Homemade Horchata Ice Cream

Note from Marillyn: During the months of September and October I've had several good blogger friends doing guest posts for me on Just Making Noise. This has been a big blessing and a way to keep things going here while my family and I are re-adjusting to being back home in Honduras.

Today's is the last guest post and Nicole at Gidget Goes Home is doing the honors. I am THRILLED that she is sharing an ice cream dessert with us today! Thank you, Nicole! This gal loves ice cream (and Jesus!) just as much as I do. Can't wait to give this one a try, yum!

I'm thrilled to be here today to share with you one of my favorite new homemade ice cream recipes.

Mare is one of my ice cream gurus so I'm really honored to able to guest post for her. Her eBook, Just Making Ice Cream, is one of my go-to sources for making ice cream and her use of natural ingredients in her delicious recipes always inspires me.

This recipe was inspired by the sweetly spiced Mexican treat that we sometimes indulge in at our favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant, horchata.

Horchata (pronounced or-cha-tuh) is a sweet rice milk drink seasoned with cinnamon. I adapted a recipe by David Lebovitz to create this deliciously creamy ice cream that has a wonderful texture as well.

Horchata ice cream is a perfect way to transition from summer to fall-- it's a refreshingly cold dessert that features very fallish flavors.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup Italian Arborio rice (I get mine at Trader Joe's)
• 3 cups whole milk
• 1/4 cup evaporated cane juice (raw) sugar
• scant 1/2 cup (about 7 Tbs.) raw honey
• pinch of salt
• 1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5 large egg yolks
• 1 cup half-and-half or heavy cream
• pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

How to make homemade horchata ice cream:

The first step is to bake the rice. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a 2-quart baking dish, mix the rice, milk, sugar and salt. Add the vanilla bean (scraped right into mixture) and the cinnamon stick. Cover dish with foil and bake for 1 hour. Take the rice mixture out of oven an uncover. Finish scraping the vanilla bean and remove it (leave the cinnamon stick in). Stir in the honey and bake uncovered for another half hour, until the rice is tender. Remove the dish from the oven and take out the cinnamon stick. Quickly whisk in the egg yolks all at once. Whisk in the half and half or cream. Purée half of the mixture with an immersion blender in a bowl and then add the rest of the mixture to it and sprinkle with nutmeg. Chill mixture thoroughly, covered, in the fridge.   Freeze according to your ice cream maker's instructions.   Scoop into a container to freeze, and sprinkle the top with ground cinnamon if you want. Now you are ready to indulge in this creamy dessert and enjoy its unique texture!

Nicole Bennett can be found blogging at her lifestyle blog Gidget Goes Home, which usually reflects the things that make her happy: things like spending time with her Savior in the early morning, reading, sewing, making ice cream, taking pictures, watching baseball and going for walks with her hubby and three little kiddos (the eldest of which is homeschooled). She loves the beach and anything handmade and is affectionately known as a bit of a hippie among family and friends.  

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Pumpkified Mousse {a Sugar-free, Candida-Diet Dessert for Fall}

(photo credit)

Note from Marillyn: During the months of September and October you will be seeing several good blogger friends to do guest posts  for me on Just Making Noise. This is totally a blessing and a way to keep things going here while my family and I are on our furlough.

Today is a guest post from Paula at Whole Intentions and I am very impressed with her pumpkin dessert that she is sharing with us today! Thank you, Paula! This gal knows what she is doing when it comes to sugar-free desserts. She even has an eBook coming out soon specifically focused on sugar-free & candida-friendly dessert recipes using wholesome ingredients!

Nothing says fall like pumpkins. 

Except maybe football. boots. snuggling. and sweaters.

Sure, you can feel it in the air, you can hear it in the crunch beneath your feet (no, it's not Cheerios), but it really hits home when you can taste it!

When you start looking for Thanksgiving recipes, what do you type into Google? Pumpkins. When you want a fall cookie for the cookie exchange, what do you flip through recipe books for? Pumpkin. Waffles in bed? Pumpkin.

Once October hits it's like a switch goes off and you want to eat all the pumpkin you can. Pumpkin pie. Pumpkin cookies. Pumpkin Cheesecake. Pumpkin Bars. And a big pumpkin caboose. Oh, wait. That's what happens after all the pumpkin goodies. So how can you enjoy all your pumpkin goodness without needing to join a gym come January?

