Vanilla Ice Cream (with Cookies n' Cream Variation)

So here is the last in my series of ice cream posts covering the basic flavours. I just served it to my non-vegan (but vegan friendly) parents and they gave it major thumbs up. Again, this recipe is just what I did--feel free to replace and experiment to fit your lifestyle and dietary needs. Next, I would like to explore the world of fruit sorbets and sherbets. I will also get back to posting actual food recipes lest you think that all we do here is sit around gorging on ice cream.

INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups soy milk
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 cup sugar (probably could be reduced to 3/4 cup)
- 2 tbsp arrowroot
- 1 can coconut milk, stored in a cool place
- soy creamer, or soy milk

METHOD
1. Place soy milk in a saucepan over medium heat. Slit vanilla bean down the middle and scrape out the insides into the soy milk. Add the bean as well and simmer for about 20 mins (I don't think any longer will add any more vanilla flavour).
2. After 20 mins the milk will have reduced by about 1/2 cup. Measure and bring liquid back to 2 cups. Add sugar and bring to steaming over medium heat.
3. While soy milk is heating back up, skim coconut cream from the coconut milk and add enough soy creamer (or milk) to bring the volume to 2 cups. Whisk smooth, then take about 1/2 cup of the mixture and mix with the arrowroot, making sure it is totally dissolved.
4. When the milk is steaming, slowly whisk in arrowroot mixture and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is thick and glossy. Whisk in coconut mixture. It should still be glossy--if not, cook until it is.
5. Remove from heat and let cool. When cool, remove vanilla bean, cover, and refrigerate overnight.
6. Make ice cream according to the directions that came with your maker.

CHEAPER VERSION
- replace vanilla bean with 2 tsp vanilla extract (the real stuff). Skip steps 1 and 2, and add the vanilla at the end with the coconut cream.

COOKIES n' CREAM VARIATION
- crumble 12 chocolate sandwich cookies and add to mixture during the final three to four turns of the machine. You can probably get away with reducing the vanilla to 1 tsp, too.

Regarding Silk Soy Milk

Yesterday I posted a link to the Canadian Silk website for a 75 cent coupon. The reason I did so was because I was confident that Silk was made from organic soy beans and was pretty much OK. In fact, I am sure at one point their carton claimed that 86% of the ingredients in Silk, including the soy beans, were organic. But then I got an email from Michael with this link. Turns out, Silk used to be made with organic soy beans until Dean Foods (the largest milk processor in the US) took it over. I rushed to the fridge and looked at a carton. Sure enough, it said that Silk was made from "natural soybeans" and made no other claims about organic ingredients. I had totally missed the switch. So now I am providing the link to the Canadian Silk site and the American Silk site so we can all write in and tell them they suck. Make Silk organic again!

UPDATE: Not all Silk is affected, only some types. My chocolate Silk says it is organic, my plain Silk is not. Note the very subtle differences in the packages above--from "organic" to "natural." Note as well (sorry for the hastily snapped pic) that the carton on the left says it is made from "natural whole soybeans" while the right says "whole organic soy beans," has an organic certification, and makes the 86% organic claim. Readers from the U.S. have told me that Silk makes an explicitly organic brand for $1 more than the others, but I have not seen it here. Why not make all Silk from organic domestic soybeans, like it once was? And can we in good conscience support Dean Foods?

Strawberry Ice Cream

Strawberry season has come to the North! So we packed up the crew and hit the fields. All the kids were enthusiastic about the expedition (I am projecting on Vegan Daughter a bit, I suppose) and helped us pick 6 baskets of berries without eating too many along the way. We immediately made jam and I set aside some berries to make this delicious ice cream. I know the garnish may cause confusion, but I suppose you could also use raspberries in this as well (I would strain out the seeds, though).

INGREDIENTS
- 4 cups fresh strawberries, washed and hulled
- 1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
- 2 cups plain or vanilla soy milk, divided
- 3 tbsp arrowroot
- 1 can full fat coconut milk, left in a cool place (the fridge for a few hours)
- soy creamer (or more soy milk)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (the real stuff)

METHOD
1. Place berries and 1/2 cup of the sugar in a food processor and process until desired smoothness is reached (I left mine a bit chunky). Set aside.
2. Place sugar and 1 1/2 cups of the soy milk in a saucepan.
3. While soy milk is heating up, whisk arrowroot into remaining 1/2 cup of soy milk. Keep whisking it regularly to make sure the arrowroot does not settle.
4. Skim cream off of the coconut milk and discard (or save for some other recipe) watery stuff. Place in a 2 cup measuring cup and add enough creamer to bring the volume to 2 cups.
5. Heat soy milk/sugar mixture over medium heat until steaming. Slowly whisk in arrowroot mixture and cook until glossy. I let mine bubble every so slightly. Add coconut milk mixture and whisk well. If it does not seem glossy, cook until it is. Otherwise, remove from heat.
6. Mix in strawberry mixture and vanilla. Let cool. Once cool, cover, and chill in the fridge overnight.
7. Make ice cream according to the directions that came with your ice cream maker.

