Almond Pumpkin Ice Cream

I have a lot of things I want to write about, but I’m feeling like sharing a recipe instead—I figured you wouldn’t mind!

Today I made Pumpkin Ice Cream. Here’s how it went:

1. Soak 1 cup almonds for 12 hours, rinse, peel.

2. Add almonds to blender with 1 cup almond milk and 1 cup filtered water (I used Voss).

3. Add the guts of one vanilla bean and 1/2 cup sugar (I used the zero glycemic load, healthy Lakanto).

4. Blend on high for a minute and then turn to low…leave running.

5. In mixing bowl, stir together 1 can organic pumpkin with 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp cinnamon.

6. Add this mixture to the blender, and continue blending.

7. In the food processor, add 1 cup soaked and dehydrated almonds (or you could just use raw organic almonds) with 1/2 cup Lakanto (or raw sugar), and a splash of vanilla extract. Pulse till coarsely chopped.

8. Dump the nut mixture into the mixing bowl that you haven’t washed yet—it has a little pumpkin residue on the sides. Add 2 Tbsp Chia seeds (optional), and a dash or two of sea salt. Stir and refrigerate.

9. Taste the blender concoction and add stevia or Lakanto (sugar) if needed.

10. After the blender concoction is really super smooth, add it to your ice cream maker and turn on (or freeze, stirring every once in a while for a few hours).

11. Scoop ice cream into a dish and sprinkle nuts over it…The longer you leave the ice cream in the ice cream maker, the more firm it will get. We didn’t wait long—it was like soupy soft serve. Yum!

Voila! This is super — for your health and your taste buds!

Pumpkin is great for you as an anti-aging and disease-preventing food. It has:

Alpha-carotene

Beta-carotene

Fiber

Vitamins C and E

Potassium

Magnesium

Pantothenic acid

Almonds are great for you because they are high in vitamin E and healthy fats. They have good amounts of magnesium, potassium, zinc, iron, fiber and are a good source of healthy monounsaturated fat.

This could also easily be a smoothie instead of ice cream—just leave out the nut topping steps and drink when blended!