Tag Archives: recipes

Two Coconut Milk Ice Cream Recipes {Sister Inspirations}

Welcome to the October edition of Sister Inspirations!

Amy and I have both recently started to eat a primal/paleo diet with our families, and that became our theme for this month. My mother-in-law bought me the KitchenAid ice cream attachment for my birthday that I’ve been wanting to try out, which gave us an excuse to try our hands at coconut milk ice cream and all the fixins’.

Amy is sharing two delicious homemade chocolate shell recipes and a toffee crumble over at The Happy Tulip. The mint shell pairs really well with my coffee mocha ice cream and I threw the toffee crumble into my snickerdoodle ice cream. The result was fabulous.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker you can just freeze the batter. Using the KitchenAid makes it a little creamier, but I tried both way, and they both were delicious.

Coffee Mocha Ice Cream

Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons instant coffee
1 tablespoon vanilla

Directions

Add all ingredients to a blender and blend on medium for 2-3 minutes, until mixture is creamy. 
At this point you can use an ice cream maker and follow their directions. Or you can also pour mixture into a freezer safe container and freeze for 3-4 hours or until desired consistency.

Snickerdoodle Ice Cream with Toffee Crumble

Servings: 4

Ingredients

1 can coconut milk
1/4 cup honey
4 teaspoons molasses
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions

Add all ingredients except the toffee to a blender and blend on medium for 2-3 minutes, until mixture is creamy. 
At this point you can use an ice cream maker and follow their directions. Or you can also pour mixture into a freezer safe container and freeze for 3-4 hours or until desired consistency. Make sure to add the toffee crumble before the ice cream is frozen.

Slow Cooker Primal Chili with Sweet Potatoes

I have been struggling for years to make meals that would benefit my hypoglycemic husband without spiking his blood sugar. Turns out, the primal diet has been very beneficial. We are still in the early stages of implementing the primal diet into our life, but I have already seen a huge difference. He hasn’t had a blood sugar crash in weeks. It’s been challenging to adapt, but we feel so much better when we stick with it. And the primal meals I have made so far have been delicious.

This slow cooker primal chili has been a recipe that I adapted so we can still get that cool weather chili fix. My husband doesn’t always like sweet potatoes, but he liked it as non-traditional addition to the chili.

Slow Cooker Primal Chili with Sweet Potatoes

Servings: 8

Ingredients

2 pounds ground beef
2 – 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes
1 – 8 oz can tomato sauce
6 oz can tomato paste
10 oz baby bella mushrooms, sliced
2 red bell peppers, diced
1-2 large sweet potatoes, cubed
1 cup water
4-6 large garlic cloves, minced
1-2 shallots or 1 large red onion, minced
1 tablespoon fresh cilantro, minced
3-4 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons dried mustard
1 tablespoon cumin
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 tablespoons butter

Directions

Heat butter on medium-high heat in medium frying pan. Add shallots (or onion) and garlic to the pan and cook on low until shallots are translucent. Add shallots and garlic to the slow cooker.

Season ground beef with salt and pepper to taste then add to the pan. Once browned, drain and add to the slow cooker.

Add remaining ingredients and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8. Enjoy!

Sister Inspirations: Boozy Maple Apple Cider with Salted Caramel Whipped Cream

My sister, Amy, started her blog, The Happy Tulip, a few years ago and has been encouraging me to follow suit. I’m glad I finally gave into her persistence.

Amy and I have found that we feed off of each other’s creativity and are often inspired by similar things. We thought it would be fun for us, and hopefully you, if we periodically collaborate with each other. We are hoping that this is a start of a monthly feature on our blogs.
This month the gorgeous weather inspired us to have a camping theme.  This is the ideal time to go camping in our corner of the Midwest because the weather has started to cool down. However, the fall months can get crazy busy and we wanted to make the charm of camping accessible without the hassle of packing. Our favorite part of camping has always been the food. So, this month we created our own spin on classic camping recipes.

For my portion, I wanted to make a grown up version of apple cider. The magic is in the salted whipped cream. I am a barista at a local coffee shop and the sweet salt that we top some of our drinks with has me mesmerized. It’s such a simple thing, sugar in the raw and coarse salt. But it’s magic.

That was my initial inspiration for the salted caramel whipped cream. Homemade whipped cream is one of my weaknesses. Amy and I were eating it by the spoonful while we were photographing the final product. Believe me, it’s good. Or don’t believe me and try it yourself.

Boozy Maple Apple Cider: Serves 2

16 ounces apple cider
6 ounces maple flavored whiskey (I used Crown Maple)
A pinch of nutmeg
A pinch of clove
A pinch of allspice
Add the apple cider and whiskey to a small pot. Sprinkle in a pinch of nutmeg, clove and allspice and let simmer. Remove from stove before it comes to a boil. Serve topped with salted caramel whipped cream.

Salted Caramel Whipped Cream: Serves 2

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons of caramel syrup (I used Hershey’s)
Sugar in the raw (or any turbinado sugar)
Coarse salt
Pour the cream and caramel syrup into your bowl. Beat on medium high until soft peaks form. I used my KitchenAid mixer on setting eight. It helps if the ingredients, the bowl and the paddle are all chilled.
Mix equal parts sugar in the raw and salt. Once you put a dollop of whipped cream on your drink, sprinkle on a little sweet salt to top it off.

For Amy’s blog she decided to create two s’mores inspired desserts. While we were photographing her finished desserts, the simple ingredients were very easy to eat. I definitely got a sugar buzz. It’s nice to get the s’mores flavor without having to mess with the leftover marshmallow ooze on your fingers. Check our her recipes for her S’mores Bars and S’mores Dipped Marshmallows on her blog, The Happy Tulip. They’re both delicious and so easy to make and eat.