Happy Fat Tuesday: Vanilla Hazelnut Ice Cream
Vanilla hazelnut ice cream.
In lieu of Fat Tuesday, I have a fatty (good, healthy coconut fat!) and delicious treat for you all. No, it’s not a paleo-fied paczki either. I really have no desire to try and replicate those. I do recall eating them on Fat Tuesday during my childhood though, and they were okay, but I never really thought they were that awesome. Sure, I still ate them because grandma offered me one every year, but I think I would have rather eaten a plain glazed doughnut. Oh, how times have changed.
Anyway, the idea for this treat all started with Jesse. You see, I haven’t made ice cream in a while and apparently Jesse noticed, or had a craving at the very least. I say this, because he came home from Food Front Co-op the other day with two boxes of coconut cream, which is what I use to make ice cream sometimes (combined with coconut milk). He said, “Look, I bought you something!” What he meant was, “I bought you this, so you can make me ice cream!” Or in other words, “Make me ice cream, woman!” Okay, I’m exaggerating because the ice cream is for me too and I enjoy it just as much as he does, but I like to tease him. It’s all out of love.
Jesse and I love my plain vanilla ice cream recipe (everything below, minus the hazelnut butter), which is what I was going to make, but then I got the idea to add fresh hazelnut butter. I was shopping at the Alberta Co-op on Friday, and spotted it in their bulk section. They have a big bucket of it and you can scoop out as much as you need, whether it be a lot or just a few tablespoons. I appreciate this because hazelnut butter is spendy and even though it’s still expensive in bulk, I can buy just a little bit, making it pretty affordable. This way too, I won’t go hog wild and eat it all. I don’t know about all of you, but nut butter is super addicting for me, so for this reason, I only occasionally buy it. I generally turn to coconut butter over nut butter anyway.
If you can’t find the coconut cream, don’t fret! Just replace it with more full-fat coconut milk. It’ll work just fine. I know, because I make ice cream this way as well. It really just depends if I have coconut cream on hand or not. The coconut cream makes the ice cream a bit thicker and richer, but it’s still fantastic and creamy with more coconut milk in its place. Additionally, you can use a different nut butter if you can’t find hazelnut butter in the store and don’t have the availability to make your own. This recipe would obviously be awesome with unsweetened cocoa powder added to the mixture too. I actually contemplated doing so, but we decided we wanted the vanilla base, so the hazelnut flavor could really shine through. Maybe next time.
Happy Fat Tuesday! And happy birthday to my dear Dad who turns 63 today! Cheers!
Ingredients:
- 1 14.5 oz can full-fat coconut milk
- 1 cup coconut cream (I use Aroy-D brand, comes in a 33 oz. white box)
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1.5 – 2 Tbsp raw honey (I used raw blackberry honey)
- Dash of Himalayan sea salt
- 1/3 cup hazelnut butter
Directions:
- Add the coconut milk, coconut cream, vanilla, honey and sea salt to the blender. Don’t use a food processor for this — you’ll end up with a mess if you do. Blend on high for a couple minutes, until the mixture is smooth. If your coconut cream is cold because you already had some open and stored it in the fridge, it may require more blending. Just keep blending until it’s smooth!
- With your ice cream maker turned on, pour the mixture into the freezer container. Let churn for about 18 minutes. Then, add the hazelnut butter and continue to churn for another 3-5 minutes or until hazelnut butter is mixed through and ice cream is thick.
- Scoop ice cream into a container that can be stored in the freezer. Serve some up right away or place in the freezer to firm up a bit more, if desired. I didn’t do so, but feel free to garnish with some chopped raw hazelnuts.
Slow Cooked Pork Shoulder
Shredded pork shoulder, served atop of sauteed cabbage.
Some of you already know this by now, but I don’t care for pork. I’m just not fond of the taste, unless it’s bacon. You may recall though, that on New Year’s Eve, I ordered a shredded pork dish for dinner. I mainly ordered it because it was the least complicated thing for me to paleoize, but also thought I might like it since I love shredded meat, specifically chicken and beef. Well, I did like it … a lot! Since then, I’ve been thinking about trying out a shredded pork recipe myself. This past weekend, it finally happened.
