Method one:

For the precooking stage, start by cooling your bowls and beaters overnight in a freezer. Also, chill the cream and condensed milk in a fridge. Don’t use a refrigerator on the two if you want the best results. Once you are past the prep stage, transfer your milk into a mixing bowl, add vanilla extract, and set this aside.

In another bowl, pour chilled cream and whip it with an electric beater or hand mixer. Mix it until soft. Add at least two scoops of this solution to the condensed milk and stir gently and allow it to mix evenly.

Once done, add this solution to the remaining whipped cream. Star uniformly, minus deflating the whipped cream. Lastly, wrap this solution using a cling wrap and transfer it into a freezer for at least 8 hours.

Pro tip: the cling wrap must touch the solution to prevent ice crystals from forming on your ice cream.

Method two:

Add a solution of milk and cream together in a measuring cup. NB Use whole milk of about 1 – 2% for the best fat results. Once your solution is ready, add your preferred taste, either vanilla or strawberry, to the solution.

After that, add half a cup of sugar until everything is dissolved. Once everything is ready, transfer the ice cream solution into an ice cream machine or a homemade “ice cream maker.” Yes, you are wondering, what is an ice cream maker and how do I make one. Well, it’s simple, transfer your ice cream solution into a bag and zip it tight.

Half fill another oversized bag with ice cubes and a quarter cup of rock salt. Salt lowers the melting point of ice hence resulting in super cool water to chill the ice cream. Note that this bag is our “ice cream maker.”

Now that your “ice cream maker” is almost done, insert the smaller bag (the one containing the ice cream solution) into the ice cream maker. From there, add the remaining ice into the ice cream maker covering the smaller bag on both sides. Seal the ice cream maker and shake it for five. And there you have it, homemade ice cream made in minutes.

Pro tip: Cover the bag with a towel to avoid cold hands. You can either reduce your shake to three minutes for a soft serve or prolong the shake to 8 minutes for a hard serve.

Pancakes – a classic breakfast option that vegans may find difficult to go without.

Pancakes – a classic breakfast option that vegans may find difficult to go without. Many restaurants use dairy in their pancakes, but it’s very easy (and tastes even better!) when you use all vegan ingredients. This Vegan Blueberry & Banana Pancake recipe is decadent, filling, savory and easy to make! Breakfast has never been so healthy and delicious.

To Die For Vegan Blueberry & Banana Pancakes

Ingredients

▪ 3 tablespoons melted vegan butter

▪ 1 cup of blueberries

▪ 1 banana (mash this)

▪ 1 1/2 cup almond milk

▪ 1 tablespoon orange juice concentrate

▪ 1 tablespoon cornstarch

▪ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

▪ 2 tablespoons sugar

▪ Pinch of salt

▪ 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour

▪ 1 tablespoon baking powder

Directions:
Step 1: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together melted margarine, vanilla, mashed banana, sugar, orange juice concentrate and almond milk. Turn on your stove to medium heat. Now, add remaining dry ingredients (salt, flour, cornstarch, and baking powder) and whisk together until a smooth batter develops.

Step 2: Spray pan or griddle with cooking spray, then measure ¼ cup of batter on the pan.

Step 3: Add blueberries with caution to each batter portion, approximately 6-8 blueberries on each. Flip the pancake when the edges start to become dry and the batter is slightly bubbling.

Step 4: Serve pancakes with real maple syrup. Add sliced bananas, more blueberries and walnuts if desired.

First stop was Trader Joes.  I got brown rice spaghetti, brown rice, frozen veggies, corn tortillas, bananas, cereal, and salsa.

Next up was Whole Foods.  I mostly went there to get more Daiya.  My husband eats it more than I do but I always add a little to my lentil tacos.  I also got black beans and tofu.  Got the tofu there because I forgot to get it at TJs.

Last was Vons, our local grocery store.  I went there to buy the tortillas my oldest son likes.  They are the Tortilland Tortillas but unfortunately, they were out.  I did get some almond milk, lentils, and a package of Wholly Guacamole.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  I prefer to buy fresh avocados but I had a coupon for this and sometimes these little packets (it comes with 3 individual ones for 100 calories a piece) are nice to have in the fridge.  The taste is nowhere as good as a fresh avocado or making your own guacamole but eh, they are alright once in a while.

I also stopped by a little local place for some sweet potato fries.  They usually are more thicker but this time were cut so thin, they were more chip like.  Still delicious!

