackberry ice cream is a perfect  summer dessert!

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More Raw Ice Cream!
I know I just posted Mango Macadamia Nut ice cream a few weeks ago but hey, it's summer! I can eat ice cream every day, especially when it's full of fresh fruit and raw, heart heathy nuts! 
My last post, Blackberry Lemon Ginger muffins featured the neighbors blackberries that are growing through my back fence. Well, there are plenty of blackberries left so this time I'll be using them to make raw ice cream.


Strain the Blackberries First
If you've ever thrown blackberries in your smoothie, even if you have a Vitamix blender, you'll notice the distasteful chopped up seeds in your mouth. There's no way around it - to get a nice smooth ice cream (or even smoothie), you need to strain the blackberries first. This gives you a beautiful and intense flavor. It takes a bit of patience, but it's worth it. So please, don't skip this step!

First blend the blackberries with a little water and strain.
Straining blackberries takes patience but don't skip this step!

Vegan and Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
I'm still trying to perfect my gluten free baking so today I'm sharing a very simple recipe for chocolate cake I developed using Bob's Red Mill gluten free all purpose flour. The recipe is relatively low in sugar and uses apple sauce to cut down the amount of oil to only 1/4 cup. Each slice is less than 150 calories!

Each slice is only 134 calories!

Blackberry Ice Cream
Raw Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 8 servings]
2 cups fresh blackberries, cleaned
1 cup water
2 ounces raw cashews, (1/2 cup), soaked 6 hours and rinsed
3 Medjool dates, soaked 6 hours in 1 cup water (SAVE soak water)
1 large ripe banana, peeled 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract *
* vanilla extract is usually gluten free but if you are on a gluten restricted diet, check label.


Place blackberries and 1 cup water in a Vitamix or other high speed blender and blend until smooth.
Strain blackberries through a strainer pushing pulp through with the back of a spoon. Rinse blender.
Place cashews in the blender with dates and their soak water and process until smooth and milky.
Add blackberry pulp, banana and vanilla extract and process until very smooth. (I added a packet of stevia to mine to give it a touch more sweetness but this isn't necessary).
You can refrigerate this mixture until needed later in the day or the next day.
Place mixture in a 1 1/2 or 2 quart ice cream maker and process according to instructions.
Serve immediately. Place unused ice cream in individual scoops onto a cookie sheet or plate and freeze. Once frozen, place scoops in a plastic container and put back in freezer until needed. You may have to defrost slightly to get them off the cookie sheet or plate. (This process makes serving the leftover ice cream easier as low fat ice cream freezes very hard and is difficult to serve). Leftover ice cream scoops make a lovely addition to your morning smoothie!


Per serving: 94.1 calories, 3.3 g fat, 0.5 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 1.9 g protein, 16.6 g carbohydrates and 1.5 g dietary fiber.


Simple Chocolate Cake
Vegan, Gluten Free
[makes 12 servings]
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
3 tablespoons water
1 1/2 cups gluten free all purpose flour *
3/4 teaspoons xanthan gum *
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup organic cane sugar or Sucanat
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)


* If you do not want to make the cake gluten free, replace gluten free flour with white whole wheat flour and eliminate the xanthan gum.


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cut wax paper to fit the bottom of an 8 inch cake pan. Place in the bottom and grease the sides of the pan with Earth Balance vegan buttery spread or olive oil. Set aside.
Make a flax egg by combining ground flaxseeds and water in a small bowl or cup. Beat with a fork until the mixture becomes gooey. Set aside.
Combine flour, xanthan gum, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl and mix well.
In a medium bowl, mix the soy milk with the sugar, vanilla extract, apple sauce, olive oil and flax egg. Mix with a hand beater or a fork until thoroughly combined.
Add mixture to the dry ingredients and beat again until well blended.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 23 to 25 minutes or until you can insert a toothpick in the middle and it comes out clean.
Remove from oven and cool in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes.
Turn the cake onto the rack, gently removing the wax paper from the bottom. Turn the cake back over so it is cooling face side up. Set aside until cool or serve slightly warm.
Dust with powdered sugar if desired.


Per serving: 133.8 calories, 5.8 g fat, 0.7 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2.3 g protein, 21.6 g carbohydrates and 2.7 g dietary fiber.

Raw Vegan, Gluten Free, Mango Macadamia Nut Ice Cream Sweetened With Dates

Making your own ice cream is easy and fun.
Most of all, it allows you to control the ingredients!

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One of my Favorite Kitchen Toys!
Last summer we bought a 2 quart Cuisinart ice cream maker and we've been using it ever since! Basically you just blend up a smoothie, throw it in the ice cream maker and around 25 minutes later you have ice cream! This is especially nice when you have lots of extra ripe fruit. For a little more info on the Cusinart and some very low calorie recipes, check out  Vegan Mango Peach and Strawberry Ice Cream.


