What We’re Eating: Banana “Ice Cream”

Story about the image above: I set out some raspberries for the girls to eat during breakfast. Emily was not paying attention and Melody ate the last of the raspberries. The only raspberries left were the ones I put into the freezer. Being too impatient (me, not the girls) to thaw the raspberries, I just made some “ice cream” for breakfast. (I woke up with a headache so ice cream sounded like a good way to start the day. ;p Don’t worry, they also had some raisin bread, too.)

This BANANA “ICE CREAM” recipe has been on my “Recipes to Try” pinboard since last September when the post came out. The girls LOVE bananas, so they always eat them all up before I can even attempt to make this. We’ve been on a smoothie kick lately, so I had some banana slices in the freezer already. We have tried it in various ways, but mostly plain-ish, so I haven’t actually done the exact recipe linked above. It’s a recipe that you can change to your own liking.

My first try was with our hand blender since we don’t have a food processor. It worked, but it was quite a workout. We got a Philips Hand Blender & Chopper collection (with beaker and whisk) as a wedding gift (I can’t remember who it’s from, so if it’s from you, let us know so we can give you a shoutout!). We love it! I seriously use it all the time. The next time I made the ‘ice cream’ I used the chopper, and it worked great!

CHANGES
You can make it with various ingredients.

SUGGESTIONS
Try different ingredients to see what you and/or your kiddo(s)/hubby/in-laws/neighbors/friends, etc. like.

VERDICT
EVERYONE LOVES BANANA ‘ICE CREAM’!!! I’m not a huge fan of bananas (another story for another day), but I have to say that it does feed that ice cream monster without all the added stuff that some ice creams have, although I’m not complaining about the added stuff because ice cream is ice cream. 😉 Yum!

– Joyce

Click on the link to view more of WHAT WE’RE EATING

PLAIN BANANA RECIPE:

Prep time: 5 minutes
Cook time: 5 minutes
Total time: 10 minutes
Serves: 1 serving per 1/2-1 banana?? <– just making this up

We’ve done it different ways, so I don’t have a set recipe. But…it goes something like this…

Ingredients:

• 1 ripe bananas, cut into chunks
• A little milk or yogurt

Instructions

1. Cut bananas into 1-2″ pieces. (Younger kids can use plastic knife.)
2. Freeze until stiff. (I lay it out on a wax paper lined baking sheet.)
3. Put frozen banana slices into processor (I used a chopper since we don’t own a food processor) with a little milk or yogurt, and blend until creamy.
4. Serve immediately. If it starts getting melty (<–take note of this technical cooking term ;p haha) you can simple put it back in the freezer for a little bit until it is firm.

Note: If you don’t have a food processor or a chopper, you can even thaw the banana slices a little and mash up with a fork and blend it that way.

Variations: banana raspberry (pictured above, or use any kind of berry), chocolate banana, will add to this list as we try them out…

What flavor would you try?

*Bold instructions can be done by younger kids.