Summer Ice-Cream....

I've been messing around with making sorbet and thought that I would check out how to make ice-cream, when I had a go and saw how easy it was; it was really hard to stop! I've since splurged a little on an ice-cream maker and it has been so much fun for Gracie and I.

As you know, Grace is lactose and gluten intolerant so Summer can be a little depressing when you want a nice, creamy, cold ice-cream and another ice block just won't cut it. Soy ice-cream is expensive, so it tends to be a special treat and is rationed out — not fun — and definitely not enough to fill a cone and have it dripping down your hand. That, would be far too wasteful.

Anyway, back to the good stuff — how to make it! I mucked around with a few recipes that I found on-line and I think that I have created the perfect ice-cream (for us) that isn't full of gelatin or things that are super hard to find. I have the recipes here for either vanilla or strawberry; we made strawberry and it was awesome. Using coconut cream means that you have a similar fat content as regular cream which gives it a wonderful texture; you can't taste the coconut but if you wanted to play up that flavour add almond extract instead of vanilla.

Vanilla Ingredients:
3 egg yolks
200g caster sugar
1 x 165 can of coconut cream
just under 1 cup of soy milk (any kind)
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
Strawberry:
200g chopped strawberries
1-2T strawberry yoghurt

Gluten/Dairy Free Chocolate Chip & Ricie Cookies

I'm always trying to convert recipes for Grace so that she can have yummy treats — there is so much that she can't have and I feel so sorry for her sometimes! I adapted these from a great cookbook called Kitchen for Kids by Jennifer Low. The recipes are really easy and interesting so great for when you have a spare 1/2 an hour to make something delicious! These seriously took me no longer than 20 minutes — instant gratification for a pre-schooler, haha

These cookies are meant to be made with Butterscotch chips, but being that Butterscotch has way too much sugar for kids, I substituted it for dark compound chocolate chips which the recipe suggested.

I buy the Pams dark compound chocolate chips as they are totally dairy free, with no skim milk powder — none of the others I have found are dairy free so if you find some, grab 'em!

Recipe after the jump...

Welcome!

Hey there,

Thanks for stopping by. I thought that I had better pop up a little post about what this blog is going to be about and my high hopes for what it could be...

Money is pretty tight at the moment for most people, and if you're anything like me, you probably live week to week with nothing but the smell of an oily rag left over the day before pay day. Well, I've been practising at keeping as many pennies in my purse before the next pay day as I can. So far it has been going rather well, with the occasional skimming it really does add up and when my next warrant is due or my phone bill is a little scary-big, I don't cry and instead I'm a little better prepared.

Some of the things that I will be posting about are — sewing patterns, recipes, budget tips, ways to change spending habits without it being too painful, gardening, links to great tutorials, my own tutorials and my own experiences with all of these things.

A bit about me and my background — I am a solo Mum of one little girl who is now 4, she has a special lactose and gluten free diet thanks to some allergies, and the special foods I buy can be rather expensive. I am back studying full time after being made redundant earlier this year and I run 2 little craft businesses that aren't (yet) making me millions but are a lot of fun regardless.

I'm not a budget freak, I also sometimes slip up and overspend a bit (usually on my daughter though!), so just so you know, I'm pretty normal with my spending habits. I'm not here to give anyone a golden ticket or a 'get rich quick' remedy, just merely to share a little bit of advice from what I have learnt since having a few life changing financial situations over the years, and hopefully some people out there may find it helpful and use my tips and tricks in their own lives.

Chat soon!
Jess