Deliciously Natural Recipes - Coconut Milk Ice Cream

Deliciously Natural Recipes (DNR) is a feature where I share some of my very own recipes & my modified version of different foods.  I use only  100% natural ingredients - NO additives, nothing artificial. The idea is to share simple, homemade recipes to help people make the switch and avoid ready-made alternatives that can be full of additives, harmful preservatives and artificial flavors, colours or sweeteners.

Today's drool-worthy recipe is Ice-Cream made with Coconut Milk!  It's easy, YUMMY & much healthier than most store-bought ice-cream!  That's due in large part to the the numerous health benefits of Coconut.  Coconut is filled to the brim with beneficial nutrients, GOOD fats (which are NEEDED to help your body get rid of BAD fats), and is heart & cholesterol healthy.  It helps your body resist viruses & bacteria - it has also been shown to positively affect blood-sugar levels & thyroid function!  Coconut is especially great for giving your metabolism a boost as well as helping your body absorb other nutrients better, therefore increasing your energy & well-being.


Alright, on to the fun stuff: you can made ''ice-cream'' with pure coconut milk, and trust me: this doesn't taste like a lesser substitute for actual ice-cream.  One bite of Coconut Milk Ice Cream will leave you drooling for more!  Preparation time is minimal and 1 hour in the freezer is all the time you'll have to wait to try it for yourself!!  Here's what you need:

• 3-4 cans of full-fat coconut milk
• honey or another natural sweetener like cane sugar, stevia or agave (regular brown or white sugar works too!)
• a whole vanilla bean or pure-natural vanilla extract
• 2 cups of raspberries -fresh or frozen (or strawberries, cherries, peaches...)
• 1 lemon or lime (a small wedge at least)

~*How to put it all together*~

1. In a large mixing bowl, pour in contents of cans of coconut milk (room temperature)
2. add sweetener of choice (about 3 tbsp of honey or 3 tbsp sugar or 1/4 tbsp stevia)
3. cut your lemon or lime in quarters and squeeze the juice out of 1/4 and add to the mix.
   *hint - both lime & lemon are yummy but I prefer the taste of Lime combined with Raspberries and Lemon with Strawberries*
4. mix well!
5. add raspberries (or other fruit of choice) whole, diced or pureed- depending on preference.  I usually crush them because while I enjoy pieces of fruit, I'm not a fan of big chunks!
6. If you're using an actual Vanilla Bean , you'll need to grind it or grate it or even throw it in the food processor...anything you can do to crush it up as fine as you can ( and if you've never tried this: you must, the flavor is a-mazing!)  
7. If you're using Pure Vanilla Extract - all you need to do is pour in about 1/2 a teaspoon!
8. mix well!
9.  Pour entire mix into a large Ziploc bag & put bag in freezer.
10. You will need to take out the mixture every 15 minutes (so 3x during the hour) to knead the bag - otherwise it will freeze in one large clump.
11. After 1-hour - remove contents from bag & enjoy!!

     As you probably could tell, there are tons of ways to personalize this recipe & make it your own.  You could make it a single serving-sized portion by only using 1-cup of coconut milk...you can sweeten it with any type of sweetener you prefer...AND you could always skip the fruit & add cocoa powder& maybe even some chocolate chips - for an especially decadent treat :)

And if you prefer just throwing it in the freezer and forgetting about it, you can always freeze the content in a Popsicletray and make Creamsicles *drool*.