“Happy Friday,” said Michael (my husband) when he left for work this morning.

Happy comes easy on a Friday. There is a sweetness felt.

Dessert is a natural fit for a Friday. My favorite for a “Pizza Night Friday” is chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches. These are a big hit for adults and children alike.

My neighborhood grocery store offers no organic desserts, but they do offer organic ingredients required to make homemade chocolate chip cookies and ice cream.

Fair-traded Chocolate

I’ve found most big chain grocery store to offer only conventional chocolate chip brands. When I am in a market that offers fair-traded organic chocolate chips I stock up with a few bags like SunSpire chocolate. I used their basic chocolate chip cookie recipe. You can find a listing of organic fair-traded chocolate chips on the Global Exchange website. Read why fair traded chocolate is ‘best’ for water at Chocolate and Water.

Homemade Water-Sustainable Ice Cream: water footprint of a gallon of cream = 1,370 gallons of water

I own very few kitchen gadgets. One of the few exceptions is an ice cream maker. It was a Christmas present from my mom a few years back and has earned the precious pantry space it occupies. Ice cream is a great food to make homemade when you consider the water footprint of a gallon of cream is 1,370 gallons of water according to The Green Blue Book. This is why it is important for me to use an organic cream (better for water) or a organic cream from pastured cows on a rain fed grass diet (best for water) like Organic Valley Farms.

Here is the recipe I use for homemade vanilla ice cream. You can freeze extra ice cream in an air tight container. I like to double the chocolate chip recipe and freeze extra cookies for another Friday.

Organic Vanilla Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups organic whole milk (Organic Valley Farms)

1 cup organic sugar

3 cups organic heavy cream (Organic Valley Farms)

1 1/2 teaspoon organic pure vanilla extract

Mix the whole milk and sugar with a mixer at low speed until the sugar is dissolved.

Stir in the heavy cream and vanilla.

Pour the mixture into the freezer bowl of your ice cream maker let the ice cream maker perform its magic.

To make the sandwich place ice cream in the middle of two chocolate chip cookies and serve immediately.

Eat less water at your kitchen table!

Be well,

Florencia