Lemon Kefir Ice Cream

This is our first spring living here in Texas, and as a native-Chicago girl, I couldn't be more pleased that our warm weather began showing up at the end of January. We're well into the eighty degree weather, and I oftentimes have to remind myself that it's still March, even though it looks and feels like July. Of course, since it is Texas, I do know that July here will be much different than July in Chicago. We moved to Austin in July last year, and had quite the taste of those blazing temps.

All this warm weather has us taking out our ice cream maker almost every week. And, well, I don't think the cooler weather would have stopped us either. Homemade ice cream is just so deliciously creamy and pure -there's no comparison to store-bought ice cream. We bought our ice cream maker last October in celebration of my birthday... which wasn't until November, that's how excited I was to have rich, nutritious, homemade ice cream on hand.

The best part about having an ice cream maker is being able to avoid all the additional preservatives and junk the manufacturers put into the store-bought ice cream. The scary thing is that many of these additives aren't even required to be on the ingredient list! Another plus to making your own ice cream is being able to choose the quality of milk and ingredients.  Most store-bought ice cream only uses pasteurized skim milk, but we learned how important it is to have traditional fats in our diet. We use fresh, whole raw milk and cream for our ice cream, along with egg yolks and honey as our sweetener. I mentioned in my last post that I'm doing the GAPS diet to heal my gut, and right now I cannot tolerate fresh milk, but I can drink kefir, a fermented milk drink. The sour taste of kefir lends itself well to making tangy ice creams, such as those with fruit - like lemon!

One of my favorite memories growing up is being at Wrigley Field, watching the Cubs play, burning in the hot sun, and chipping away at my lemon freeze dessert. I have no idea what those desserts are called anymore, but it was basically frozen lemon sorbet in a cup. To me, that refreshing, cold, lemon tang is synonymous with summertime, and so you can imagine how ecstatic I was to replicate this treat using fresh and pure ingredients. In this recipe I use kefir, a strong probiotic beverage. I have been promising a recipe in which to use this fermented milk drink in order to make it more palatable. Well, folks, it doesn't get more palatable than this! I love to invent recipes that are not only delicious, but also very healthy. Due to its fermented nature, and the fact that it's made from fresh whole milk, this ice cream is so healthy you could eat it for breakfast without guilt.

I have made it twice so far for family and friends, and we've manage to finish it all off before I was able to snap a photo. It's THAT good. This dessert is so full of flavor, it's an explosion of summer in your mouth. You're going to love it!

Lemon Kefir Ice Cream

Ingredients

4 cups kefir from fresh whole milk (read this to know how to make kefir)

3/4 - 1 cup organic lemon juice (use 1 cup if you like it more sour)

3/4 cup raw honey

Zest of 2-3 organic lemons

A handful of organic blueberries

Instructions

1. In a blender or mixer add all the ingredients (except blueberries) until well combined.

2. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and follow the directions for your personal machine. Our ice cream maker usually takes about 25 minutes to make the ice cream.

3. Store in a sealed container in your freezer until you're ready to serve.

4. We like to throw a few blueberries in our bowl, having found the flavors quite complementary. 

This is one of my favorite ways to eat kefir. 

How do you enjoy eating your kefir? Please share!

This was entered into Kelly the Kitchen Kop's Real Food Wednesday.