My eight year old daughter has a lactose intolerance. It’s such a bummer for a little girl. As a mom, this makes me feel so bad because she hasn’t been able to participate in ice cream related activities. No ice cream cake at birthday parties, no ice cream from the ice cream truck during the warm weather months and so on. It’s heartbreaking to see the disappointment on her face, but her body just can’t handle it.
So it was up to me to find different alternatives. My Cuisinart food processor was my saving grace in this situation. I visited the KitchenWorksInc. website. They sell actual Cuisinart dfp-14 parts. I ordered new blades and different sized work bowls to have onhand. Then I was able to find recipes for sorbets, non-dairy frozen yogurts, and nice cream (ice cream made with frozen bananas). What a massive difference this has made in our lives!
Sorbets are probably the most simple, since it pretty much just involves freezing whatever fruit you plan to use. Typically you would add lemon or lime juice, honey and some warm water and put it in the food processor. It comes out perfectly every time. My daughter’s favorite is a strawberry mango sorbet. It’s so delicious and great for those hot summer days.
We also make dairy-free frozen yogurt. It only consist of dairy free yogurt, frozen fruit, dairy free milk, and if you want to use a sweetener of some kind, like honey, maple syrup or agave nectar. You have to mix the frozen fruit and the non-dairy yogurt first get it to a nice consistency, and then add in the the non-dairy milk to smooth it out and sweetener to taste after. It’s also pretty easy to do.
Lastly, we LOVE making nice cream because there are so many awesome combinations to try. They all start with frozen bananas, but you can add anything to it, like other frozen fruits, nut butters, cacao power, nuts, or pretty much whatever you’d like. It’s such a great treat. I even think it’s better than actual ice cream.
So for my daughter’s birthday, we typically set up a table with all of whatever frozen treat she chooses that year (she typically will alternate them), and a bar with whatever options the kids want to top it with. It’s highly enjoyed by all the other kids, and my daughter isn’t feeling left out either. We do similar things at most events we throw. It’s a huge win win situation.
I can’t stress enough what a wonderful solution this has been for our family, and how happy it makes me to see that my daughter is happy too. I highly recommend this idea to anyone who is a parent dealing with the same situation. You will not be disappointed, I promise.
