Superheroes v. Aliens Party Food

The menu was quite simple:  Mini pizzas, Mini chicken satay, UFO cake with alien cupcakes and lime jelly with eyes

How to use your snow cone maker for good (instead of ...)

I have always wanted a Snoopy Snow Cone machine.  I almost always chose the Snow Cone from the ice cream van.  And I love slushies, slurpees, icees, coollattas, etc.  Except that they are usually so sickeningly sweet.  Even for me.  And believe me I have a sweet tooth.

And so in the intrerests of health I have been avoiding these products for a few years.  My son often asks for these drinks while we are out and I indulge him sometimes with a guilty conscience.  We have been eyeing up snow cone makers for a while and I finally relented when I found a Party Penguin on sale a couple of weeks ago.

They are trickier than they look!  It takes a long while to shave your ice.  Even if you chop it a bit first or leave it out for a few minutes to melt a bit.  When you have a nice little drawer of snow, pop it into your bowl and THEN: 

Now here is where snow cones move into the realm of fantastic.  Delicious.  Healthy. 

Now, you add flavour to your snow with any of the following:

fresh squeezed juice (we chose orange today)

coconut juice

coconut milk mixed with milk

Hindu lemonade

You now have a nice little snack and you have had fun with the kids and you know that you haven't had extra sugar or worse--nasty chemicals, dyes, and artificial flavours. 

Coconut Ice Cream

Since dusting off my ice cream maker a few weeks ago, I have been thinking a lot about trying to make some coconut ice cream.  It is hard to find in the shops, and when you do, it is so full of STUFF.  You know what I mean.  Ingredients we can't pronounce.  Although it can be yummy, it often has artificial flavouring as well. So if you are up for a more natural coconut flavour give my version a go. 

You will need:

2 cups of whole milk (or cream if you prefer)
31/2 cup of raw or natural sugar
1 can of coconut milk

1.  Stir the sugar and milk together until the sugar is dissolved.  This will take a few minutes.
2.  Stir the coconut milk in until fully blended.  You can use a stick blender for this.  Taste the mixture if you like.  It should taste a little too sweet, because your final product will taste less sweet than this once frozen.
3.  Pour this mixture into an ice cream maker, or into ice lolly molds.  You can pour it directly into a container and freeze, but the final ice cream will be quite icy. 

Vanilla Ice Cream

I purchased cream to make some homemade butter, but decided to make some nice organic ice cream instead.  My son and I had a blast and we know more or less where the ingredients came from.  I would love to try it with raw milk in the Nourishing Traditions style, but we do not have access to it where I live.

You will need:

4 cups whole milk (I used non-homogenized milk)
1-1.5 cups demerara or raw sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups cream

1.  Stir the milk, sugar and vanilla together until the vanilla dissolves.
2.  Stir in the cream and combine well. (I used an immersion blender)
3.  Either pour this mixture into your ice cream maker, or pour into a tub and place in the freezer.  If you do not have an ice cream maker, you can stir the mixture a few times over the next few hours to help make the ice cream creamier.   Otherwise your ice cream will be icy---but still delicious!


I find that this recipe is very rich and you only need a small bowlful at a time--probably a good thing considering the sugar content.

Addendum:

I put my next batch in individual jelly pots with lids to make serving both fun and easy.  You could use any small containers with lids.