Technical Difficulties and a Rant

Ive just found out that Im not actually sitting over here talking to myself in cyberspace for the last couple of months, its that there is just some weird glitch that has been hiding all your lovely comments from me. So if youve commented and I havent gotten back to you its because technology has failed us and I didnt see any of them. I appreciate all your comments and feedback a lot so keep them coming, you just might get a belated response. If you want a more immediate response feel free to e-mail me.

Also I didnt think I had to mention this but it was brought to my attention last night that I apparently do. All the pictures I post here are my personal pictures that I took and host and are copyrighted to me. I dont put water marks on them because I want you to see the yummy food not my name sprayed across them. So feel free to cook anything I post here and link back to my pictures just dont steal my pictures and my original recipes without even giving me credit.

Food bloggers are a community. I see yummy things on other peoples sites and cook them, modifying them for my gluten free and sugar free diet for the benefit of others on the same journey I am on. But when I post these recipes to share I always link them back to the person I found the idea from. I am 100% honest about the fact that many of these recipes are not mine Im posting my experience about cooking what they created and telling you where to find more of their ideas.

People worked hard on these recipes and posting them so other people could enjoy them, I would never steal their creative spirit by passing them off as mine. So its not very neighborly when the few recipes I did create are being posted without being credited back to me in any way. If you like what you found here give me some credit when you repost it. You wouldnt steal the braised cucumbers out of my kitchen so why steal my photos and recipes.

How rude. Now lets all go have a gluten free brownie and play nice.

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Pear and Caramel Ice Cream with Rasperry Topping

Ive loved ice cream for as long as I can remember.  So it was only natural when I started cooking everything myself that I would eventually start making fabulous ice creams as well.  My fella was even awesome enough to buy me the best ice cream making book ever, David Lebovitzs The Perfect Scoop, for my birthday last year.  I started playing around with making some of the recipes with agave and fructose for the French Diet but never got around to posting about them because I was too busy licking the ice cream maker clean after each experiment.

More recently this same book has been just left sad and lonely sitting on my shelf as I did the elimination diet and found out how truly ill dairy in all forms makes me.  My body can try to deny me many things but the only thing I will not give up is ice cream.  Even if I have to buy $6 pints of coconut milk ice cream sweetened with agave nectar at Whole Foods I will neglect myself other things to afford that ice cream.  So I decided to go back to my favorite ice cream book and start cooking dairy free sugar free versions of some of David Lebovitzs recipes. 

I will not give up ice cream and I will not leave my favorite dessert cookbook to get dusty on the shelf.  So in between moving and looking for a new job in a new city across the country Im going to treat myself to homemade dairy free ice cream.  This will be the summer that I dare to make dairy free ice cream amazing.

My first experiment was with the Pear Caramel Ice Cream Id made a couple of times before with heavy cream and really enjoyed.  Its a simple recipe so I didnt have to make a lot of substitutions to make it work as a dairy free recipe.  The toughest part was playing with caramelizing agave nectar.  It is possible but it doesnt quite give the thick, dark, and slightly scorched flavor of caramelized sugar however.  But like many things in sugar free or gluten free cooking if you stop thinking about what youre missing and focus on the new flavor youre discovering its still super delicious.

Pushing the pears through a sieve is a pain in the butt, I know but it is worth it for the creamy texture the process gives you.  If you dont care then by all means eat the grainy slightly chunky mixture as it is or give it a go round in your food processor to break it up a bit.

This ice cream is even better with some raspberry topping to add a tartness to the almost overpoweringly sweet caramel ice cream.  And if youre really feeling out going this all goes great on my Gooey Hazelnut Flour Brownies.  These three things together make the ultimate dessert. But worry not the highly decadent ice cream holds up very well on its own.   I end up eating the whole batch before I even have time to turn on the oven.

When your agave nectar starts to look like this youve achieved caramel.

Pear Caramel Ice Cream

3 medium-sized ripe pears, peeled, cored and diced

1/2 scant cup of agave nectar

2 cups full fat coconut milk

1/8 teaspoon salt

a few drops lemon juice

Pour the agave nectar into a heavy saucepan, cooking over medium high heat while watching it very carefully.  When it darkens and starts to look like the picture above (this will take awhile, 10 to 15 minutes) begin pushing the liquid around with a heat proof spatula so the middle doesnt burn.

When the agave is a uniformly dark color and syrupy thick stir in the diced pear.  The caramel might become hard or make scary hissing noise but dont be afraid keep adding the pears and stirring the mixture for about 10 minutes or until the pears are cooked through.

Remove the pot from the heat and add about 1/2 cup of the coconut milk and stir.  Now add in the rest of the coconut milk and a couple drops of lemon juice.  

Let this mixture cool to almost room temperature then puree in the food processor until smooth.  Press this mixture though a mesh strainer or sieve with your flexible spatula.  This will remove the tough fibers of the pear.

Chill this mixture then run it through your ice cream maker.

Recipe adapted to be dairy and sugar free from a David Lebovitz recipe in the Perfect Scoop.

Raspberry Topping

handful of fresh or frozen raspberries

drizzle of agave nectar

water, as needed

Drop the raspberries and a generous drizzle of agave nectar into the food processor and blend.  If it is too thick add a small amount of water until you get the consistency you like.  Use to top the Pear Caramel Ice Cream.  This also is a nice topping for your oatmeal in the morning.

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