Avocado Fruit Shake

Week 2 of cleanse and I've already fallen off the wagon. After 7 days of juicing/eating raw 2 out of 3 meals, I was really hungry by Day 7. I splurged by enjoying Thai food for dinner. That and long days working at the hospital without seeing the sun made it inconvenient to eat fresh fruit and salads this past week. It sort of spiraled me into my old diet which wasn't unhealthy, but you know, I wanted to stick to the cleanse.

So, today, May 8th, I'm back on it. Hopefully, I'll make it past a week this time. Only three more weeks of my "day job"... after that I should have no problem eating fresh and raw frequently.

Besides my post-workout smoothie of banana, spinach, and unsweetened soymilk, I finally had a chance to use up my ripe avocados for a shake. I wanted to sip on something all day until our dinner party tonight. (I'm bringing supplies to make your own brownie fudge sundaes with coconut ice creams, homemade brownies & hot fudge, and my special candied walnuts.)

Here are the ingredients for my avocado shake:

1 ripe organic avocado
1 organic lime
1/2 large organic cucumber
1/2 cup frozen or fresh organic blueberries or any fruit you like

Directions:

• Blend the avocado, lime juice, and cucumber (skinned, but included seeds) together until it becomes a creamy smoothie.
  
• Add water or coconut water to desired consistency.
• Pour into glass(es).
• Clean out Vitamixer and add blueberries with some water or coconut water.
• Add the blueberry puree to the avocado shake, and gently stir with a spoon until blueberries emerge throughout.
  

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First Attempt: Ice Cream

My other favorite food group (besides dumplings and ramen) is ICE CREAM! I tried making ice cream once before and it failed miserably. It was terribly crystallized from the lack of cream. With a new Vitamixer in hand, I decided to give it another shot.

Result: a little too thick! Fearing it would be too "icey", I didn't add additional nut or coconut milk. I will next time. It could've used some because the ice cream came out a bit thick from the mix of raw cashews and coconut meat. However, It's kicking major butt as a milkshake. The flavor is perfect and it's as creamy as cream!

Ingredients:

3 cups organic raw cashews
2 cups of green tea
1 box of organic creamed coconut (Let's Do Organic makes a great version)
1 cup of organic grade B maple syrup (or preferred sweetener)
1/2 tsp. sea salt
2 T. organic unsweetened vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean scraped
1 T. organic peppermint extract
1.5 bars of Endangered Species Deep Forrest Mint Chocolate, finely chopped to create flecks in ice cream

Directions:

• Soak raw cashews in water overnight. Enough water to barely cover cashews. (Don't let this sit for more than a day or mold will come a trampling.)
  
• Cream cashews 1 cup at a time in Vitamixer or blender.
  
• Add 2 cups of brewed green tea instead of water for added nutritional benefits. Liquid here helps cream the cashews to a smooth consistency. If you don't want to bother with tea, feel free to use water or milk substitute. You can't taste the green tea in the end anyway. It was just handy!
  
• Throw a box of creamed coconut into the Vitamixer and blend until smooth.
  
• Add sea salt, vanilla and peppermint extract. You may also use fresh mint instead, but I didn't have any on hand at the time. Plus, I prefer the taste of peppermint over regular mint for ice cream. I bet the local farmer's market has peppermint mint... will check it out.
  
• Finely chop 1.5 bars (or more if desired) of a mint chocolate bar. I like Endangered Species because it uses unrefined beet sugar and not much sugar compared to other bars, as well as donating to wildlife. I find their chocolate less sweet in general.
  
• Add chopped chocolate to Vitamixer and pulse a few times. Be careful not to blend all the chocolate into the cream.
• Pour mixture into ice cream maker and follow manufacture's instructions.
  

I left this in the freezer overnight and the ice cream turned into rock. I took the ice cream container and moved it to the fridge to thaw. A day later, it was a creamy soft serve, which is my favorite form of ice cream. Wish I could make some swirls with it. It's a good start, but not perfect yet. I'll make some adjustments and try again soon.

What are your tricks to making creamy vegan ice cream?