Vegan Dad Cookbook Contest: Rest of the World Edition

I received many a request from readers outside Canada and the U.S. asking for a chance to win a copy of the Vegan Dad Cookbook. I felt their pain--I know all about blocked content (curse you, Hulu!), residency restrictions, and the ever-frustrating caveat: will not ship to Canada. And, of course, it was the outrageous shipping costs that forced me to limit the last contest to Canada and the U.S. The electronic option eliminates shipping, so here is your chance, everyone else! Up for grabs in this near global competition are 2 e-copies of The Vegan Dad Cookbook (colour or black and white, your choice). I rummaged through my utensil drawer and came up with this handy gadget (half the fun is figuring out what size it is). Here are the rules:

1. Identify the mystery utensil and email your answer to the address listed in the bottom right column of this blog. Title your email "Near Global Cookbook Contest."

2. Correct answers will be entered into a draw to win one of two e-copies of The Vegan Dad Cookbook. Two winners will be chosen via a random number generator.

3. Only one submission per email address, please.

4. Contest is open until July 15, 2009, 10:00 am EST.

5. Contest open to everyone except residents of Canada and the contiguous U.S .

Vegan Dad Cookbook Contest Winners!

Winners? Yes, winners! I was so amazed by the 521 entries that I felt obliged to give away another cookbook. You were all put at the mercy of Random.org which spit out numbers 317 and 117. Congratulations to Jennie and Denise who correctly identified the mystery utensil as a cherry (or olive) pitter! I have sent you emails asking for your address. For those who didn't win, print copies are available through Amazon for $16, and $10 e-books are available for download here.

I really had a blast with this contest. It was rather like everyone who reads the blog leaving a comment on a post. Thanks for all the encouraging words many of you added to your entries. I will definitely do this again--in fact, I already have my next mystery utensil picked out!

Decadent Chocolate Ice Cream

I love ice cream. Or, perhaps I should say I loved ice cream. It is/was my favourite dessert, bar none. In fact, during grad school I developed a very bad habit of too much ice cream and Coke that led to some fairly substantial weight gain (lesson learned: never go to grad school). Since going vegan a good scoop of ice cream has been few and far between. The choices here are fairly limited: Tofutti, So Good, and So Delicious, with the occasional Purely Decadent thrown in there, but they are prohibitively expensive to say the least. While some of these ice creams are good, they always raise a nagging voice in my head reminding me they do not taste as good as the "real" thing. Since reading about new ice creams made with coconut milk I have been wanting to make my own (I have not seen them in the stores here yet). So I was delighted to find a nice looking ice cream maker perched high on a top shelf at the thrift store, its $3 price tag beckoning me. I took it home, washed it up, and made this ice cream. For those who used to eat dairy, this is one of those very firm, fight-to-scoop-it-out-of-the-container, Haagen Dazs-esque ice creams. It is truly decadent and rich, though you can lower the fat by replacing the coconut cream with some other non-dairy milk. I love ice cream again.

INGREDIENTS
- 2 tbsp arrowroot powder
- 1 1/4 cup chocolate soy milk
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 cans coconut milk (that had been in the fridge for a few hours)
- 12 oz semi sweet vegan chocolate chips
- 1 tsp vanilla

METHOD
1. Dissolve arrowroot into 1/2 cup of the chocolate soy milk and set aside. Skim cream from the top of the cans of coconut milk and place in a 4 cup measuring cup. If you don't have 2 cups worth, fill missing volume with soy milk, or the leftover water from the coconut milk). Whisk smooth as best you can.
2. Combine remaining soy milk and sugar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking regularly. As mixture cooks, keep stirring arrowroot mixture to make sure arrowroot had totally dissolved. When mixture begins to steam, slowly whisk in arrowroot mixture. Continue to cook and whisk until mixture gets thicker and more glossy (you will see what I mean) and begins to gently bubble.
3. Remove pan from heat. Add chocolate chips and whisk until smooth (mixture will be thick).
4. Add coconut milk and vanilla and whisk until smooth.
5. Let mixture cool, then cover and refrigerate overnight. Make the ice cream according to the directions that came with your machine. Let firm up over night in the freezer.

Vegan Dad and the 2009 Veggie Awards

Today, my friends, is my 34th birthday. So, if you are inclined to do something nice for the birthday boy, please consider voting for Vegan Dad for Best Blog in the 2009 VegNews Veggie Awards. The competition is pretty stiff this year, I must say, so I will hope for the best. I would also like to thank all of those who wrote me in last year--from what I understand, the votes and write-ins from last year determine the nominees for this year. I wasn't even on the list last year, so thanks to all the loyal readers who made this nomination possible.

If you are interested in voting, go to this link by July 31 and complete the survey (I am about 5 pages in). You don't even have to complete the whole thing (unless you want prizes).

OK, enough pandering for one night.