Make it sugar and grain-free, sweetie, and you can enjoy without regrets! Here's one of my favorite fall desserts: 

Pumpkified Cheesecake Mousse

• 2 T. chia seeds
• 1/2 c. + 1 Tbs. xylitol granules, powdered
• 1 - 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 c. + 1 Tbs. almond or coconut milk
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. almond extract
• pinch of celtic sea salt
• stevia to taste
• pecans

Directions

1. Grind chia seeds and xylitol in small coffee grinder or high powered blender until a very fine powder.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine ground chia seeds and xylitol with all the other ingredients except the stevia and pecans. Blend well. Add stevia to taste - a little at a time.
3. Refrigerate about 1 hour before serving. Garnish with pecans before serving.
4. Store in refrigerator.

Let's look at some of the main ingredients: 
1. Chia seeds - an 'superfood' appetite suppressant known for absorbing liquid and swelling which means they make you feel full faster and stay full longer.
2. Xylitol - a sugar alcohol that contains 40% less calories and 75% less carbs than sugar.
3. Butter - a good-for-you-fat. Don't let all the hype over the last 20 years scare you. Good fats like grass fed butter do not make you fat.
4. Cream Cheese - another good-for-you-fat. You can now find greek yogurt/cream cheese which has live cultures in it.
5. Stevia - a natural herb that has no calories, no carbs, and is nearly 300 times sweeter than sugar. Can life get any sweeter?

Desserts and Candida
Not only does a dessert like this fill you up and taste amazing, it's also fully edible for those on a candida diet.

If you’re not familiar with candida, it’s a yeast-like fungus that can overgrow a person’s digestive system and cause a LOT of health issues. One of the hardest parts of having candida, especially during the holidays, is the need to be on a strict sugar-free diet.

The number one food candida loves is. . .you got it, sugar. Candida hugs it, kisses it, and devours it in one bite. It craves it, dreams about it, and plans exotic vacations with it. 

It’s just a tad bit obsessed. 

And candida could care less if it’s organic sugar, raw, fruit sugar, honey, white sugar, or corn syrup. Any kind of sugar makes it do the happy dance. And just in case you didn’t know - we don’t like the candida happy dance. ~ The Sweeter Side of Candida

My friend Sarah and I created this cookbook because we know how hard it can be to stick to a careful diet whether you need to specifically for candida, or simply to lose weight. You can find more than seventy (70!) delicious candida-diet approved and sugar-free recipes in The Sweeter Side to Candida. But don't take our word for it, get pumpkified ;)

Paula is a homeschooling mom of five. Several family health issues involving Lyme Disease, food allergies, and candida has created a passion to write about whole food, whole living, and whole faith over at, where else but... Whole Intentions  :) She's authored and co-authored candida cookbooks such as Healing Candida with Food and The Sweeter Side of Candida. You can touch base with her on Google+, Facebook, and Twitter.

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Real Food Compromises {On the Mission Field and in Your Hometown}

Note from Marillyn: During the months of September and October you will be seeing several good blogger friends to do guest posts  for me on Just Making Noise. This is totally a blessing and a way to keep things going here while my family and I are on our furlough.

Today is a guest post from Katie at Nourishing Simplicity, she and I go way back! We worked together for 2 years at Rancho Sordo Mudo, a free deaf school in Baja California. What Katie has to share with you today hits close to home with me as I live this out myself. I hope you will be encouraged and reminded that doing your best with what you have is better than nothing!

My real food journey was a slow one. I grew up eating mostly homemade meals with lots of whole grain, fruits and vrgtables. It wasn't until my early twenties that I discovered The Makers Diet and Nourishing Traditions. Once I realized why a traditional real foods diet was so important I jumped on the band wagon full force. Within a year I was soaking grains and nuts, making sourdough, kefir and kombucha and desperately searching out a place to buy raw milk.

These days, it seems like every blog you read tells you all these list of rules of "do this & not that". Such as, if you eat a bit of unsoaked grain you might as well kiss your digestive system goodbye or if your kid eats one more Red Food Dye 40 lollipop from the pinata. THEY. WILL. DIE!!!  

The truth is, sometimes as hard as you try, you can't eat perfect all the time. Sometimes, even the 80/20 rule doesn't work. I'd love if it did, but it is not a reality for me.