Knowing What's in your Food
The best thing about making your own ice cream is knowing EXACTLY what's in it. Especially for those of you who are on a gluten free diet, you know that gluten lurks in additives like food coloring and thickening agents. So today we are going to make a raw, vegan ice cream that is simply made up of nuts and fruit. 


Mango Macadamia Nut Ice Cream
Raw Vegan,Gluten Free
[makes 8 servings]
2 ounces raw cashews (1/2 cup), soaked for 6 hours and rinsed 
3 Medjool dates, pitted and soaked in 2 cups water 1 or more hours (save water)
1/2 teaspoon gluten free almond extract (optional)
2 cups mango, peeled and sliced (about 2 mangos*)
1 medium banana, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup raw macadamia nuts, slightly crushed.
* I like to use Manilla mangos when you can find them but other mangos are fine.


Rinse cashews and place them in a Vitamix or other high speed blender with the dates, all of their soak water and almond extract. Process until mixture looks like milk.
Add mango and banana and blend until smooth.
Add mixture to a 2 quart ice cream maker and process, according to instructions. 
To crush macadamia nuts, place them in a plastic freezer bag and gently crush with a mallet until each nut breaks into about 4 pieces.
Add macadamia nuts to the ice cream machine during the last few minutes of processing.
Serve immediately.


Per serving: 163.5 calories, 9.4 g fat, 1.5 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2.3 g protein, 20.6 g carbohydrates and 2.9 g dietary fiber. 

Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream - Low In Sugar And Fat

Place hazelnuts in plastic bag and crush with side of mallet.

Freeze individual scoops of left over ice cream on cookie sheet.

Store individual frozen scoops in tupperware.

A Heart Healthy Dessert

We've already heard that dark chocolate benefits the heart by lowering blood pressure and reducing LDL cholesterol. It also tastes great and can even act as an anti-depressant. (How can you be depressed after eating chocolate?)

Hazelnuts, rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, also contributes to a healthy heart. Studies show that eating a daily dose of these delicious nuts, also known as filberts, can also reduce the risk of coronary artery disease.

And let's not forget the benefits of soy milk.The FDA recommends 25 grams of soy protein a day to reduce the risk of heart disease. (Always use organic, non-GMO soy products).

Put them all together and you've not only got a delicious dessert, but one that you can feel good about serving to your family.

Check out my recipes for Vegan Mango Peach and Strawberry Ice Cream.

Compare to Ciao Bella Hazelnut Gelato

Obviously I'm not saying that this healthy vegan ice cream is as rich tasting as a commercial gelato, but if you avoid dairy and are conscious of your weight and health, this is a good alternative. This recipe has less than 40% the calories, one fourth the fat and one half the carbs and sugar as Ciao Bella Hazelnut Gelato. It also has very little saturated fat and absolutely no cholesterol where Ciao Bella has 8 g of saturated fat and 45 mg of cholesterol per serving.

Tips for Storing Left-over Dairy Free Ice Cream

After making home made dairy free ice cream, serving is a breeze. But if you store it until the next day, it gets quite hard and is difficult to serve. I discovered a way to get around this. Scoop the left over ice cream onto a cookie sheet and freeze the individual servings. Then after a few hours, transfer the frozen scoops into a tupperware container. The next day, place one or two frozen scoops in a bowl, wait until they thaw slightly and enjoy!

***

Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream

[makes 6 servings]

2 cups chocolate organic, non-GMO soymilk

1 teaspoon raw cacao or unsweetened cocoa

8 drops liquid stevia or to taste*

1 medium banana, peeled and cut into 4 pieces

1/4 cup raw hazelnuts, crushed

* you can substitute 2 to 4 soaked dates or several tablespoons of agave nectar for the stevia

You'll need an ice cream maker for this recipe.

Mix the soy milk with the cocoa, stevia (or other sweetener) and the banana in a high speed blender until smooth.Add to the ice cream maker and process until frozen. Crush the hazelnuts by placing them in a plastic bag and gently beating them with the side of a mallet. Put into the ice cream maker one minute before it's finished so they get well mixed into the ice cream. Serve immediately.

Per serving: 91.6 calories, 4 g fat, 0.4 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 2.6 g protein, 12.5 g carbohydrates, 8.9 g sugar and 1.7 g of fiber.

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Make Healthy, Dairy Free Ice Cream In Less Than 30 Minutes - Vegan Mango Peach And Strawberry Ice Cream Recipes

Vegan strawberry ice cream

Cuisinart ice cream maker

The ice cream is sweetened by a few dates soaked in milk.

The ice cream maker is filled with the mango-peach mixture.

