I Scream, You Scream, We All Scream For Soy

Since I stopped eating dairy, I haven't missed all that many foods, thanks to fantastic substitutes.

There have been two things, however, that I love too much in the real form to be able to accept in any non-dairy form. The first thing is pizza, because soy and rice cheese tastes like glue, and because pizza without cheese doesn't taste enough like pizza to quell my craving. The other thing is ice cream. There are, of course, fine milk substitutes out there; I use soy milk on a daily basis. But it doesn't quite measure up when you're looking for the creamy, fatty goodness that real milk brings to ice cream.

As the days get sunnier and the weather gets warmer, I can't help but wish I could eat some ice cream. I've had soy ice cream before, and it was alright. It's decent as a frozen treat, but it offers about the same level of satisfaction as real ice cream that comes out of a container boasting "75% less fat."

But ice cream is part of summer, and if I'm going to enjoy my summer, I'm gonna need a scoop once in awhile. So I decided the other day to find out how to make non-dairy ice cream at home. After all, I have a hardly-used ice cream maker that I got as a wedding gift just waiting for its chance to please.

A quick Google search lead me to this blog, which features all sorts of ice cream recipes for vegans. I am not a vegan, of course, but I have become very grateful to those folks who are, because they provide me with some great recipes. The blog ended up being quite the jackpot for me and earned a coveted place among my bookmarks.

I decided to start with something relatively easy and go with cookies and cream. I altered it a little bit; it called for two tablespoons of arrowroot, and I wasn't quite sure what that was or where to find it, so instead, I used corn starch, which the blog owner had mentioned as a possible alternative. I also couldn't find soy coffee creamer, so I used coconut milk, which gives the soy ice cream that thick, creamy quality that you get in the real thing.

I was a little concerned about whether the stuff would freeze properly -- I've had trouble with that even when I've made real ice cream -- but it froze like a dream and tasted great too. My only complaint is that it tastes like coconut, which isn't necessarily what you want when you're eating cookies and cream, so I think I'll have to look a little harder for the soy creamer next time I make a flavor that doesn't lend itself to a coconutty taste.

All in all, however, I am very pleased at the way my experiment turned out, and even more pleased that my Hershey's syrup and sprinkles will not go to waste this summer.