Every time we go to the Outer Banks we come home with a new favorite place to find eatable treats and for this past trip we took in June, the highlight was Zen Pops in Kitty Hawk. I have a milk allergy that makes it difficult to find a place where we can all enjoy (quality) frozen treats together (nobody wants the sad token sorbet. nobody). Luckily, the majority of Zen Pops' menu is dairy free and there are tons of vegan options, so there is something there for everyone. Hooray!

Oh, there's so much to love about this place and I am not just talking the salted caramel pops (my fave) or the coconut lime pzletas (Anouk's) or the made-right-there-in-the-back vegan ice cream cookie (James's). Zen Pops uses organic ingredients (including cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup) and oh, speaking of sugar, all of their recipes feature just 3-5 grams of sugar per serving, so you don't have to worry about the kids bouncing off the walls. All of the packaging is eco-friendly, and even the popsicle sticks are cleaned and recycled and donated to the nearby kids' museum to be used in crafts. Whew!

So yes: we ♥ Zen Pops, forever and ever, and can't wait to visit them again. If you're heading to OBX, stop by!

Anouk and I have been making a lot of progress on our not-bummer-summer list over the past couple of weeks (stay tuned for an official update). One of our favorite projects so far has been making this recipe for homemade coconut ice cream! Not only is it dairy-free (good for me and my allergy), it's no churn and requires no cooking, which makes it definitely the easiest DIY ice cream recipe we've come across. You just combine all the ingredients and pop it in the freezer, you're done!

We made our ice cream mint chocolate chip flavored, because we're mint chocolate chip ice cream
fiends.

Ingredients:

• 1 can coconut cream (like this kind from Trader Joe's) 
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 3 tablespoons soy (or almond) milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips 

Combine the coconut cream, sugar, milk, and extracts in a blender and blend until smooth. Add the chocolate chips and stir. Pour into a loaf pan or square baking pan and freeze for two hours, or until solid. Note: this recipe freezes kind of hard, so you might want to remove from the freezer and thaw for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Yum!

This weekend is Memorial Day weekend, so we are sharing one of our favorite summertime treats today. The Ringo sundae at Doumar's has literally been voted the best in the area and here is why: vanilla ice cream, topped with hot fudge, topped with real whipped cream and cherry and Doumar's famous ice cream cones (they make them in-house) crushed up and sprinkled on top. They don't scrimp on the hot fudge either, the ice cream is really swimming in it.



^^ You haven't really seen everything in Norfolk until you've spent a summer afternoon watching them make cones on the world's first cone machine ^^

Like I said, it is one of our favorite summertime treats but we stopped in for one last week thanks to the string of summertime-temperature days we had. Oh who am I kidding, when you're a pregnant lady you don't need an excuse for ice cream.

Happy weekend!