Vegan mango peach ice cream

Delicious Dairy Free Ice Cream

I just bought a Cuisinart ICE-30BC 2 quart ice cream maker. I can't eat dairy so I thought I'd buy some equipment to help me make some healthful, dairy free ice cream. Well, it turned out to be the best $68 I ever spent! When I looked at the recipes that came with the machine I started to wonder if it was possible to make a tasty frozen dessert without the cream and the sugar but after experimenting a bit and trying some tricks passed on to me from my friend Bernadette, I quickly came up with a few delicious recipes.

Healthful Ice Cream

Most ice cream is loaded with cream, sugar, corn syrup, egg yolks and some even have artificial coloring.

Along with that come calories, saturated fat, cholesterol and tons of carbs. I won't try to convince you that Haagen-Dazs or Ben and Jerry's taste bad. We all know how easy that finely tuned combination of fat and sugar goes down. But wouldn't you rather be able to eat something that delicious without the guilt? OK, maybe you don't have any guilt. Let me phrase it another way. Wouldn't you feel good about serving a delicious ice cream to your family knowing that it's as healthful as a bowl of fruit and a glass of dairy free milk? And if you are vegan or lactose intolerant, wouldn't it be nice to be able to enjoy ice cream again?

Vegetarian, Vegan and Raw Vegan Options for Making Healthful Ice Cream

These two recipes use unsweetened soy milk as a base. But you have many options. Just experiment using healthful ingredients that you enjoy the most. For example:

* For other vegan options, try almond, rice, coconut or hemp milk instead of soy milk.

* For a raw vegan dessert, use a raw nut milk like Raw, Fortified Almond Milk in place of the soy milk. You could also use macadamia nuts, brazil nuts, cashews or other raw nuts.

* If you eat dairy and just want a healthier ice cream, use 2% organic milk or plain yogurt or kefir instead of soy milk.

Strawberry Ice Cream

Ben and Jerry's strawberry ice cream has 230 calories, 13 grams of fat (9 grams of which are saturated), 65 mg of cholesterol, 26 grams of carbohydrates and 25 grams of sugar per serving. This recipe has one third the calories, one tenth the fat (almost none of which is saturated), zero cholesterol and almost half the carbs and sugar. The sugar content comes from fruit, not refined sugar or corn syrup! The creamy texture comes from the added banana. The fresh fruit gives the added benefit of 2.4 grams of fiber per serving.

Mango Ice Cream

Haagen-Dazs mango ice cream has 250 calories, 14 grams of fat (8 of which are saturated), 85 mg of cholesterol (from cream and egg yolks), 28 grams of carbohydrates and 27 grams of sugar (from refined sugar and corn syrup). This recipe is less than one third the calories, only 1.3 grams of fat (only 0.2 grams of which is saturated), zero cholesterol, and less than half the carbs and sugar. The creamy texture in this recipe is from the mango. This recipe also provides two and a half grams of fiber.

Best the Same Day

Because of the low fat content, this ice cream tends to freeze pretty hard so it's best to serve it as soon as you make it. But it's not much of a concern since you probably won't have much left over. If you do have left over ice cream, put it in the freezer. Check out my technique of freezing left over ice cream in my Vegan Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream post.

Add a Shot of Omega 3 Fatty Acids

If you are trying to get more omega 3 fatty acids in your diet, add 2 tablespoons of flax oil to the mixture at the same time you add the fruit to the blender. It doesn't affect the taste at all and you get a whopping 1.8 grams of ALA Omega 3 fatty acid to each serving! Can this delicious dessert get much healthier??

***

Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream

[makes 8 servings]

3 pitted Medjool dates (soaked in soy milk below)

2 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk, or other milk

2 cups strawberries, cleaned and cut in half

1 medium banana, peeled and cut into 4 pieces (about 1 cup)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

An hour or more before making the ice cream, soak the pitted dates in the soy milk. Keep refrigerated.

In a high speed blender, blend the dates and the soy milk until smooth. Add the strawberries, banana and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth. Add to the ice cream maker and process until frozen. Serve immediately. This takes around 25 minutes. To cut down the time you can freeze the fruit before blending.

Per serving: 73 calories, 1.3 g fat, 0.2 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 2.6 g protein, 14.6 g carbohydrates and 2.5 g of fiber.

***

Vegan Mango Peach Ice Cream

[makes 8 servings]

3 pitted Medjool dates (soaked in soy milk below)

2 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk, or other milk

2 peaches, peeled and sliced (about 2 cups)

1 large mango, peeled and sliced

An hour or more before making the ice cream, soak the pitted dates in the soy milk. Keep refrigerated.

In a high speed blender, blend the dates and the soy milk until smooth. Add the peaches and mango. Blend until smooth. Add to the ice cream maker and process until frozen. Serve immediately. This takes around 25 minutes. To cut down the time you can freeze the fruit before blending.

Per serving: 78.5 calories, 1.4 g fat, 0.2 g saturated fat, 0 g cholesterol, 2.6 g protein, 16.1 g carbohydrates and 2.4 g of fiber.

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