Blueberry Lavender Ice Cream

We had our fair share of ice pops this summer but somehow never ventured into ice cream territory. We certainly talked about it enough. Countless nights were spent with the four kids discussing what kind of ice cream everyone thought would be good to make. But there was never any kind of consensus so I figured, rather than encourage more argument – because we had something verging on Ice Cream Wars here -I’d put the whole thing to rest by making nothing. Serves them right. Only problem is, I wanted ice cream, too. And I was just as specific as everyone else. I wanted lavender ice cream.

All this dispute over what kind of ice cream to make reminded me of when my own kids were younger and new animals would be born on the farm. My son Chance would lean toward naming everything something grandiose. He was always spewing forth these names like Hippocrates, Aristotle or Tolstoy for these tiny baby goats who would just look at him with their little devil eyes and hop off, unimpressed. Merit wanted to name everyone after flowers. So they would stand on the fence and argue for ages about this. Until finally I would come along and break it all up with logic. “That one has a black leg; we’ll call him Boot. That one has a floppy ear; we’ll call him Flop.” And so on. End of argument.

Ultimately the Ice Cream Wars ended in much the same way. With me deciding to Just Do It and make the ice cream I wanted. Not exactly democratic, but sometimes there’s just no other way to settle things. So I proclaimed that I would be making Blueberry Lavender Ice Cream. And I guess everyone was sick of fighting because all they were interested in after that was how quickly that ice cream would made and ready for them to eat.

The processing part – when all should be quiet except for the churning of the ice cream maker – was hellish. “Is it ready yet? It looks ready.” Every two minutes. When I put it in the freezer to set for a little longer, you’d think the world was ending; they were so distraught. You can’t imagine how happy I was when it actually was ready. Peace at last.

In the end, everyone loved my choice. Not only was it light, fresh and delicious but it smelled beautiful too. “Better than chocolate”, they said. “When are we gonna’ make more?”

It never ends.

RAW VEGAN RECIPE: Blueberry Lavender Ice Cream

Ice Cream

2 cups raw cashews, soaked overnight

2 cups coconut meat

1 cup coconut water

1/2 cup raw agave nectar

1/2 cup coconut butter

2 Tbsp culinary lavender flowers

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup blueberries

Put all ingredients through salt into a Vitamix or high speed blender and process until smooth. remove to bowl and fold in bleberries.

Process in an ice cream maker according to manufacturers instructions.

Blueberry Syrup

2 cups blueberries

1/3 cup agave nectar

Put all ingredients in Vitamix or high speed blender and process until smooth.