(Vegan) Frozen Treats that Beat the Heat!

Summertime=ice cream time. I eat ice cream year-round, but the cravings triple when the weather heats up and I don’t want to warm up an oven to bake sweets.

I remember having one kind of Rice Dream while I was in college in rural Ohio at the small co-op, before the natural foods section came to the local Kroger. Almost 15 years later (wow!), in that same area there are now multiple vegan flavors that are soy-, almond-, or coconut-based in different brands, which also means that vegan ice cream is not just for vegans. People who want to cut the cholesterol, avoid animal fat, or try something new have an abundance of frozen treats!

My favorite vegan ice cream development since college isn’t that some places even have vegan soft serve, it’s that ice cream has chunks of amazing goodness in it. We can have cookie dough, peanut butter chunks, cookies ‘n’ cream, and brownies in our cartons, and we can do it all without the cruelty.

My top summer flavors:

• #1 Overall taste and value: Trader Joe’s Chocolate Coconut non-dairy frozen dessert. While they could use a little help making the name of the flavor sound more appealing, the price is right, hovering around $3. It’s cheap (especially for the coconut base), it’s rich, super yummy by itself or dressed up with toppings, and it gets that gooey edge faster than other ice creams. They have strawberry too, but I stay focused on chocolate.
• My heart’s true desire: Peanut Butter Zig Zag in the Purely Decadent line of So Delicious. The only reason it doesn’t top my list is because it is perhaps too decadent to be a go-to. But remember what I said about chunks of amazing goodness? I believe that pb and chocolate belong together, and this pint has chunks of pb AND chocolate in chocolate ice cream. It typically rings in at over $5 a pint, which I know is expensive, but I can’t say I ever had buyer’s remorse. The So Delicious line has soy, almond and coconut based frozen treats of all kinds, chunky and smooth.

What other favorites are out there? My husband thinks that the vanilla soy quart at Trader Joe’s deserves mention, but vanilla bores me. Tell me what you like so I have a good reason to try them all! :-)

Photo credit: prideandvegudice via Flickr