Puk Khantho

As much as we’d love to take full credit for these bits of dairy-free brilliance, we have to give credit where credit’s due. The first recipe is from Popsugar and the other two are our inspired creations when we realized that ice cream can serve a guilt-free dose of health benefits.  Whether you’re looking to simply chill out or surprise your friends with something sweet, delightful and healthy (in moderation) these three vegan ice cream recipes will do the trick.

These recipes are all made with coconut milk, which has surprising health benefits on its own, and is recognized as a healthy fat. That said, we will definitely reiterate the above comment on moderation. Mindful intake is best. We do encourage you to get wild and experiment with your own nut milk of choice, particularly cashew (and let us know the outcome please!)

 

1. Chill Out – Stress-Relief Lavender Ice Cream 

As mentioned above, we fell in love with the idea of a body beneficial ice cream when we came across this recipe from Popsugar. Not only were we blown away by the taste and creamy texture, we absolutely love the idea of a bowl of ice cream having actual soothing and calming effects due to its lavender content (lavender being recognized for its ability to reduce anxiety and emotional stress, aid in sleep and relieve nervous tension). To top it all off, this recipe is super easy to follow.

Image from Popsugar

Below from Popsugar

Ingredients

3 1/3 cups (2 cans) coconut milk
2 tablespoons dried culinary lavender
3/4 cup frozen organic blueberries
2/3 cup agave syrup (or to taste)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

• Heat coconut milk in a medium saucepan until almost boiling; remove from heat and add lavender. Stir to combine and allow to steep for 10 minutes.
• Pour coconut milk through a wire strainer into a blender. Add blueberries, agave, and vanilla. Blend on high until blueberries are completely incorporated. (A few flecks are OK.)
• Pour mixture into ice cube trays and freeze overnight.
• Place 1/3 of the cubes into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to a cookie-dough-like consistency. Transfer ice cream to a freezer container and process remaining cubes in batches.
• Serve immediately or place in freezer for a firmer consistency.

Nothing could be easier right? We love having a couple scopes of this ice cream after dinner or after an evening work out a couple hours before bed. It’s a perfect addition to a once in a while alignment ritual

 

2. Power Up  – Protein and Iron Infused Mint Chocolate Chip 

 

Image and Some Recipe Inspiration from Wallflower Kitchen

So Popsugar’s brilliant use of lavender got us thinking. What other herbs could be used to make delicious ice cream blends? Mint was our obvious next leap. We pulled from a bunch of different recipes from all over the web and came up with this simple recipe leveraging the above process ever so slightly and adding in our own unique twist for a powerful protein and iron-infused result.

Ingredients

3 1/3 cups (2 cans) coconut milk

1/2 cup of fresh mint leaves

1/2 cup of spinach (you won’t even taste it!)

2/3 cups of agave syrup (or to taste)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 scoop of your favourite protein powder

1 quarter of your favourite dark chocolate source, crumbled into small bits
Directions

• Blend all ingredients except for dark chocolate in a high speed blender until completely smooth
• Transfer mixture to ice cube tray and freeze over night
• Place 1/3 of the cubes into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to a cookie-dough-like consistency. Transfer ice cream to a freezer container and process remaining cubes in batches.
• Stir in dark chocolate bits

Perfect for a mid-afternoon summer treat, and ideal for after a long bike ride or hot yoga class.

3. Detox and Energize – Matcha Ice Cream 

By now you can probably see where we are going with this. Essentially, once you have a winning process down, it’s pretty simple to get your experimental energies flowing to come up with your own creations. We love the various benefits provided by a delicious cup of matcha tea, such as detoxification, high antioxidant content and ability to provide a natural energy and focus boost so it only made sense to marry our ice cream blend with matcha for a deliciously mindful summer treat.

Ingredients

3 1/3 cups (2 cans) coconut milk

1 table spoon of matcha powder

2/3 cups of agave syrup (or to taste)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

• Blend all ingredients until completely smooth
• Transfer mixture to ice cube tray and freeze over night
• Place 1/3 of the cubes into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to a cookie-dough-like consistency. Transfer ice cream to a freezer container and process remaining cubes in batches.

Done and done.

There you have it! If you have any delicious and healthy vegan ice cream recipes of your own, we’d love to hear! Enjoy