How Not to Eat Ice Cream in the Middle of Summer

As I’ve mentioned previously in my blogs I’m allergic to most dairy foods. I can tolerate some fermented dairy like kefir, goat yogurt or sheep/goat feta. Ice cream is a big no-no. Back in the day before my allergies I used to love Dairy Queen’s Butterscotch malts. The last time I had that was 1998 and I was doubled-over for 12 hours. It’s just not worth it. So how do I survive a summer without ice cream, here are some of my tips:

- At the neighborhood ice cream establishment, when everyone is ordering ice cream sundaes get yourself an orange or raspberry sorbet sundae with hot chocolate sauce. Even StoneCold Creamery has a sorbet sundae now

- Argo Tea has some really yummy ice teas like the Mojito Tea that doesn't have any dairy at all

- I learned this trick from a raw food chef. If you blend a banana, freeze it and slightly thaw it the texture is similar to ice cream. It’s even better if you run it through a Champion Juicer after it’s thawed a bit. It's a similar consistency to the ole soft serve cone

- Make your own smoothies so much healthier than Jamba Juice. Choose a liquid foundation to start with such as nut milk or coconut water; add a fruit (banana is the creamiest); add a powder such as Jay Robb, which is the only tolerable protein powder in the market (IMHO); add flavor such as raw chocolate or organic cocoa powder, or mesquite meal which tastes similar to Butterscotch (so I can re-visit all those DQ memories)

- Of course this isn't the healthiest of options as I try to avoid "red no. 12" but the ice cream man does have some non-dairy treats like popsicles of all shapes and sizes as well as snowcones

-I'm gonna end this post with a mention of my favorite summer treat of all: durian. You can buy it frozen here in Chi-town at the Vietnamese markets. I'll warn you it smells really bad. So bad that I usually wrap it several times in bubble plastic when I keep it in the freezer. But the taste is worth it, it's sort of a custardy, vanilla meets an onion taste—I know indescribable. I love durian thawed a bit with some homemade chocolate sauce (which is usually coconut oil, cocoa powder or raw chocolate and some raw honey or agave). I sometimes make a smoothie with durian, avocado and coconut water. Yum!