(healthy) Ice cream

It never ceases to amaze me how popular the Thermomix has become.  It seems to be the “BBQ conversation” for both men and women.  Many more husbands are buying the Thermomix as a Christmas gift and lots more Mums want them before Christmas to help with the festive food.  Mmmmm Christmas cocktails 🙂  In future posts I’ll tell you about some great ideas for Christmas gifts made in this amazing little machine.

Personally, one of the things that I love most about using the Thermomix is that it makes it VERY easy to eat healthy food.  I’ve been on a low – no sugar eating plan for quite a while now which has meant that I have needed to find new ways of cooking certain things and using different ingredients to get a similar result.  I’m happy enough to go without something sweet but not everyone in our house feels the same 🙂

So when the temperature hit 33°C over the weekend I decided to make some ice cream.  But of course it needed to be healthy and most of all it had to taste good.  These are what I came up with.  While these may not be exactly the same as the store bought version (which is a GOOD thing) they turned out pretty good.

So when you need something healthy to cool down this summer true one of the three healthy ice cream recipes.

And if you need to convince your husband to buy you a Thermomix (before Christmas or) as a Christmas present, maybe promise that you’ll make him a mean cocktail once it is on the kitchen bench 🙂

(healthy) trio of ice cream – mango coconut and lime, choc banana, fruity berry soft serve (recipes adapted or created by Fiona at Food 4 Thought).

mango, coconut and lime ice cream – makes approximately 1 ½ cups
Ingredients
250g frozen mango (cut into 2cm cubes)
100g frozen coconut milk (frozen in ice cube trays)
1 teaspoon fresh lime juice

Preparation
Place all ingredients into TM bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 9.  Scrape around sides of bowl, and mix for 30 seconds on speed 5, or until creamy texture is achieved.

Serve immediately.

My tips: *You could add toasted coconut on top of this if you like. *This will freeze quite well.  You will just need to sit it on the bench for 10 – 20 minutes before you want to scoop into it.  *If you don’t have frozen coconut milk then just use it as a liquid.  If the ice cream isn’t thick enough then add a couple of ice cubes or a little extra mango.

taste: 7/10 From G and 8.5/10 from me.  I thought it was fresh and delicious.

choc banana ice cream – makes approximately 2 cups
Ingredients
300g frozen banana
1 tablespoon raw cacao (or less if you prefer)
30g (1 tablespoon) raw honey

Preparation
Place all ingredients into TM bowl and mix for 20 seconds on speed 9.  Scrape around sides of bowl, and mix for 30 seconds on speed 6, or until creamy texture is achieved.

Serve immediately.

My tips: *You could add nuts and/or shredded coconut and mix on reverse, speed 3 or 4 for a few seconds to combine. *This will freeze well.  It seems to freeze more like ice cream which means that you could make this a few hours ahead of time if you wanted to.  *You could also use organic cocoa as a substitute for the cacao if you prefer.

taste: 7.5/10 From G and 9/10 from me.  I love this ice cream.  I could taste all three ingredients and could have eaten the 2 cups myself!

fruity berry soft serve – makes approximately 4 cups (this is adapted from the Everyday Cookbook from Thermomix in Australia)
Ingredients
400g mixed frozen berries (or your favourite frozen berry)
50g raw honey
1 egg white

Preparation
Place the berries into TM bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 8.  Scrape around sides of bowl, add honey and mix for 30 seconds on speed 5.  Insert butterfly, add egg white and mix for 45 seconds on speed 4, or until a soft and fluffy consistency is achieved.

Serve immediately.

My tips: *You can use mango or peaches if you prefer. *This will freeze, however it does become solid and more “icy” than the other two recipes.  Leaving it on the bench before you want to eat it will allow it to soften slightly and some of the icy texture will disappear.  *If you don’t like the seeds of raspberries then use other berries.

taste: 7.5/10 From G and 7.5/10 from me.  This was nice but next time I’d use berries with no seeds :).

My overall tips: *I made these in the order of the recipes, which meant that I actually never rinsed the bowl.  I just made sure that I got everything out of the bowl by putting the speed dial onto closed lid position then pressing and holding the turbo button for a few seconds.  This will spray everything off the blade and onto the sides of the bowl so that you can scrape them away.  *Make these as a healthy kids snack.

ease: 9.5/10.  Ice cream has never been so easy and healthy.
prep time: 20 minutes.  From walking into the kitchen to walking out again.
cooking time: 0 minutes 
total: 20 minutes.

taste: 7.5/10  From G and 8.5/10 from me.  A great summer snack.

would I make it again:  Absolutely. Whenever we need that ice cream hit.  Bring on the sunshine so I can make these more often!