Roasted blueberry frozen yogurt

Roasted blueberry frozen yogurt

Life has been nothing but a steady stream of good, lately. Nothing necessarily exciting has happened (ok, nothing exciting has happened) (at all), but I wake up every morning feeling happy. Energized. Motivated to be the best person I can. Because I've discovered that making it a priority to be a good person - to every single human I encounter - has changed my view on life. Not to mention, it's changed my purpose in life. It is now my perogative to be a good-doer. No matter what. No matter if I'm having the shittiest day of my week, I will do good for someone else. Because maybe they're having a shitty day, too. And maybe a glass of ice cold lemonade will make their problems seems a little less terrible. Even if it is just a glass of ice cold lemonade.

Going with the theme of being a good person, I started doing good for a homeless man who sleeps on a bench across the street from my bedroom window. I've spent a countless number of nights peering out said window, looking down at the man as he tries to get comfortable on a wooden bench that is much too small for his lengthy body. I cry. Then I laugh. Because life is so funny sometimes. There's a grown man trying to sleep on a tiny bench. Ha ha ha! THAT'S NOT FUNNY. Sob. Sob hard. Repeat cycle. I watch him as he attempts to jimmy his backpack into a pillow. As he takes off his combat boots and places them neatly under the bench. And I cry. Then I try to wipe my tears and hurry into bed before Thom comes in to tell me goodnight.

The good ranges. I don't think that what I do is important - nor do I think it's necessary to talk about the good you do (it kind of defeats the whole purpose, right?) - but I've noticed that it's a growing trend in our society to be complete assholes to one another. When someone smiles at you, you smile back. When someone holds a door for you, you say thank you. And when someone is sitting on a bench all day, in triple digit heat, you take them a glass of something cold. Because that's what Jesus would freaking do.

In the event you need convincing of the magical powers of doing good - I ran into him on the bus one day last week. When he finally got around to realizing who I was, he came over and told me how much he appreciated me taking time out of my day to make sure he had a glass of cold lemonade. He told me how much he looked forward to me coming around with a bag of treats, and how every time he saw me out, my half-smile (you know, the one sans chompers) made his day. I started crying. A wave of feel-good emotions rushed over me and I just sat there, laughing and crying in harmony. He just stood there and looked at me like I was crazy.

I was. But up until then, I never realized the impact even the smallest act of kindness can have on a person. It didn't take much for me to grab him a lemonade from the restaurant across the street. Or wrap up some treats on my way out. So be nice. Smile at people. And when you get the opportunity to do something good - do it. Don't hesitate. Just do it. Because we're all humans, and we all deserve to be treated with kindness and a little something special every once in a while. Like frozen yogurt. With roasted blueberries. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Roasted blueberry frozen yogurt

If you want to replace the soy products with coconut yogurt and coconut milk, you can do that. And if you want to replace the frozen blueberries with fresh, you can also do that. Costco has had crazy good deals on organic frozen fruit lately (blueberries! cherries! raspberries! oh my!) so I've been trying to include them in things other than my smoothies. I didn't use the xanthan gum trick this time, but if you want to eliminate the formation of icicles in your frozen yogurt, add 1/4 teaspoon of xanthan gum to the yogurt base. If you don't have an ice cream machine, try this method via David Lebovitz.

ROASTED BLUEBERRY FROZEN YOGURT

3 cups soy yogurt
1/4 cup soy cream
1/2 cup cane sugar
1 tsp pure almond extract
2 cups frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 425˚F. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the yogurt, cream, sugar and almond extract. Bring to a boil and continue whisking for 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to a glass bowl, cover with plastic and refrigerate until cooled. While the mixture is cooling, roast the blueberries at 425˚F for 20 minutes. If desired, sprinkle them with a bit of sugar prior to roasting. Once the yogurt mixture has cooled, pour it into the bowl of your ice cream machine and mix according to the manufacturer's instructions. Add the roasted blueberries (and juice) once the mixture has been churning for 20 minutes. Eat ice cream immideately (it will be somewhat soft) or transfer to a container and freeze until ready to consume. Thaw for about 10 minutes before serving.

Yield: 6 servings

27 comments:

  1. what a beautiful post. you made me smile and simultaneously tear up. you know, what the crazies do ;)

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  2. yep i'm crying over here too (though it could just be all the hormones! hah.) you are a pretty special person miss ashlae.

