Summertime treats!

When Gayle and I got together, I quickly discovered he was an ice cream addict. In just a few short months, no matter how I tried to resist, I had gained 30 pounds. I knew I wasn't going to dissuade him from ice cream, so I had to come up with a better alternative. (Of course, he doesn't gain an ounce.)

Enter, the Cuisinart Ice-20. I can only recommend the Ice-20 because that's the one I have. There are newer fancier versions now, but I bought the Ice-20 because the Amazon seller I used offered two freezer containers for the price of one, and who doesn't want ice cream at the ready anytime?

It has made a HUGE difference for us. First, we wouldn't go back to commercial ice cream if you paid us to. We don't even entertain the thought, or long for a single brick or container. We don't even glance at that freezer. Why? Despite all the lovely combinations they have, I have been able to come up with equally tasty treats of all stripes and flavors, it's much healthier without sacrificing any taste, it's fun, it's easy, and it's convenient.

With the Ice-20, there is no muss, no fuss -- no ice or salt required. We have two freezer bowls that are in the freezer at all times unless one is in use. It's nice to have two because you can keep them rotated. For best results, the bowl has to be frozen at least 24 - 36 hours after it is used, so with two, we always have one ready to go.

We always have milk on hand, either dairy or almond milk. We used to keep cream and half'n'half, but I decided it would be better to go low fat on the ice cream -- and figured out how to do it without sacrificing taste or texture.

It takes between 23 & 33 minutes to make, depending on whether you're making soft-serve yogurt, or creamier, more solid ice cream.

Our newly discovered summer favorite: Dark Chocolate Raspberry.
Here's how simple it is:
In blender:
1 1/2 cups Dark Chocolate Almond Milk (Silk)
1 1/2 cups Glen Oaks Raspberry Drinking Yogurt
1/3 cup Whey-Low Ice Cream sugar (Low-glycemic)

That's it! Blend it for a few seconds while you're putting the ice cream maker together (consisting of taking off the plastic lid, setting one of the freezer bowls in place, setting in the paddle, and repositioning the lid). I bring over the blender pitcher, flip the start button on the ice cream maker (it must be turned on before adding ingredients), and pour in the contents of the pitcher. I set my kitchen timer for 30 minutes and walk away. In 30 minutes I will have the creamiest textured Dark Chocolate Raspberry ice cream. Yum!

The best frozen yogurt was a real shocker:
1 1/2 c. organic skim milk
1 1/2 c. organic plain yogurt
1/3 c. Whey-Low ice cream sugar

30 seconds in the blender, 20 minutes in the Cuisinart. One would think it would be very plain tasting, but it's sweet and tart, and darned near has a lemony flavor to it. Our all-time favorite.

The recipe is always the same for a max capacity batch: 1 1/2 c of base, 1 1/2 c of thickener/flavor, and 1/3 c. of Whey Low ice cream sugar.

A recipe booklet comes with it, and they give you the recipes for fancy custard ice-creams where you have to cook it and cool it, but I'm kind of the instant gratification type and have never found myself wishing for anything "more."

I'm thinking of putting together a tips & recipe e-booklet for it. If enough of you email me and suggest that I do it, you'll get yours for free.

My other favorite sugar...

I won't even call it a sugar substitute because that conjures up images of sickeningly sweet things, which this product is not. It is real sugar, 70-80% lower on the glycemic index than regular sugar.

While I use my SweetLeaf liquid Stevia for all drinks, my baking is something entirely different. I really haven't even researched whether or not one can use granulated Stevia for baking because I bake on a scale where it quite likely would make them prohibitively priced.

However, I found a fabulous product which enabled me to eliminate every bit of "real" sugar (if that's what you want to call it) from my kitchen without sacrificing a thing. And it's available in small or large quantities for the occasional baker to one who, like me, often bakes for farmers' markets.

I think if I were marketing it, I'd call it something other than "Whey Low," because some people have connotations of whey like they do of sugar substitute. Yet, it's truth in advertising, and I suppose they avoid angry vegans or lactose intolerant people who order without reading.

Anyway, once you taste a Whey Low product, or a product made with Whey Low you won't worry about the name. Whey Low *GUARANTEES* their product to taste exactly like sugar. And it does -- only better. It can be substituted tablespoon for tablespoon or cup for cup for sugar, and they have all kinds -- Whey Low Granulated, Whey Low Gold (like Brown Sugar), Whey Low Maple, Whey Low Powdered, and Whey Low Ice Cream Sugar. They even have a special formulation for diabetics called Whey Low-D.

So, how can it be better than sugar? Although my partner and I noticed no difference in taste making recipes with Whey Low over recipes made with regular brown or white sugar, we found after using it for a while that we completely lost our "taste" for products made with regular sugar. Products made with regular sugar taste cloyingly sweet now. We easily pass up commercial treats, no matter how tempting they look, because we know we won't like their ultra-sweetness.

Same thing with ice cream. We were store-bought ice cream-aholics. But once we bought our own ice cream maker (an upcoming review), the Cuisinart Ice-20, and started making our own ice cream with the Whey Low ice cream sugar, we were never tempted to go back to commercial ice cream. I'll share all the benefits of that with you in my upcoming review of the Ice-20.

And a little secret -- after buying the sampler pack from Whey Low and trying all of the various flavors, We primarily center on just two of them: the ice cream and the maple. The ice cream sugar I buy in 20 lb tubs for all my ice cream and baking, and I have found that it works equally well for anything requiring just regular granulated sugar as well for the ice cream. The maple sugar is said to be for making maple syrup, but as we don't use much syrup, I just use it for many recipes calling for granulated sugar and maple flavoring. I make a delectable apple/maple cake, maple cookies, maple pecan ice cream, and anything else I think might benefit from maple flavoring. I was making iced raisin cookies this morning, and the recipe called for brown sugar. I didn't have any Whey Low Gold on hand, so I substituted the Whey Low Maple, and they were lovely. It's a subtle flavor, barely detectable as different from brown sugar in many recipes, but an outstanding addition to plain cake recipes, or to sprinkle on top of apple slices by themselves.

Read all about or order Whey Low here: www.wheylow.com. You won't regret making the switch! (But if you somehow do regret it, they have a full, money-back guarantee. ><)