Allergy friendly, Dairy Free Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and Hot fudge Sauce

This is a basic coconut ice cream recipe I adapted from a chocolate coconut recipe. We've found that canned coconut milk is remarkably versatile. I was surprised that the coconut flavor adapts so easily to so many other flavors without an overwhelming coconut flavor. We had ice cream very similar to this in Thailand -- they made it fresh on the boardwalk and then scooped out a fresh coconut and served it in the shell with the shavings! It's super easy ice cream and once you get hooked on it, you'll want to have some on hand all the time! I've even converted Bryan, who can have regular ice cream. He actually prefers this now! Store it in a microwaveable container -- it does freeze harder than dairy ice cream so I zap it in the microwave for a minute or let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes or so until it's soft enough to scoop. Oh, and a word of warning. DON'T eat it as soft serve right after you make it. If you're a fan of soft serve, you can eat a gallon without trying...Coconut milk is easy to come by. Even here in Gillette any grocery store or even Wal-mart carries it. Usually you can find it in the ethnic food section by Chinese/Thai food.

To top it, here's my dairy free, corn free chocolate fudge sauce recipe. It stores great in the fridge. If you have any left.

Vanilla Bean Coconut Milk Ice Cream (Dairy-free, egg-free, corn-free, soy-free)

3 cans unsweetened canned coconut milk (I use 2 cans regular and 1 can lite)

1 c sugar (or about 6 T agave)

1 vanilla bean

3-4T vanilla

Scrape vanilla bean and add with pod to 1 can coconut milk. Cook over med. heat for 5-10 minutes. Chill. Combine remaining ingredients in blender and blend. Pour all into ice cream maker and follow manufacturer's instructions for freezing. Serve soft serve or freeze as desired.

*Note: Blue Bunny ice cream has great reusable containers! Find a friend who buys it and steal their containers! Or ask me...I have extras!

Allergy Friendly Fudge Sauce

2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate (or 6 T cocoa powder plus 2 T coconut oil)

1 c rice, coconut, almond or other milk

3/4 c sugar

2 T. brown rice syrup or sugar syrup (see my cinnamon roll recipe or corn syrup if you can...)

3/4 tsp vanilla

Combine chocolate and milk. Heat to boiling over low heat, stirring constantly (especially as it heats up). Cook, stirring, until mixture is smooth and blended. Add sugar and syrup. Increase heat to medium until boiling. Continue boiling without stirring until sauce reaches 220 on a candy thermometer or soft-ball stage. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Store in sealed container in refrigerator. Sauce will thicken as it cools -- serve hot or cold.

Variations:
We've tried several various variations on this.  These are our favorites!  P.S  I can not for the life of me remember where the original that we worked with came from.  I know it was a chocolate coconut milk ice cream...if I remember, I'll post it, but it's been so long I have no idea...

Pumpkin Pie ice cream:
1 recipe Vanilla Bean minus the vanilla bean addition

Add:
3/4 a large can pumpkin
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Serve with crushed graham crackers and/or the fudge sauce (above).

Raspberry Rum:
1 recipe Vanilla Bean minus bean and sub out vanilla for rum extract (or get brave and add rum!)
1 1/2 c frozen raspberry crumbles (or just crumble them yourself)

Tropical:
1 recipe Vanilla Bean minus bean and sub out vanilla for rum extract
1 can (not the small ones) crushed pineapple, drained
1 c frozen shopped mango (partially thaw and chop smaller if desired, or add it to the blender)

Mint Chocolate Chip:
1 recipe Vanilla Bean minus bean and sub out vanilla for peppermint 1 T mint (or to taste)
Add chocolate flaked off a Lindt 80% or higher bar for a soy free version, or mini chips if soy is tolerated.  Add green food coloring if desired.
May also be made with the chocolate base for Double chocolate mint.

Dairy free Egg free Corn free nothing but gooey goodness Caramel Cinnamon Rolls

So, I've been working on this recipe for a while. It's getting pretty close now. Since making a basic glaze for cinnamon rolls was proving, well, not very tasty, I decided maybe caramel was the way to go. The big problem? Caramel has dairy and corn as it's main ingredients. The big challenge was to change that AND still have it taste like caramel. These have gone over pretty good! : ) Since today is like -25 cinnamon rolls seem like the way to go, so I made some promises to people to post this so they could spend the day covered in sugar and yeast too! Special thanks to my friend Christy for coming up with the basic roll recipe that I've used -- it was the perfect base!

Jessica's Caramel Cinnamon Rolls

2 c water

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c olive oil

1 tsp salt

6 c flour

2 T yeast

Additional olive oil (a couple tablespoons...)

about 1/2 c sugar and 3-4 T cinnamon

Halved pecans if desired

Combine 4 c flour and yeast in large bowl (or kitchen aid bowl). In large microwave safe bowl add water, sugar, oil and salt. Microwave until sugar is dissolved and water is warm (I use the "finger test" -- if you can keep your finger in the water 10 sec, it's the right temp. If you can't, it needs to cool.) Add to flour and mix well until completely combined. Add remaining flour and mix to form a soft dough (dough should clean sides of bowl -- if it is too sticky add a 1/2 c more flour). Oil bowl with a little olive oil and let rise, covered, in warm place (I heat the oven on the lowest temp and then turn it off and put it in there) til double -- 30-45 min. Meanwhile, make caramel.

