Faux Ice Cream

I just have to tell you about one of the best things to happen to me recently, which is that I learned how to make fake ice cream out of bananas.

I’ll give you a moment to let this sink in.

I love ice cream just. so. much. It probably springs from the fact that my parents used to take my sisters and me out for ice cream after Sunday dinners when we were growing up. And, it’s a tradition that Bryan and I have gladly adopted into our family. On any given summer Sunday evening, you can find us at the Fountain Square Dairy Queen with our mini Georgia Mud Fudge and medium Reese Cup blizzards. And on any given winter Sunday evening, you can find us eating store-bought carton ice cream and counting down the weeks until Dairy Queen opens up again.

Unfortunately, rumor has it that eating exorbitant quantities of ice cream is “unhealthy” – a legend that has haunted me for years. So, enter the importance of this fake ice cream revelation!

Here’s what you do:

• Pick up a banana
• Peel it and cut it into chunks
• Freeze it
• Once frozen, put it in a food processor
• Process it until it’s the texture of ice cream. (You might want to have some milk handy to help with the texture.)
• Eat it and pretend it’s ice cream

And here’s a fun part: You can add stuff to it! Personally, I like to toss a teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder, a little bit of honey and a dash of cinnamon into the food processor with the banana, and then sprinkle slivered almonds on top. But the possibilities are endless! Chocolate chips! Berries! Other kinds of nuts! Peanut butter!

I’m telling you, guys. It’s really close to ice cream, but without the guilt!

Note: Since it’s made from bananas, this fake ice cream tastes like bananas. If you add chocolate, it tastes like chocolate bananas, and if you add peanut butter, it tastes like peanut butter bananas. It always tastes like bananas. So, if you don’t like those, please go back to the DQ drive thru.