Pineapple and Cream Ice Cream

Although I love my pineapple sorbet, sometimes I want something creamier and this ice cream delivers.

Ingredients

• 1/4 sous vide pineapple (1 bag, if you follow my sous vide process)
• ~1 cup Coconut Cream
• I prefer the "Aroy-D" brand coconut cream because it doesn't have guar gum
• Prepare the cream according to the vegan coconut vanilla recipe
• Dairy alternative: heavy cream
• 1/3 cup Sugar
• I prefer organic cane sugar
• 1 teaspoon agave syrup
• Alternative: corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• Just a portion of a freshly squeezed lime

Instructions 

1. Prepare the fruit mixture
1. Blend the pineapple and its juice for a short while so it isn't one giant chunk.
1. The Ninja CREAMi will smooth out the texture in the end
2. In a large bowl, combine the blended pineaple, sugar, agave syrup, and lime juice 
3. Stir until mixed and let sit for about 5 minutes
2. Pour the mixture into the CREAMi pint
3. Add the coconut cream up to the max fill line 
4. Mix until well combined
5. Freeze for 24 hours
• You may want to stir the mixture every hour or two until well-suspended (usually about 3-4 hours) otherwise the fruit will settle to the bottom of the pint resulting in a non-uniform flavor
6. Spin as "ice cream"
7. Serve and enjoy!

Notes

I used to swap step 2 with a step comprised of 3 and 4. However, I was always guessing as to how much coconut cream to add and ended up with excess. Pouring the fruit mixture into the pint first allows me to add just enough coconut cream and still have the same final product.

Blueberries and Cream Ice Cream

This is similar to the Vegan Macerated Strawberry Ice Cream recipe, but with blueberries, instead.

This recipe does not require the blueberries to be strained because the seeds are so small.

Although I love the flavor and texture of this ice cream, my digestion doesn't. This might be because of the blueberries, like I used to be sensitive to strawberries. On the other hand, it might be because the seeds are still in the mixture. I need to experiment more to know for sure.

Raspberries and Cream Ice Cream

This is similar to the Vegan Macerated Strawberry Ice Cream recipe, but with raspberries, instead. Because I run the raspberries through a strainer to remove the seeds (they're bad for my diet and I do not like catching them in my teeth), this has a very smooth texture.

Cinnamon Apple Sorbet

Our first stab at this recipe, we used Chinese 5 Spice. The flavor was amazing, but my body apparently does not like that particular spices; I had nasty burps for hours afterward probably because it's derived from seeds. When we did this again, we used cinnamon which sweetened up the flavor and made for an awesome sorbet. Cinnamon works great for me because it is derived from the bark of a tree and not seeds.

When I searched for apple sorbet recipes on the web, I either got AI-generated recipes--which I don' trust--or I got recipes which use pre-made apple pie filling, which is super sugary. This recipe allows us to control the ingredients as desired.

Note, that this recipe is derived from my Tart Apple Sorbet.

Tart Apple Sorbet

I wanted to make an apple sorbet with my Ninja CREAMi, and so I searched the web for recipes. I found several recipes but as I read them I quickly determined they were each generated by AI. The automation clearly did not understand how to differentiate between standard freezer ice cream and a Ninja CREAMi recipe, and so it generated an unholy union of the two. Ugh.

So, this recipe is my own creation with input from Pineapple. This recipe works and is delicious. According to Pineapple, the front-end texture has a hint of mushy apple, but overall the texture is super smooth; as though it has some sort of cream in it. 

Bacon-wrapped Asparagus

I was in a rush one day to get some food for dinner. In the supermarket, I was scanning through their "ready to eat" and "read to cook" options and found some bacon-wrapped asparagus. It was cheap, likely met my dietary needs, so I took it home to cook it.

The instructions were easy enough, but this first attempt failed to impress. The bacon was too soggy, so I extended the cook time but that dried out the asparagus to a char.

The next time I saw bacon-wrapped asparagus in the store, the bacon was wrapped in a different way which looked like it would cook better. So I took the new style home and had a successful meal.

With the original option, the chef wrapped the bacon around the center of the spears of asparagus like they were tying together a bundle of sticks. The second option had the bacon wrapped more like a barber pole.

I didn't love the bacon: it tasted a little too gamey and wasn't as flavorful as the bacon I typically purchase, so I decided to start making my own bacon-wrapped asparagus. The results are below. 

Migraines and Salad

One of the interesting things which happened since I started my diet is that my migraines have all but disappeared.

Since I was in my mid-teens I have suffered from ocular migraines. For me, the ocular part--called a scotoma--always starts with a spot in the center of my vision where I cannot read or focus any more. That spot would expand, become sparkly, turn into a large crescent, and continue to grow until the crescent exited my vision.

Early on, when the crescent left my visual field, I would get slammed with an excruciatingly painful headache, nausea, and a diminished ability to function for the remainder of the day. After a few years, the excruciating headache and nausea stopped occurring, but I would still be impaired for the remainder of the day. My diminished function usually meant that I would have trouble finding nouns, would have a regular-intensity headache, and would be extra negatively emotionally sensitive (e.g. snippy).