Cucumber-Wasabi Ice

It's one thing to say "yay, I need to put on a couple of pounds!" and quite another thing to do it.  Like being overweight, being a touch too light is often earned by a lifestyle of eating and activity habits.  In my case, I've been eating lighter, vegetarian-ish meals high in iron and protein.  At the same time, I'm much more physically active.  If I was five pounds heavy, that would be awesome.  I was an ideal weight to start with, so this kind of ruined that.  But I feel great, and not weak at all.  Just really hungry.

So, I'm trying to find extra things to eat without resorting to unhealthy foods.  Larger portions of the same kinds of things I've been eating stopped the slide.  Next up was treats.

For those of you who missed the last post, I have a lot of wasabi powder in the pantry.  Like, a lifetime supply.  A great deal of the recipes I've found online are for desserts with a punched-up zing.

The recipe I found for this idea is not a true ice cream.  It's vegan and raw.  It's also super easy.  Blender to ice cream maker, and you're done.  It mostly tastes like cucumber, with a little zing in the aftertaste.  If you don't have an ice cream maker, you can stir the mix with a fork every hour until it's frozen.  There are other options: pour the mix into popsicle molds, or freeze in ice cube trays to add to mixed drinks.  A mojito with a cube of this would be the talk of a pool party.

1 medium cucumber
1 15oz can coconut milk
2 Tb sugar (or other sweetener)
*1 Tb wasabi powder
2 Tb lemon juice
*1 sprig fresh mint

1.  Peel and seed cucumber, then chop into chunks and place in blender.

2.  Add remaining ingredients to blender and run until smooth, about 1 minute.

3.  Process in an ice cream maker until mostly firm, then transfer to a container and freeze for 2 hours the rest of the way.  Or, pour mix into a shallow container and place in freezer, stirring with a fork every hour until firm.  Either way, it's going to need a few minutes at room temperature before you can scoop it.

Makes about 3 cups

Difficulty rating  π