Caramel (I've started doubling it and like it a lot more!)

1/4 c coconut oil

1 T rice syrup (or corn syrup or other sugar syrup -- I'll post one I found, but haven't tried yet)

1/2 c packed brown sugar

1 T coconut cream (I skim the top thick layer off of regular canned coconut milk)

Bring to a boil. Boil about 1 min. Remove from heat. Pour into a 12x18, greased pan or 2 9x13 greased pans.

Roll dough out into a rectangle, roughly 18x20ish. (This is what happens when I make stuff up...). Brush with olive oil (you don't want it dripping, just a coating). Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar (if you want, normal people mix the cinnamon and sugar together first...I literally have never measured this part. I just use the "sprinkle" side of my cinnamon jar and put a layer, than sprinkle a generous layer of sugar on top of that. I'm guessing on the amounts I've given. Feel free to add more or less as needed! Roll up jellyroll style. Cut into roughly 1 inch thick discs and set into caramel in pan. (for pecan caramel rolls, sprinkle in pecans before setting dough in). Preheat oven to 375. Let rise in warm place until roughly doubled in size. Bake at 375 for 20 min or until just beginning to turn golden brown (to keep them soft, do not let them get crispy brown). Remove from oven and immediately invert over a cookie sheet to let all the caramel goodness ooze down the sides. Try not to eat them in the first 5 minutes -- you'll burn your fingers. Highly recommend adding a cup of coffee while you wait for them to cool enough to eat...

Now, I have played around with other oils in the caramel, but eh...the coconut oil is, a)way healthier and b)adds a flavor that makes people really confused when you tell them there is no butter...I think the most common question is "how do you get them so buttery then?". Same with the coconut cream. Regular cream would obviously work (if you can have dairy...). I would imagine 1 T of any milk would work, though not quite as rich of a taste. I plan on making these myself today, so I'll add a picture later on...I think I'll play around with making some wheat free too.

If you don't have rice syrup, you could substitute 100% maple syrup, agave nectar or the sugar syrup below...

2 c sugar

3/4 c water

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Bring to boil and cook to softball stage. Cool -- stores at room temp up to 2 months.

Fish Taco Recipe

I think one of the most common comments we hear from people when we mention are allergies, is something along the lines of, "So...what do you eat?" It's true, our choices can sometimes seem rather limiting! But last night, enjoying chocolate cake with vanilla bean coconut ice cream, we hardly felt deprived! I've decided to make a point of posting some of our favorite foods, so you can all stop feeling sorry for us!
For most mornings I eat very simple -- a handful of dried apricots and cranberries, a handful of walnuts or almonds and a square of Lindt 85% or 90% dark chocolate. Dried fruit and nuts are just an amazing combination -- nuts also add protein, omega 3's and fiber. This particular brand of dark chocolate is dairy, corn and soy free. Since breakfast is my most limited meal, I find that adding a square of chocolate makes me feel like I'm having something special, rather than not allowed to eat anything! And, since it's so dark, there's an added benefit of all the anti-oxidants in chocolate without the sugar! Coffee has to be a part of any morning -- I add a splash of Silk almond milk in mine. It's a different taste than dairy, but we add all types of "nut" flavors to coffee and creamers -- hazelnut, almond, etc., so it actually goes very well!
Today for lunch I had my new favorite. I know it's supposed to be a diet killer to eat the same food everyday, but I look forward to it and will easily fall into "ruts" like that! My brother and sister introduced me to fish tacos this summer. They adapt very easy to my allergies, they taste great and I can cram a TON of nutrition into one quick meal.
Fish Tacos
Corn, Soy, Dairy, Egg, Lettuce free

Tortilla (I use La Flor flour tortillas -- like 3 ingredients, no soy or corn and you cook them yourself so they taste as close to homemade as you can get without the work!)
1 Tilapia fillet (or any mild fish)
Lemon Pepper seasoning (or any favorite!)
Small amount of olive oil for frying
Spinach
Avocado
Tomato
Goat Cheese
Salsa (chunky -- I use homemade)
Pretty self-explanatory directions -- sprinkle the fish with lemon pepper, fry in the olive oil. Cook the tortilla and load it up! Throw a big handful of spinach on, some avocado, tomato if you have it, a sprinkle of goat cheese...yum! Think over the nutrition packed in here -- protein, fiber, anti-oxidants, healthy fats, lycopene, omega 3's...

So, there you have it. Today's lunch. Now, my kids won't touch this (yet). But they do love the fish without the "taco" part. They also love avocado spread in sandwiches as a mayo substitute. Today for lunch, however, they had a variety of peanut butter/almond butter sandwiches.
Andrew had Almond butter and homemade crabapple jelly on a rice cake (he's allergic to wheat and peanuts, along with corn, soy and dairy) with fresh cherries.
Luke had Peanut butter and homemade cherry rhubarb jam on a rice cake and a banana (he's wheat, soy and dairy).
Isaac had a peanut butter and banana sandwich on some deli bread (dairy and corn free), the rest of banana and some cherries.
And they put it all away with a glass of cold coconut milk.
Hard to feel sorry them, isn't it? And before you grimace at the rice cake, try slapping your favorite nut butter and jelly on it and give it another try! My personal favorite is almond butter and homemade raspberry freezer jam. That's an addicting crunchy snack!