My in-laws were staying with us, so it was finally time to open up the Ninja Creami that my mother-in-law gifted me a while back and give it a try. My brother-in-law, Albi, had told me all about the Creami and got me excited, but I had seen on Reddit that you need to buy a lot of ingredients to make ice cream, especially protein ice creams, so I hadn’t taken the time to dive into it.

I opened up the Creami with Albi, ready to try the recipes from the manual. But then, Albi shared a Creami video from the Pro Home Cooks YouTube channel (now called Life by Mike G) and he asked if I had ingredients to make custard-based ice cream. Thankfully, I did! He made the ice cream with me, and in one night, we whipped up three Creami recipes —all with ingredients we already had at home. 🍦🎉

Check out the video for a full description of the Creami ⬇️

The next day, we tried the custard-based ice cream, which was a hit! My father-in-law asked for seconds and even more the following day. This recipe alone makes having a Creami worth it! Now, I’ve made several batches and kept them ready in the freezer in case someone comes over. Just last week, I pulled the frozen cups out of the freezer and made ice cream for two of my friends, and a few days later, for my cousins who stopped by the house last minute. You can keep the frozen cups in your freezer for up to two weeks, so it’s a great idea to make a couple of batches and have them ready for ice cream anytime! 🍨❄️

Also, I want to give a big shoutout to my in-laws. They’ve always been so supportive of my cooking. Albi has always encouraged me to keep going with my recipe testing, and he jokingly started calling me ValeCooks whenever he saw me in the kitchen—well, ValeCooks stuck, and here we are today! My mother-in-law always cheers me on (check out the pumpkin tin she gifted me—picture below!) and loves trying the successful recipes from ValeCooks. H’s aunt, Lupita, always sends me the sweetest messages about my newsletter and shares her recipes with me. And my father-in-law and H are always up for trying anything I make, even when cooking isn’t really their thing. Best of all, whenever I’m in H’s hometown, it feels like we have a cooking festival in the kitchen with his grandma and the rest of the family. I’m so thankful for ALL of them and their constant support. 💖

Recipes Made So Far This Year:

Goal: To try seven new recipes each week 🗓️, aiming for 365 this year!

 Number of Recipes Made this Week: 8

Number of New Recipes Tested as of 8/25: 296

Weeks Achieving Seven or More New Recipes: 33 out of 34 ✅

This Week’s Recipe Test Summary

Impress Someone🌟

Ice Cream (with Strawberries) from Pro Home Cooks (Lifebymikeg) YouTube Channel 🍓🍦

This was the hit—and the recipe that makes buying the Creami worth it! The recipe is described in the YouTube video and explains how to make the base (custard-based ice cream). You can decide what fruit to mix in; we chose strawberries, and it was delicious. H says this ice cream is better than what you get at ice cream shops (but he might be biased). 😉

Would Make Again 👍

Pumpkin Bread from smitten kitchen🎃🍞

This bread uses a whole can of pumpkin purée, so it’s heavy on the pumpkin flavor. It’s a solid recipe that you can whip up in minutes.

Kiwi & Lime Sorbet from Ninja Test Kitchen 🥝🍋

My cousins loved this one! I’m not usually a lime sherbet person, but they asked for seconds. It’s made with just kiwi, lime, and agave—and that’s it!

Would Not Make Again 👎

These recipes didn’t live up to expectations or weren’t to my taste

Dairy-Free Vanilla Coconut Ice Cream from Ninja Test Kitchen 🥥🍨

Simple ingredients, but I thought the coconut milk flavor was a bit too strong.

Strawberry Kiwi Sorbet from Ninja Test Kitchen 🍓🥝

It was just alright, but I wonder if the strawberries weren’t sweet enough.

Ninja Creami Banana Ice Cream from the balanced nutritionist 🍌🍦

This one was also just okay, but I’m sure I can find a better banana ice cream recipe out there. 

Lemon Blueberry Avocado Smoothie from Walder Wellness 🍋🫐🥑

Quinoa Brittle from Minimalist Baker

I enjoyed these at first, but then my sister compared them to crackers they used to sell at the border when I was growing up, and it just ruined it for me. Haha! 😆

I’d love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, or any recipe requests you might have. Just respond directly to this email.

See you next week. Keep cooking! 👋 

Vale from ValeCooks