I got to visit with my friend at our church’s Independence Day breakfast. It was so fun because we talked about ice cream! She told me that she makes it every year on that day. She loves experimenting with different flavors.. So I got to thinking, why don’t I do that? I was planning on making some that day actually, so I could have some no white sugar ice cream, but I had never thought about doing it every year. But why not make it every year? After all, homemade ice cream is actually good for you, if it is made from healthful, whole ingredients. Plus, on a holiday I want to do something to make the day more memorable. What better food to make on a hot summer holiday than ice cream? Why didn’t I think of this before, after nearly 25 years of marriage/homemaking?  So I made this yummy blueberry ice cream for Independence Day. I hereby declare that this be a tradition, just like my friend has done. Now I will make some kind of ice cream every year.

So here’s the recipe I used, with some videos of variations, and then tips from my friend, who is an expert at homemade ice cream, since she makes it every year.

Healthful Homemade Ice Cream

2 cups cream, preferably raw

1 cup water, milk, or more cream. If you use water, it will be more icy, if you use cream, it will be more creamy

2/3 cup maple syrup, or other whole sweetener, to taste (I have read that stevia doesn’t work too well in ice cream, so you low carbers out there consider this a day when you indulge a bit!)

1 tsp vanilla

2 to 4 egg yolks from healthy chickens (or just whole eggs, if you are like me and don’t want to separate the yolks from the whites and then have to remember to use up the leftover whites)

1 c pureed blueberries or other mix-in, like chocolate chips or cookie crumbles

Mix everything together and put in your ice cream maker. Follow the manufacturer’s directions. I use a Donvier ice cream maker that my aunt gave to us as a wedding gift. It’s been almost 25 years and it is still going strong! It doesn’t use any electricity (other than what it takes for your regular freezer to freeze the inner Chillfast cylinder) so I like that. It means there is no noise like with electric ice cream makers. The only problem with it is that we have outgrown it with our family of 9.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can use the tin can method found here. Just ignore the recipe because it calls for evaporated milk. Use real milk and real cream!

Here’s a video with Sarah Pope, from the healthyhomeconomist.com, showing a basic vanilla ice cream recipe.which even without the blueberries in my recipe above, is slightly different.

She explains why we want to avoid commercial ice cream, which is that it usually has propylene glycol, which is used as antifreeze, to help make it scoopable. So when we make our own we can totally make sure only the best ingredients used. She also explains that maple syrup is the best sweetener to use in homemade ice cream, because it dissolves the best.

You can also just use two ziploc bags. Watch the video below. You might have to multiply the recipe in the video, it is for a single serving.

If you want to have some extra fun, then get this ice cream maker in the form of a ball like Zach and Whitney Bates did. See the video here. The kids can kick it around and make ice cream at the same time. Looks like a great way to add some zip to a party! Too bad it only makes 1 pint! You can also get it with a soft exterior that looks more like a playground ball.

If you have some bowls and a mixer, you can improvise an ice cream maker like in the video below:

Here are the tips from my ice cream expert friend:

• to get the hard texture of store-bought ice cream, simply freeze your homemade ice cream for at least 24 hours in a separate container. Wow, who would have thought it was that easy? I was thinking she was going to tell me I had to buy xanthum gum or gelatin or something like that to thicken it.

• Save your plastic gallon containers, what are sometimes called Party Pails, from when you buy ice cream at the store, to freeze the ice cream for the 24 hour period. If you can wait that long!

• if you want to have the “swirl” or marbled effect from your mix-ins, then just add the mix-in at the very end of the whole ice-cream making process and barely stir it in. So if I had wanted blueberry swirl ice cream I would have added it at the end. Mixing it in at the beginning colored the whole ice cream a blueberry tint as you can see in the photo above.

• Last of all, eat outside on a hot summer day. Enjoy!

Here is a recipe for butter pecan ice cream from Katie of wellnessmama.com. It calls for coconut milk, which won’t work for our family, because my son is allergic to coconuts. I would use cream instead of coconut milk.

Also, here is a page with ice cream recipes from Heather of mommypotamus.com: cookies and cream, strawberry, and cookie dough ice cream sandwiches. Yum!

Here are even more real food ice cream recipes, compiled by Heather of mommypotamus.com. Thank you Heather!

• Cherry Sorbet by Nourished Kitchen
• Kefir Ice Cream by Cultures for Health
• Vanilla Bean and Fresh Mint Ice Cream by Nourished Kitchen
• Blackberry Sorbet by Nourished Kitchen
• Chocolate Ice Cream by Our Nourishing Roots
• Vanilla Bean by Holistic Squid
• Salted Caramel by Sprouted Kitchen
• Chocolate “Peanut Butter” Ice Cream With Chocolate Shell by PaleOMG
• Coconut Milk Ice Cream by Heather of mommypotamus.com
• Mint Chocolate Chip by The Nourishing Gourmet
• Piña Colada by Holistic Squid
• Chai by Food Renegade