Beware of Blue Bell Ice Cream!

Gracie played really hard at her basketball game on Saturday so when we went to the store she decided we needed ice cream! They were having a sale on Blue Bell and Gracie said she wanted chocolate - of course. I grabbed it and stuck it in the cart - then wise Gracie said "Is it gluten free?" Of course it is - right? It is basic ice cream - right?? Wrong! The chocolate has wheat flour in it. Wheat flour in ice cream. Needless to say so did several other flavors. I will not assume plain chocolate ice cream - or any flavor is "safe" after this. The Vanilla is the only one we found that showed gluten free.

Braum's, Breyer's and others have gluten free ice creams so they would be better choices.

I had always thought of simple ice cream as being "safe." No more.

I just "Stumbled Upon" this one! One ingredient ice cream!

Troy has been a big fan of "StumbleUpon." You click on what you are interested in, push the "stumble" button and it will take you to random sites. This is how I found the cake below and how I found this delightful ice cream idea!!

One ingredient ice cream. That's right - ONE INGREDIENT! The recipe is on "The Kitchen" site. In a nutshell freeze bananas, blend and voila! Creamy ice cream. Dairy free, gluten free, sugar free... Nothing but bananas.

I think I will have to try this one.

Update 4/21/10

We tried the "ice cream" and it was GREAT! Surprisingly so.

I had three bananas that were "just turning." They were not brown but they were perfectly spotted which means sweet and delicious. I sliced them and put the in the freezer. Tonight I put them in my little "Oscar" - or small food processor - and beat the heck out of them! At first they were sort of crumbly and hard - almost like chopped nuts. Gracie and I tried it at this point and she thought they had the taste and texture of banana split Dippin Dots. I thought it was really good but thought Sam would probably prefer they be sweeter so I added about a teaspoon of honey and a few drops of good vanilla - then I beat the heck out of it again! My poor little Oscar! It had never worked so hard. It started to make a "hot" smell - a little concerning. Next time I will "chop them" until they are the chopped nut consistency then let it sit for a minute just so it can soften a bit - but not too much.

When it started moving from the chopped nut consistency to a smoother one it started "balling" up like bread dough might - then it let go and started getting a whipped consistency similar to semi frozen Cool Whip. It turns to a soft serve consistency. I assume you could put it in a container and freeze it solid.

It was yummy! Gracie LOVED it, Troy thought it would be good as a base for sundaes and Sam thought it was "OK" and added chocolate syrup (he is NOT a fruit eater :) I tried a little chocolate on mine and it took on a banana split flavor. We will be doing this again.

Of course many ice creams is gluten free but it is rarely this good, this healthy and dairy free!

PS: Needless to say the picture on top is mine!

There's an App for that!

While Grace ate her Gluten Free Ice Cream at the cute little shop in Southlake I played with my new iPhone. We were considering going to dinner later and I thought I would do a search on "Gluten Free" on the App Store. There were about Apps under Gluten Free - restaurant finders, Celiac Restaurant Cards (which could be pulled up in different languages!) gluten free info etc.

Are they awesome? Not really. Are they fun - you bet. Some are free, some are under $2 and others are over priced. It is just nice to know they are out there.