Recipe: Ice Cream for Pregnancy!

Many of our clients know our famous "no ice cream in pregnancy!" rule.  We recommend that our pregnant clients strictly limit or totally cut out ice cream, because its high fat and caloric qualities can spell trouble for mom and baby...we've seen it time and again!Well, fortunately, like many rules, there are loopholes in the no ice cream rule!

In one of our recent childbirth education classes with the lovely Rochelle Matos, one of our families brought in ice cream for everyone to share...but it's not exactly ice cream... its gluten free and vegan-friendly and its packed with protein, which all mamas and babies need.  It isn't as loaded up with fat, calories, and sugar like regular ice cream.  This recipe is for a HEALTHY cookie dough blizzard, modeled after, and drastically improving upon (health-wise) the flavor of a DQ blizzard, in which many Minnesotans love to indulge.  The DQ version has 2.5 times the amount of calories, more than 3 times the amount of fat and carbs, over 7 times the amount of sugar, and only one-sixth the fiber and one-half the protein of our healthier alternative (see below for the numbers).  In addition, our version is made with healthy and unprocessed ingredients, which are much better for mom and baby.  (Seriously, most of the ingredients in those DQ blizzards don't sound anything like real food ingredients!)

Enjoy this delicious alternative to ice cream and feel free to get creative, making different flavors, and experimenting with fresh or frozen fruits, honey, or other healthy additions.

Ingredients

For The Cookie Dough:

• 1/2 cup of raw cashews
• ⅓ cup rolled oats
• 1 scoop vanilla whey protein isolate, or a vegan protein powder (Growing Naturals Raw Yellow Pea Protein, which you can get at the Coop, is divine)
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• ⅓ cup pitted dates, soaked in hot water
• 1 ounce of dark chocolate (preferably 70% cocoa or more)

For the ‘Ice Cream’:

• 2 bananas, cut into chunks and frozen
• 6 ice cubes
• ½ cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tablespoon natural almond, sunflower, or peanut butter

Directions

Cookie dough balls (makes 20 balls, each serving of ice cream calls for two)

1. In a food processor, mix cashews, oats, and protein powder. Pulse until a flour consistency is reached.
2. Add maple syrup and almond milk and pulse a few more times.
3. Add in the dates and process until well combined.  Batter should resemble a thick sticky paste.
4. Transfer mixture to a bowl
5. On a cutting board, cut chocolate into small chunks with a knife and fold in chocolate into mix.
6. With wet hands (important step!), roll cookie dough into small round balls. Place on a plate or cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
7. Freeze cookie dough balls for at least 3 hours. (Extras can be kept in the fridge)

Ice Cream (makes 2 servings)

1. Peel bananas and cut into quarters and freeze. Once frozen, you are ready to make the ‘ice cream’.
2. In a food processor or blender, combine banana, almond milk, ice cubes, and nut butter. Blend until smooth.
3. Transfer to lidded container and freeze for 2 hours or until firm. (if left longer and hard to scoop, just thaw on the counter)
4. Once your ‘ice cream’ is thick and scoop-able, divide between 2 glasses.
5. Drop in a couple cookie dough balls to each glass, and enjoy!

Nutritional Information

Calories: 388

Fat: 12g

Carbohydrates: 42g

Sugar: 16g

Fiber: 6g

Protein: 33g

For comparison, a medium DQ cookie dough blizzard has 1,030 Calories, 40g Fat, 157g Carbs, 117g Sugar, 1g Fiber, 17g Protein

Click here for recipe and image source