Irritable Bowel Syndrome Message Boards

Wrong time of year for this, I guess, but I found my notes on this while cleaning today and thought maybe other people could use this.

I've never had any luck with ice cream recipes that required cornstarch or "cooked" eggs. And I hate using Eggbeaters because they're so expensive. So I have a sort of "base" I use for ice cream. OK, I haven't actually made 31 flavors with it, but it has a nice ring to it.

Base:

package (12-ish oz) Mori-Nu LIGHT tofu, either firm or extra-firm
1/2 C sugar
1 1/2 C vanilla soy milk (use rice if you like, but the one time I tried it I thought it was gross)
dash salt

Puree base ingredients in blender or food processor. Be careful so you don't end up with tiny little tofu chunks. You might want to start out with only 1/2 C of the milk in the blender.

The base has 12% calories from fat. So from there, you can add what you want to make the actual flavor, then freeze in ice cream maker according to directions. If you're adding stuff like chopped nuts, chocolate, whatever, add those during the last 5 minutes or so.

Some suggestions:

(my favorite) Mint Cookies & Cream:
base + a few drops of peppermint oil + a few drops green food coloring + 10 crushed Newman-Os (or reduced-fat Oreos if you can handle HFCS).

Cookies & Cream:
I can't do peppermint anymore (stupid GERD!

), so I omit the mint/food coloring and add 2-3 crushed Newman-O's right up front, and then add another 10 or so crushed up during the last couple minutes.

Chocolate:
base + 1 t vanilla + 1/3 C or so cocoa

Chocolate chip cookie dough:
base + 2 t vanilla + cookie dough chunks
(to make cookie dough chunks -- mix together brown sugar, melted IBS-safe margarine, dash vanilla, and mini choc chips (if you can't get safe mini choc chips, chop up regular-sized ones) until it is a tiny bit crumbly but firm enough to make into small balls (little larger than pea-size).) Put the cookie dough chunks on a plate and stick it into the freezer to firm. Add 1/4 of the chunks 5 minutes before the ice cream is done (they will probably disintegrate, that's OK), and add the rest during the last 30-60 seconds.

Peanut butter fudge:
base + 1/4 C cocoa powder + PB chunks
(to make PB chunks -- mix reduced-fat peanut butter with powdered sugar until you can make PB balls) Follow instructions for cookie dough ice cream.

Peppermint:
base + drop peppermint oil + two drops red food coloring + crushed-up candy canes
Strawberry:
base + throw in 1/2-1 C strawberries while pureeing. If you like chunks of stuff in your ice cream, reserve some of the strawberries to toss in during the last couple minutes. Go easy on the fruit up-front. I found that a little pureed fruit can go a long way. I tried raspberry once and it was so strong I couldn't stand to eat it.

I don't really measure stuff, so you may need to add more or less milk. I usually start out with 1/2 C milk for the puree, add about 1/2 C more, and then add another 1/2 C or so if needed. If the other ingredients are low-fat, then I sometimes sub all or some of the milk for non-dairy creamer or higher-fat milk so that ice cream has a creamier texture.

I have never been able to make plain vanilla taste good.

One thing you can do for a super-easy flavoring is to throw in a package of instant pudding mix (not cook-and-serve). If you do this with vanilla, this produces an OK vanilla, sort of like Soy Dream French vanilla, but to me it tastes just fake.

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jen

"It's one of the most serious things that can possibly happen to one in a battle -- to get one's head cut off." -- LC

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