It was a spur of the moment decision and completely unplanned. I really value moments like that. Anyway, I was in Food Front Co-op in NW Portland after work on Sunday, and spotted one small and lonely pork shoulder roast. At that moment, I decided it was time, and threw it in my basket. For the recipe, I flew by the seat of my pants and used what I had on hand.
The recipe turned out phenomenal. It tasted so good, that I didn’t want the last bite to come. To compensate, I very slowly savored every last morsel. I usually do well with eating slowly, but I especially did well this time.
If you’re not much of a pork person, like me, this recipe may surprise you. I can’t wait to make it again.
Ingredients:
- 1.5 lb pork shoulder roast
- 2 tsp grass-fed ghee
- 3/4 tsp cumin
- 3/4 tsp chili powder
- 3/4 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- Sea salt and pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 2 Tbsp fresh lime juice
- 1 onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 stalks of celery, chopped
- 4 large carrots, chopped into 1/2-inch pieces
- 1/2 head cabbage, chopped (use more if serving more than 2 people)
- Avocado slices, optional
Directions:
- Combine spices, sea salt and pepper, and coat all sides of the roast. If you have extra spice mixture leftover, set it aside. You will use it later. If you use it all, that’s fine too.
- Melt 1 tsp of ghee (or fat of choice) in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork shoulder, and brown a couple minutes on each side. Once all sides are browned, remove from pan and set aside.
- In the same pan, melt the remaining 1 tsp of ghee (add more if needed) over medium heat. Add the onion, celery and garlic and saute 4-5 minutes, until softened. Once done, pour the mixture into the slow cooker.
- Add carrots to the slow cooker and place the roast on top of the veggies. Add the chicken broth, lime juice and any remaining spice mixture.
- Place lid on slow cooker and cook on high for 6-7 hours or low for 8-10.
- Once done, turn the slow cooker off or to warm. Then, remove the pork roast and cut off the twine. Shred meat with two forks and add back to the slow cooker. Give everything a stir.
- In a pan over medium heat, melt a little fat of choice. Add the chopped cabbage and season with sea salt and pepper. Saute about 5 minutes, or until softened.
- Serve the shredded pork mixture over the cabbage and serve with avocado slices, if desired.
Yields: 3-4 servings
How I spent my Tuesday
I’ve been getting inquiries as to what my typical day looks like, so thought I’d give it a go. What’s laid about below is pretty typical, except I usually have school. It’s finals week, so my class schedule is different and actually, two of my classes ended last week. I don’t work at the gym on Tuesdays, and without school, I had a lot of time to do as I pleased. This felt great after all the end-of-term studying and chaos. I thought about posting this on Wednesday, but want to be consistent with the days I do and don’t blog, so decided to wait until today. Please know, some of these photos were taken on my iPhone, so pardon the grainy quality. Anyway, here’s how I spent my Tuesday this week:
- My alarm went off just before 5:30 a.m. My yoga clothes were already laid out from the night before on my dresser, and I got dressed in the dark. Then, I went to the kitchen, drank some water and took my Green Pasture’s fermented cod liver oil — cinnamon tingle flavor. This stuff actually tastes really good and I look forward to taking it every morning. Is that weird?
I got up about 10 minutes prior, but this is what time it was when I was messing around in the kitchen.
Green Pasture’s fermented cod liver oil. Note: this is a reused photo from the day I bought this stuff. If you look closely, you’ll see the plastic wrapper is still on it.
- I left my house at 5:45-ish and drove to my nearby yoga studio, Root Whole Body, for power vinyasa class from 6-7:30 a.m.
My yoga studio, in the dark. I’ve been practicing at this studio for over 4 years now. Root also supplies Green Pasture’s fermented cod liver oil, which is where I bought mine. They recently started carrying it, thanks to the in-house holistic nutritionist.