I'm a missionary dorm mama to a bunch of amazing girls at a school for the Deaf in Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico. I care for 7 to 16 girls ages 5 to 18 most of the year. I don't have a real kitchen (my girls eat in the dinning hall) and organic foods aren't readily available.

I'm learning the art of compromise.

If you can't have organic, pastured everything... then do the best with what you have. Worrying over what you aren't feeding your family will make you sick and wear out much faster than eating less than perfect foods. The cows where I get my raw milk, for example, are mostly grain fed since I live in a very dry climate. For me, the benefits of raw milk outweigh the fact that they don't have as much vitamin K as grass-fed milk does. 

The 7 "real food" compromises I make
1. Buy Local and in Season
If you can't find organic then local is the way to go! Think about all the farmers in your community that you are supporting by choosing to do this. As a missionary I love to see our community prosper and build relationships with the people who produce my food. I have also learned the joys of eating in season.  The foods I buy locally are:

• Whole Chickens (fed veggie scraps and grains)
• Olive Oil (sprayed crop)
• Raw Honey
• Season Vegetables (organic)
• Occasionally Wheat Berries (requires sifting)
• Raw Milk and Cream (grain fed)

2. Buy Non-Processed
There are some things that I can't find at the local farms that I do buy in the stores. I do my best to avoid anything in a package with an ingredient list. Some of my basic pantry staples come from the local mercados.

• Sugar (minimally processed)
• Piloncillo (similar to sucanat in a hard form)
• Corn Tortillas (treated with lime)
• Avocados, Mangos and Coconut (not local or organic)
• White Vinegar
• Butter

3. Grow/Raise Your Own
My girls and I continue to strive to grow a garden. Sometime the heat and lack of water (or too much water) do the little seedlings in, but there are a few things that we consistently grow each year. We also have a few chickens & a rooster and we may be getting a couple goats & a pig this year!

• Herbs (Cilantro, Peppermint, Spearmint, Chocolate Mint, Plantain, Lemon Balm, Rosemary, Basil, Lemon Grass, Lavender and Oregano)
• Carrots
• Tomatoes
• Garlic
• Green Onions
• Radishes
• Squash
• Eggs
• Roosters/Chicken (for meat)
• Citrus Trees (oranges, lemons, key limes, grapefruit and mandarins)

4. Scavenge/Forage
Life can be very busy no matter where you live. When I can find the time I forage in the hills where I live or pick unwanted fruit from friend's trees. 

• Olive Leaves
• White Sage
• Nopales (Cactus Paddles)
• Yuca Blossoms
• Pomegranates
• Figs
• Quince

5. Buy Online
When push comes to shove ordering online can be a life saver! I don't have them shipped down here or I might never see them again. When home on furlough or when work teams are visiting this is a great time to stock up on essentials that you can't find in your area. Ordering online is also a great way to save money on items when you are on a tight budget! Here is what I order online a few times a year (almost all of these are organic):

• Dried Bulk Herbs
• Wheat Berries
• Rice
• Legumes
• Coconut Oil
• Coconut Flour
• Almonds
• Canned Coconut Milk
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Baking Powder and Soda

6. Make a Long Trip
Sometimes making a long trip to the nearest large city or, in my case, the next country over is another way I stock up on hard-to-find items. I do have the benefit of living a few hours from the Mexico/US border... so, I do make trips up occasionally for shopping in grocery stores there. When it comes to trips like this you have to factor in if the cost of gas and time to get there is worth the trip. When I do go, I shop at places like Costco, Trader Joe's and Sprouts. 

• Whole Chickens
• Ground Beef
• Sausage
• Butter
• Special Vegetables

7. Do Without
There are things that you would like to have, but just can't be found where you live and is not possible to get through other methods. There are plenty of foods I wish I had but don't and I need to be okay with that. Since I eat seasonally there are months where my favorite vegetables or fruits aren't availible. Other times the cost to get it just isn't possible or worth it or I run out before my next trip to the States.

Sometimes you have to learn how to do without. It's not always fun, but it is reality. What are your tips on compromising? 


Katie Mae Stanley is a missionary dorm "mama" to 10 amazing in girls ages 10 to 18 at a home and school for the Deaf in Baja California, Mexico. She is happiest in the kitchen creating nourishing meals and home remedies or outside with at least one of her girls at her side. Katie is passionate about real food, herbs and simple living. You can find her writing about all these things and more at Nourishing Simplicity.

