Just Chillin'

It is just plain old hot. In fact it is so hot even all my tricks to keep cool are not working and I am staying in the house in the air conditioned artificial coolness. This morning I had some obligations that required me to be in and out of the car several times, plus I needed to go grocery shopping. It is no fun when the temps are near 100, the humidity is at about 70 percent and there is not a cloud in the sky. It means at each stop, the car is going to be unbearably hot if the stop is over 10 minutes long, and I had a handful of 30 plus minutes stops.

I have learned, over time, to always carry and heavy insulated bag with me when I go summertime grocery shopping. I was going to be out for a good while before actually going to Ald and was stopping at an Aldi on the other side of town because a couple of the things I was doing were about 30 miles from my house. There was no way I was going to pass right by one Aldi on my drive home without stopping, rather than get close to my house and have to drive a few miles south to go to an identical store, even if it meant I did not shop at my usual store.  Amazingly the earth did not open and swallow me whole for changing up my grocery shopping patterns just a tad.

I had one extra stop midway between the store and home (which is why I always have that insulated bag during the summer) and even though I was out of the car maybe 5 minutes, it felt like an oven when I returned to it, and did not really cool off until I got home.

After lugging all the groceries out of the car and into the house, then putting everything in its place I was beyond overheated, and only wanted something cool. Since I am doing that keto thing my traditional cool down foods are pretty much verbotten. I mean, what would have been better than a huge bowl of ice cream?  Fortunately several days ago I had thought it might be wise to make some form of a ice cold treat that was keto compliant. I am so glad I did so that I could sit under the ceiling fan and enjoy something tasty and cold while my body cooled off. Did I mention it was also chocolate?

These popsicles are not only keto friendly, but they are a sugar free alternative for those who watch/limit their sugar. I will admit they are not as rich and creamy as a real life ice cream treat, but they are a dang fine alternative.

13.5-ounce can full fat coconut milk
2 1/2 Tablespoons erythritol to taste
2  Tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon xanthan gum (optional)
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream (optional)


Add coconut milk, sweetener, cocoa and salt to a medium size boiler. Whisk over medium heat until all the coconut milk bits have melted and everything is completely blended.

If using the xanthan gum add it little by little, cause you don't want the mixture to get lumpy. Just keep stirring and sprinkling until it is all nice and smooth. You could speed the process along by using an immersion blender, but I seem to always opt instead for whatever can be washed in the dishwasher. When everything is smooth (there will be some air bubbles, but that just happens) let it cool to room temperature, stir in the whipping cream, then pour into popsicle molds.  Set in the freezer until frozen. (this will take a few hours to be hard set)

The yield depends on the size of your molds. I got 8 full size popsicles from mine. Supposedly, these will keep for a couple of months in the freezer, but I am not sure. My molds have plastic handles and do not form an airtight seal. I do have them in a ziplock bag but I am going to experiment using standard wooden popsicle sticks, so I can take them out  after freeze  them to free up the molds for additional frozen treats.

I feel cooler just writing this, but I am fixin ' to (southern term for going to ) go outside. I will most likely have a cool treat when I come back inside. Because I deserve it? No__just because they are there and it's hot.