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  3. You just made me get all teary! This is such an awesome post, Ashlae. It's a great reminder to make the effort (however small) to do good. I'm going to remember it when I'm out and about today. :)

    Oh, and the blueberry frozen yogurt sounds incredible. I love your photos in this post!

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  4. AnonymousJuly 16, 2012

    I read this post and the first thing that came to mind was thank you. Random acts of kindness are few and far between these days. Thank you for making the world a little brighter, one smile one glass of cold lemonade at a time. :)

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  5. How lovely. If we all just did one random nice thing a day, we could spread a little bit of happy around. Lots of people do not get their fair share of happy, that's for sure.

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  6. It's to early in the morning for me to be drooling but I am while looking at these photos. What a wonderful and magical post! It made me smile because of your kindness. It's something we could all do a little more of. Thanks!

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  7. I love this post. If I could hug it, I would. I love what I kind person you are and I love that you are inspiring others to do the same. That is a true gift, Ashlae. I often think about how disconnected we all are, how we aren't that kind to people we don't know, or even just look each other in the eye. This was such a beautiful reminder of the way it could be, if we all just were kind. Thank you for this. :-)

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  8. AnonymousJuly 16, 2012

    that looks SO delicious and refreshing! i could totally go for a bowl right now!

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  9. it looks so delicious..it has such a nice color! beautiful photo !

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  10. This is amazing! I never used roasted blueberries for making ice cream. What a great idea! Lovely colour!!

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  11. AnonymousJuly 17, 2012

    This looks amazing! And you seem to be amazing too! How nice of you to take care of this homeless man!

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  12. Oh Roasted blueberries. I'm trying to imagine that in the imaginary ice cream I'm holding! must be yummy.

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  13. This frozen yogurt is STUNNING!

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  14. Roasted blueberries, gorgeous color and beautiful post. It is totally true how everyone just lives i their own world these days. Some days i just want to shake some of them to see things around. Every small bit counts. Our last weekend went in helping a friend find her stolen dog. Every small bit by everyone, physically there or online eventually helped get the dog after a day out with some guy who took her. they guy was checking out in a nearby grocery store and a complete stranger recognized the dog and stood up to him. it was an amazing end to a crazy day.

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  15. Brilliant pictures! I love the colors. Roasted blueberries in a cool treat, yummy! Will try soonest!

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  16. Wow this looks divine and such beautiful colours. I must get myself an ice-cream machine, I even dreamt about buying one (haha what an exciting dreamlife I have!). Yet ANOTHER fabulous vegan recipe that is now on my list :)

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  17. This post made my day. I would totally laugh-sob in the same situation. And good on you for being kind in the every day. So important. Big hugs, girl :)

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  18. Thank you for sharing this really sweet story. It reminds me of something I heard recently about how we should all treat each other as if we're friends. It sounds completely simplistic, of course. But how would we say hello, how would we reach out, how would we find common ground with strangers if we treated every person like a friend? We'd bring them lemonade when it's hot. And really, if we all did that, it would be revolutionary.

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  19. Goodness! This frozen yogurt looks and sounds phenomenal.

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  20. I just love the photo - and I love that it looks so creamy without dairy!

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  21. AnonymousJuly 21, 2012

    Oh my goodness, looks delicious! And tasty on this hot day...

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  22. Just made this last night and it was phenomenal! So easy too and not bad to look at.

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  23. This looks delicious! I will definitely be trying your recipe.

    xx
    M.E.

    http://mindyerazo.blogspot.com

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  24. at a large festival this weekend, my husband took care of a passed out, dehydrated young man. when he did, others suddenly came to help too, as if they thought "oh, I was right, it would have been the right thing to do. i'm so glad someone else started"...

    let's do what we feel is right to provide a minimum of human kindness to our fellow human beings!
    it always comes back.
    keep that spirit up, it's very inspiring.

    - karen

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    Replies
    1. You have an incredible husband, Karen. :)

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  25. Doing good in the simplest ways causes GREAT change. Thanks for this post and the beautiful frozen yogurt :)

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  26. This yogurt looks amazing! I just discovered your blog through Pinterest and am loving it :) Can't wait to stick around and read more...

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