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How to NOT Give Up Eating Well When Life Gets Crazy

Note from Marillyn: During the months of September and October you will be seeing several good blogger friends to do guest posts  for me on Just Making Noise. This is totally a blessing and a way to keep things going here while my family and I are on our furlough.

Today I am sharing a guest post from Lauren at Mindful Mama, a new friend and fellow Jesus-loving mama blogger. I am thrilled with what Lauren is sharing with us today because I totally understand and live this out many times as a missionary mama, but just didn't know how to put it into words to share with you all! Now, I don't have to because Lauren has done it! Thank you Lauren!

I don't know about you, but there is only so much I can handle as a mother and a wife...

my fuse might just be a tad bit shorter than the average mama. Or maybe I just tell myself that to feel a little better about returning to that frazzled state, one too many times.

Life has been crazy for us...well practically, since marriage. Finishing nursing school, moving to a completely different part of the country as a (very) young married couple WITH a baby on the way, 6 years of hubbies college education, part-time jobs, ministries and 3 kids later.......WE ARE tired.

And so are you, I'm sure.

Will the chaos ever come to a halt? I'm gonna be realistic for a change and say with confidence a resounding "NO!"

In fact, two months ago, after my husband FINALLY finished his counseling degree, we sold all our stuff and in our 1998 Honda Odyssey drove back up the east coast to return to our hometown in upstate NY, where we will live for the next 2 years (more or less). Right before this big move we drove a total of 44 hours to and from our missionary training center in Kansas City, Missouri. Needless to say all of the chaos in this transition has been exceptionally challenging.

And challenging it has been to KEEP healthy eating a top priority. If you are trying to feed your family a healthy, nutrient-dense diet, somewhere along the way you decided that it was priority enough to research, shop, search, spend, cook and cook and cook......to eat this way.



Should this change when life gets crazy?
Well yes......and no.

Yes- because in seasons like this "SOMETHINGS GOTTA GIVE!" The simple logistics of demands on your time automatically changes how much time you are able to spend on finding/preparing/cooking REAL FOOD.

No- because sacrificing a filling, nutrient-dense diet during times of greater stress will only create more problems, causing you to perpetuate the vulnerable place your body is handling under increasing stressors.

Below are suggestions on how you can both sacrifice and preserve when life gets crazy.

SACRIFICE: Cut the non-essentials
Recognize the things that you do because your family enjoys them, but are not necessary for health. Is it homemade granola, crackers, ice cream or cookies you make every week? These things are fun to have, but sap up your time and energy that you need to use on other things. Cut those things out for a time, promising to return to them when things even out in your life.

PRESERVE: Keep the essentials
Evaluate the things you make that are the cheapest, quickest, biggest yield and most nutrient-dense. Homemade yogurt, homemade broth and chicken, batch of tossed salad, soaked beans/lentils, soaked & dehydrated nuts, baked oatmeal…..keeping up with these more frugal things can feed a lot of people, fill them up, and will help to keep you healthy during your crazy time.

SACRIFICE: Cut the complicated dishes.
Although you may love trying new recipes, and learning new real food tips and staples, this is NOT the time to venture out. You WILL have time to advance in your skills and understanding of how to cook the most nutrient-dense, real food diet for your family, but LOOK AROUND, if you are in a crazy season there may be other things in your life that are in desperate need of your attention at this time.

PRESERVE: Keep the easy-peasy dishes.
Stick to what you know. Remember the basics and stay there. Meat, starch and veggies. Even if you are on a special diet, the basics are still the basics. We eat a grain-sugar-lactose-free diet presently and pulling back to simple meals like burgers wrapped in lettuce with veggies sides or grilled chicken salad has fed us many a night in this crazy time.

SACRIFICE: Cut the challenging nutrient-gems.
Kombucha, homemade coconut/almond milk, kefir/crème fraiche/homemade cheeses, sauerkraut, liver pate…these things have incredible nutrient-value, and yet your body will probably not suffer if you take a pause in making them for a time.

PRESERVE: Keep the easy nutrient-gems.
Throw on the butter, coconut oil, lard, eggs, raw cheeses, red meats, oily canned fish, nuts and nut butters. These quick and easy foods offer your family nutrients they simply cannot run without.



3 important tips to help you not give up...
1) Don't be tempted to run to the junk food that you are trying to leave behind or have left behind. Don't be tricked into thinking this is the perfect time for it, it will only leave you with decreased immunity and ability to handle stress.

