Vegan Cheesecake Ice Cream

My fiance loves Cheesecake Ice Cream, so I resolved to make a healthier and lower calorie version of it. It turned out delicious and creamy, but not 100% exactly the same as cheesecake ice cream. But We both loved it so much, I am going to share the recipe with you.

Vegan Cheesecake Ice Cream

(Free of Dairy, Gluten, and Refined Sugars)

Makes about 8 servings (½ Cup each)

Ingredients:

* 1 Cup Soy Milk (Unsweetened Vanilla)

* 1 Cup Almond Milk (Unsweetened)
* 1 Cup Tofutti Cream Cheese (an 8oz tub)
* ½ Cup Agave Nectar
* 1 Tsp Lemon Juice
* ½ Cup Almond Milk mixed with 2 Tbsp Cornstarch
* ¼ Tsp Vanilla Extract

 1.      Combine soy milk, 1 cup almond milk, cream cheese, agave, and lemon juice in a saucepan. 

 2.      Heat and mix with a whisk to melt the cream cheese, and whip it to get frothy.

 3.      Once the mixture is boiling, take from heat and add cornstarch/milk mixture. The liquid should thicken slightly.

4.      Stir in vanilla extract.

 5.      Pour into a covered container and put it into the refrigerator for a few hours.

 6.      Freeze cream cheese mixture according to your ice cream maker’s instructions.

 7.      Ice cream will be soft, so scoop it into a covered container and freeze (stirring every 2 hours) until it reaches the desired consistency.

 

  

8.      Serve with fresh berries, warmed fruit spread/preserves, or crushed graham crackers.

 Here I have a serving of Cheesecake Ice Cream with 10 Blueberries, 1 Tbsp Warmed Blueberry All Fruit Spread, and 8 Gluten Free Animal Crackers (6 Crushed on the bottom, two reserved for the top).
What a delicious and indulgent dessert for less than 280 Calories!

Each ½ cup serving Vegan Cheesecake Ice Cream has about:

Calories: 146

Total Fat: 6.1g

Saturated Fat: 2.0g

Cholesterol: 0mg

Sodium: 157mg

Total Carbohydrates: 20.8g

Dietary Fiber: 1.7g

Sugars: 14.7g

Protein: 2.3g

Vitamin A: 2%

Vitamin C: 0%

Calcium: 4%

Iron: 2%

For the same serving size of Baskin-Robbins New York Cheesecake Ice Cream:

Calories: 280

Total Fat: 16.0g

Saturated Fat: 10.0g

Cholesterol: 50mg

Sodium: 135mg

Total Carbohydrates: 31.0g

Dietary Fiber: 0g

Sugars: 27.0g

Protein: 5.0g

Vitamin A: 10%

Vitamin C: 2%

Calcium: 15%

Iron: 2%

Side-Dishes Bento

I was flipping through my Bento Cookbooks and I marked off some dishes I wanted to make, and I had the ingredients for... After a while I realized that all the foods I wanted to make were essentially side-dishes and fillers for bento. So I decided to make a bento of all side-dishes.

 It may be a bento made up of Side-dishes and bento fillers, but it was super delicious. I remember asking my mom if we could have a dinner made of side dishes, and I remember loving those dinners. I also remember asking for a school lunch made up of the sides (fruit, veggies and dip, snacks, and no sandwich) and those were the most fun lunches. That might be one of the reasons I love bento so much now!

• Strawberry Fan
• Raw Cashews
• Raw Almonds
• 1/2 Peach

• Spinach Tamagoyaki (Omelet Roll)
• Jyagatama/Potato Salad Balls (I used leftover Brussels Colcannon and added peas and Carrots before forming it into balls)
• Sauteed Carrots (W/ Garlic, Cracked Pepper, and a Cucumber Heart on top)
• Tomato Rose (Rose made out of tomato peel)

So there you have it, a Bento made with yummy side dishes and fillers... and you know what? I loved this bento. I often have trouble finding a main dish for my bentos unless I am using leftovers or making a sandwich, but maybe I'll just make more side-dish heavy bentos from now one because they are so yummy and easier to make.

Weekend Work Bentos

My fiance is working all weekend again, so Saturday I made a lunch and dinner bento for her to take to work.

First up is the Lunch Bento:

I tucked a LunchBox Love Note into the top of the bento box as a special surprise. This one says 'You Are Truly My Best Friend'. I also asked her what animal pick she'd like and she said dog. So I added two Doggy picks to the bento to dress it up a little bit.