And then, in the crisping sun, we continue on to what sounds like the world’s largest flushing toilet: Spotlight Cave!

Thankfully, it did not smell like a toilet!

Apparently this is an amazing place to scuba dive — especially around noon.  The sunlight will stream down this opening to the waters below, creating an ethereal glow, with the rippling waters sparkling all around in a magical dance with the diver.

Sadly, I am not (yet!) a diver, so we did not get to see this first hand.  But Mark is, and he has some pictures from a previous dive, which you can see here!  Maybe one day, I will be able to share my own photos of this experience.

For now, Patrick and I had to be content with some squeezing…

Down he goes!  Through a little side tunnel, and I follow till we pop out near the water.  And see Mark still above. Patrick and I enjoy the cool shade of the crevice, then decide it’s time to head back — we have a (pseudo) cave at Hidden Beach to go explore!  We hop in the car, drive to the the trailhead, and hike on down to the beach.  Saying “ni hao” to a few tourists as we pass, we go off the beaten path once again and find the rocky tunnels to the north of the beach.

The rushing water outside the cave causes a reverberating growl to sound from some opening that we cannot find.  It is an odd combination of dragon growl, and hissing air.  But I love the spot.  If I ever disappear, I’ve probably gone here: cool cave with sunlight streaming in, the beautiful sound of water lapping and waves crashing, and people watching!!  Unbeknownst to them, Mark and I sit at this opening, looking out at the charming tourist who have no idea we are watching their show…

We hear their laughter and screams of delight as they wade out to a flat rock surface in the water, and get doused with walls of water that slam against the side of the rocks.

After enjoying the views for a while, we go wading as well, take our own touristy pictures, then call it a sun-burnt day.

Vegan Chocolate Cake: they’ll never guess it’s vegan!

Ingredients

3
cups all-purpose flour

2/3
cups cocoa powder

2/3
cups melted coconut oil

2
teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2
cups sugar

2
teaspoons baking soda

3/4
teaspoons salt

2
tablespoons apple cider vinegar

2
cups of non-dairy milk (rice almond or soy)

1. Preheat your oven to 180° C.
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Place these dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the apple cider vinegar to the milk and beat until frothy. Whisk in the vanilla, sugar and oil.
4. Add about a third of the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix them together. Add another third, keep mixing and then add the final third. When ingredients are all in, stop mixing.
5. Pour the cake batter into two round, 8 or 9-inch cake pans that have been greased with coconut oil or vegan butter. Bake for 25 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake is clean). Allow the cakes to cook completely.
6. If you desire a frosted cake, frost with a non-dairy frosting!

I have been making lots of really simple meals like this one.  It’s mashed potatoes and green beans with some hummus.  The potatoes and green beans are from my last CSA basket which unfortunately I didn’t get a pic of.  The basket arrived as we were about to leave for a dr appt so I shoved it into the fridge put everything away quickly and meant to take a pic later but it didn’t happen.  The simple meals are inspired by Cathy Fisher.  Mine are not as cool as hers but I want to eat more like a lot of the pics she posts on facebook all the time.

Here’s another similar one I made with mashed red potatoes, green beans, and heirloom tomato slices.

I made this one morning for breafast and it was just ok.  It’s soy yogurt with mashed banana and some flax meal.  It tasted fine, just nothing exciting.

Brown rice noodles with veggies and tofu.  This has become a definite favorite around here.  I used the lefover tofu the next day and added it to brown rice, veggies, and avocado.  This makes me want more of that tofu right now, so good!
This was a one of those thrown together meals when groceries were getting low in the house.  It’s brown rice pasta with spagetti sauce and tvp. Also made a watermelon smoothie.  It’s just watermelon blended with ice.  My youngest son won’t eat watermelon by itself but he loves the juice so he really likes these.

We also went to Loving Hut where I tried their Wonton Soup that I have been wanting to try for a while. The flavor of the soup was really good as well as the veggies but the wontons were just so so to me.  I enjoyed it, I just think I like some of the other items on their menu better. I also tried one of their Pina Coladas and that was really good!  You can almost see my oldest kiddo playing with his train in the background.  🙂

Lastly, I have a grocery haul from yesterday.  We went to Trader Joes and I picked up a few things from Sprouts.  From TJs, I got tofu, corn tortillas, pecans, spinach, mushrooms, sunflower butter, brown rice spaghetti, and a couple fruit leathers.  At Spouts, I picked up avocados, hummus, vegan greek yogurt, and brown rice crackers.