PLUS- you will be discouraged that you've made so many gains in eating well, only to return to the old junk. Old habits die hard, again and again.

Continue to swap out Doritos and Oreos with other quick and easy snacks (that won't make you feel cruddy!) like whole fruit with nut butter, dried fruit and nuts, cheese sticks, hard boiled eggs and veggie sticks. For meals, throw a roast in the crockpot, or some ground beef on the stove instead of the tempting idea of a frozen meal or an ordered pizza.

2) Employ others to help you. Whether your family members play a big or small role in food prep and cooking in your house, NOW is the time to employ them further! Whatever tasks they are able to do daily will help free you up more! Don't underestimate how helpful this can be. Strongly encourage your family that if they want to eat, you NEED their help…and you will be more than grateful for the extra help you have in this time.

3) If you find that it always seems you and your family are in this chaotic time that I am referring to, then maybe you need to take a step back and evaluate what your priorities are. Are you pursing things that don't have much value? Is entertainment sucking the life out of you? Are you wrapped up in a hobby that benefits no one in your life and only yourself? Is your job more of a stressor and less of a true necessity? Could you cut back in any of these areas to release yourself to pursue feeding your family a real food diet??

If you are one who says 'my life is ALWAYS crazy', it's my guess that you realize the value of real food for those you love, but haven't taken the steps needed to make it a reality--- and reap the benefits of blessing your bodies with truly healthy foods.

Be encouraged!

My husband and I are planning on making a move to Thailand in the next two years to be missionaries there who focus on helping address the needs of other struggling missionaries (member care).

My dream is to use the natural health training I have had to help keep missionaries thriving in their world, so their impact can be as life-changing as possible. When thinking about a missionary's lifestyle, I recognize that these times INEVITABLY come, or quite possibly make up a large part of a missionaries life. I'm sure Marillyn could completely attest to this hard reality. (Marillyn - yes, it is very much a part of our missionary life, but I am happy to say that I already do most of what Lauren has suggested above and have now learned some new ideas! Thanks Lauren!)

While I am apprehensive that I will be able to feed my family well in this midst of such a crazy missionary lifestyle, I am encouraged by this season we are in now, and how we have honestly been able to continue to make EATING REAL food a priority. Apart from extenuating circumstances, I believe it IS important and possible to feed your family well, no matter how busy you are.

Be encouraged, you can choose which things your family can PRESERVEin eating foods that nourish, and which things you can SACRIFICEduring your crazy season to safeguard your sanity and well being. These are the 2 keys that will help you accomplish all that you need to in this challenging time- without forfeiting your health.

Lauren is a RN by profession and a researching mom (5, 4, 1 year old) by passion.  Over the last 4 years she has brought her family from eating mostly the SAD, along with its many unhealthy consequences, to a vibrantly healthy family who is healing using REAL FOOD.  Apart from the great insight she’s gained into the failure of modern medicine through her nursing experience, Lauren has the privilege of walking with couples through labor as a birth doula.  She will start a Nutritional Therapy program in September 2013 to get a more comprehensive view of natural health, in order to provide those in her life with the most solid health counsel possible.

Wanting to be the primary discipler of her children, her husband and her have decided to home school their children, which she has bravely ventured into this year. Her husband and her are planning on moving their family to Thailand in 1.5 years to do missions work.  Additionally, they will be counseling people from a holistic model, addressing the emotional/spiritual/health aspects of overall well being. 

She is truly in her niche when she has the opportunity to teach woman more of what it looks like to be a Mindful Mama. 

Read:10 Survival Tips to Cooking for Your Real Foods Diet for more encouragement! 
Mindful Mama Top 10 Meals for my favorite real food meals.

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I'm A Guest @ The Nourishing Gourmet: Brushetta Stuffed Potatoes

Please stop by Kimi's delicious, wholesome blog and see my guest post for her Healthy Dollar Menu series! She invited me and a few other bloggers to share recipes with the goal for each serving to be a dollar or under. I am honored to be invited to participate and can't wait to see what the others have come up with!

These DELICIOUS & ADDICTING Brushetta Stuffed Potatoes were only $.55 each!! The cheese & cultured dairy made these stuffed potatoes so filling and nourishing along with the savory brushetta.

It's Italian with a whole new twist!

Please stop by, check out the potatoes and browse around Kimi's site! You'll love it :o)

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