• Turkey Sandwich (Whole Wheat Bun, Chipotle Mayo, Butter Lettuce, Cheese, Turkey)
• Almonds
• Mini Box Raisins
• Red Grapes (I call them Purple Grapes)
• Strawberry

Next up is the Dinner Bento:
Packed in a simple plastic container so she can microwave it at work and not worry about ruining a bento box.

 This is packed with leftovers from the other night.

• Cornmeal Crusted Pork Chop
• Brussels Colcannon (Mashed Potatoes mixed w/ Butter Spread, Sauteed Brussels Sprouts, Cracked Pepper, Garlic, Fat Free Sour Cream)
• Frozen Peas & Carrots (W/ Butter Spread on top so when she microwaves it the butter will melt over the veggies)

 I wrapped the bentos together with a big purple ribbon and added a handwritten note. This should be a nice surprise for her when she opens her lunch bag at work. :)

I love you my Love! I hope you have a great day at work, and stay cool in this humidity.

Fiance Made Bento

I had to go into work early today so I asked my fiance if she'd bring me lunch while I was working. And not only did she bring me lunch but she made it into a bento! Aww I love her soooo much. I am so lucky!

• Turkey Sandwich (Udi's GF Fiber Bread, Whole Grain Mustard, Turkey, Tomato)
• Kosher Dill Pickle Half (Cut in half)
• Snyder's Veggie Sticks

This was the best bento ever because my fiance made it for me and brought it in and sat with me while I had lunch. Awww, It was the best part of my day! :)
Thank you soooooo much My Love! XD

Cucumber Avocado Maki Bento

My fiance and I ordered Japanese food yesterday, and I have never had sushi before, so I decided to try the Cucumber Avocado Maki. I also ordered Edamame because that's my favorite!
I put my food into a bento box because it was pretty and I wanted to show it off. :)

 Look at those greens! I love cucumbers and I love Avocado, so I thought this would be the perfect thing for me to try. Unfortunately I have issues with textures sometimes (Creamy foods give me problems) and the avocado was super creamy... So I was unable to eat my maki. I ended up giving it to some family members who were visiting. :(
Next time I'll have to try just a cucumber roll without anything creamy in it.

• Edamame (Soybeans steamed in their pods)
• Cucumber & Avocado Maki
• Sauteed Vegetables (Mushrooms, Zucchini, and Broccoli that I stole from my fiance's dinner box)

I also used the little fake grass divider that came with my maki. :)

Panda Salad Bento

Keeping with the theme of my Monday Breakfast Bento, I made a Panda Themed Bento lunch to bring into work.

 Aww, look at those Pandas playing in my salad. But don't worry it's not Panda Salad!

 This part of the bento holds:

• 2 Cherries
• 2 PBJ Thumbprint Cookies (my favorite Homemade GF/SF/Vegan cookies)
• 1 Tbsp Soy Nuts
• 8 Pistachio Nuts
• Turkey Flower (1 Slice Deli Turkey)
• 1 Tbsp Light Italian Dressing

And this part of the bento has my Salad. The salad was leftover from a local pizza place. I love their salads because they use the mesclun mix, and I love that they add carrots, cucumber, tomato, red cabbage, and kalamata olives to the salad greens. YUM! Plus they are always super fresh. This is how it looked after being in the refrigerator for 1 1/2 days. Imagine how amazing it looked when I got it. These salads are huge, that's why I had leftovers. Enough for me to have 3-4 bowls of salad.

Pig & Panda Breakfast Bento

My schedule changed this week, and instead of working the closing shift on Monday and Wednesday, I worked the Opening shift. So Sunday Night I made myself a Breakfast Bento to grab on my way out the door.

• Homemade GF/SF Blueberry Toaster Pastry (Recipe Here)
• 1/2 Cup Kix (Under the toaster pastry)
• 20 Blueberries
• 4 Cherries

I decorated the bento with pigs and Panda bears. I love the colors it adds, and bears and pigs are cousins. Technically the pink food pick is a pink bear, but I took some creative liberty and called it a pig.

The Toaster pastries are sooo good, and I will be making these again with different fillings. I am surprised at how close they are to Pop Tarts (The pastry tastes just like it but much less sweet). The filling was the best part though... isn't it always?

What is your favorite toaster pastry filling?