- I loaded up my car with my bag full of ingredients for my date/nut treats at Cultured Caveman before going to yoga, so I wouldn’t have to go back home. The new cocoa mint flavor sold out at the Hawthorne location in one day, so I needed to come in and make some more. You can learn how to make the cocoa mint truffles/bites here.
Cultured Caveman, Alberta Street location. Note: this is also a reused photo from the summer. They aren’t open early in the morning when I come in. I couldn’t get a photo this specific day because there were people working on some stuff in the cart pod.
- I went home and made breakfast, while watching The Wonder Years on Netflix. I love this show. What’s funny is I never actually watched this show when it was on, but adore it now. I have a thing for old sitcoms. I do recall watching it occasionally at my friend, Sara’s house, in elementary school though. We’d usually watch it in bed at night. I remember being jealous that she had a TV in her room.
The Wonder Years.
Breakfast of champions. Two sunny-side up pastured eggs with chives, 1/4 of an avocado, chicken breakfast sausages, apple slices and bulletproof-style, hot cold-brewed coffee. I also ate some almond butter with my apple slices.
- Checked emails, blogged, perused articles and checked reporter inquiries for NightWave Sleep Assistant (I do freelance writing for them), listened to Everyday Paleo Lifestyle and Fitness podcast, social media stuff, etc.
EPLifeFit podcast with Sarah Fragoso and Jason Seib.
- Showered, but didn’t wash my hair. There was no point because I knew I was going to Recreate later.
- Hand washed some swimsuits to take to Hawaii with me. I don’t like hand washing much, so these suits have been in my hamper since summer. I didn’t really have any need to wear them, obviously.
Swimsuits that have been sitting in my laundry basket since my trip home to Michigan this past summer.
- Attempted making coconut flour cocoa banana bread. It tasted pretty good, despite falling apart when I tipped it out of the pan (should’ve let it cool a bit before doing so). It still needs some tweaking though, so I will not be sharing the recipe at this point.
Oops. Remember how I just did a post (this very day, actually) about recipe blunders? I ate that whole little chunk that broke off, plus a little more to even out the end. I don’t like things uneven. I liked it with coconut oil spread on top.
- I wasn’t too hungry for anything else after eating a bunch of banana bread, so just ate some deli chicken slices and 1/4 of an avocado. Oh, and a spoonful of coconut butter too.
Avocado and deli chicken slices.
- Started packing for my Hawaii trip.
- Drank some Tulsi Holy Basil Tea and then a little later, some GT’s Synergy Kombucha (Trilogy flavor, my favorite) while watching A Charlie Brown Christmas on Hulu. During this time, I also looked through some cookbooks.
Chill time with some kombucha and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Oh, cookbooks too.
- Drove to Recreate for Jesse’s Primal Recess class from 4:30-5:30.
Recreate Fitness.
What we did in class. It was fun, playful and hard work! Especially the sloth traverses … those are tiring.
- Stopped at Food Front Co-op on my way home to pick up a couple ingredients for dinner. I also decided to buy a baby wreath while I was there. We decided against getting a little tree because of traveling and our two curious cats. We’ve yet to introduce them to a Christmas tree. I love the smell of Christmas trees and will miss it this year, since I’m not going back to Michigan for Christmas. I thought this would help … it’s no tree, but better than nothing.
My cute locally-made wreath. Now, I just need an over-the-door hook for it. It smells so good!
- Made dinner and ate with Jesse when he got home, around 6:45.
Dinner: flap steak with kale and a delicious mustard sauce. Recipe to come!
- Watched a couple shows on Hulu with Jesse while drinking some more Tulsi Holy Basil Tea. Then, I drank the other half of my kombucha from earlier. I also finished folding laundry from earlier.
- Showered and got ready for bed. I was in bed just before 10 p.m.
That’s it folks. It’s nothing super exciting, but some of you asked, so I shared! It’s good for me though, and that’s what matters, right?
