Category Archives: Ice Cream

June 1, 2016 · 7:20 pm

Frozen Chocolate Covered Bananas

Healthy Chocolate Covered Bananas Balanced Grettie Fitquestmom

Over the Memorial Day Weekend we went to a BBQ at a friend’s house and I was tasked with bringing a healthy-ish dessert.

Frozen chocolate covered bananas were always my favorite Disneyland treat and I think it is because that was the only place I ever saw them when I was younger.  I had a MASSIVE sweet tooth, yet I would choose those every time over a Mickey ice cream sandwich or the other fun ice cream treats they sold.

I thought that chocolate covered frozen bananas would fit the bill and would be fun for my daughter and I to make together.  She is the age now where I am wanting to give her more freedom in the kitchen and this was the perfect recipe for that.

This dessert ended-up being a hit with kids and adults alike…I’m pretty sure they will make a regular appearance this summer.

INGREDIENTS

  • Ripe Bananas (not too ripe though)
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Chocolate chips for melting (I used Enjoy Life brand)
  • Various toppings
    • Trail mix (we chopped ours up in the blender)
    • Nuts
    • Mini marshmallows
    • Raisins
    • Cereal
    • Sprinkles
    • Coarse sugar

METHOD

  1. Cut bananas into 3″ slices
  2. Stick a Popsicle stick into each banana piece
  3. Place the banana pieces on a cookie sheet and freeze for an hour or longer
  4. Melt the chocolate chips (I used the double boiler method)
  5. Coat each frozen banana with the melted chocolate and immediately sprinkle on the toppings (the chocolate will harden FAST)
  6. Lay the finished product back on the cookie sheet and into the freezer until ready to serve

What’s your favorite healthy-ish summertime dessert???

2 Comments

Filed under Dessert, Frozen Treats, Fruit, Gluten Free, Holiday, Ice Cream, Kid Friendly, Quick, Recipes, Sorbet, Vegan

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May 21, 2013 · 10:31 pm

HEALTHY FUDGESICLES

Fudsicle carobsicle collage

Or “carobsicles” if you make them like I did.  I have been using a lot more carob lately because I really enjoy the flavor.

These popsicles were inspired by a “Cocoa-Bean Ice Cream” recipe I saw on Dr. Fuhrman’s website.  The “bean” in the title is just that…beans.

You know I like packing as much nutrition into a recipe as I can and adding beans to the mix actually adds creaminess to the frozen treat in addition to fiber.  I promise you will not even taste a hint of the beans…the carob OR cocoa takes care of that.

I chose to make popsicles vs. ice cream which resulted in 7 popsicles vs. the 4 servings the recipe originally made.

This recipe is made with WHOLE FOODS and is a wonderful way to end your day.

INGREDIENTS

2 ripe bananas, frozen
1/2 cup raw cashews
3/4 cup cooked aduki beans, rinsed and drained (the original recipe called for black beans)
1/4 cup toasted carob powder (the original recipe called for 3 Tbs. cocoa powder)
4 dates, pitted
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (alcohol free)
1 cup soy, hemp, or almond milk

Blend all of the ingredients in a high-speed blender until very smooth.  Pour into popsicle molds, freeze, and enjoy.

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For a printable version of this recipe click HERE.

4 Comments

Filed under Beans/Legumes, Dessert, Frozen Treats, Ice Cream, Recipes, Sorbet, Vegan, Vegetarian

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October 31, 2012 · 3:45 pm

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Here is a round-up of some of my favorite pumpkin recipes…my daughter began her day with the oatmeal.  Have a happy and safe Halloween!!!

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PUMPKIN PIE OATMEAL

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PUMPKIN PIE DESSERT HUMMUS

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PUMPKIN RICE PUDDING

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CREAMY PUMPKIN PIE ICE CREAM

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Filed under Appetizers, Beans/Legumes, Breakfast, Dessert, Frozen Treats, Gluten Free, Holiday, Holidays, Ice Cream, Kid Friendly, Pudding / Mousse, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

September 3, 2012 · 4:00 pm

SRC – PEACH ICE CREAM

I was assigned the blog, Feeding Andy, for my September Secret Recipe Club assignment.  The blog’s author, Peggy, is a culinary student and her blog follows her progress through school as well as her daily exploits working at Louisville mainstay, Jack Fry’s.

I bookmarked a lot of recipes when trying to decide which recipe I would go with.  Some of the finalists were Rice Pilaf, Spicy Pickled Carrots & Asparagus, and Indian Spiced Lentils.  I ultimately decided to make her Peach & Clove Ice Cream after my latest trip to the farmer’s market since the peaches there were so ripe it felt like I was slapped in the face with their wonderful perfume.

What a perfect Summer dessert!

INGREDIENTS

1-1/3 lbs ripe peaches; peeled, pitted and coarsely chopped
1 peach; peeled, pitted and finely chopped
1/2 cup water
1 Tbs. Triple Sec (I dislike the taste of alcohol, so I eliminated it)
1 teaspoon ground cloves (I wanted the flavor of the peaches to take center stage, so I eliminated it)
3/4 cup sugar (I used 2Tbs. SweetLeaf Sugar Leaf stevia/sugar replacement)
1/2 cup Greek yogurt (I used 1 single-serve container of So Delicious Vanilla Almond Milk Greek Yogurt)
1/2 cup heavy cream (I used So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer)
1/2 cup milk (I used So Delicious non-dairy milk)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
juice from 1 lime (I used the juice from 2 tangerines)
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Combine the coarsely chopped peaches and water in a medium nonreactive saucepan. Cover and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until peaches are soft and cooked through, about 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat.  Mix in SweetLeaf Sugar Leaf stevia, and set aside to cool to room temperature (or speed-up the cooling process with an ice bath).

Add the cooked peach mixture to your high speed blender with yogurt, cream, milk, vanilla, and tangerine juice. Process until smooth. add the finely chopped raw peach and blend VERY briefly so some chunks of peach remain.  Chill thoroughly in refrigerator, about 6-8 hours (or speed-up the process once again by pouring the mixture into a glass jar and cooling it in an ice bath). Once chilled, transfer to ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions.

For a printable version of this recipe click HERE.



11 Comments

Filed under Cooked Fruit, Dessert, Frozen Treats, Fruit, Gluten Free, Ice Cream, Kid Friendly, Recipes, Secret Recipe Club, Vegan, Vegetarian

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October 10, 2011 · 1:30 pm

CREAMY PUMPKIN PIE ICE CREAM – Vegan and GFree

My recent trip to Hugo’s for vegan soft serve ice cream (click here to read the post) inspired me to try and create some vegan ice cream of my own with Japanese sweet potatoes as the base.  I am in the midst of pumpkin fever and wanted make some pumpkin flavored vegan ice cream that was health conscious along with being truly creamy and decadent.

This was so easy to make and the results were so good that I can’t wait to make more and more flavors.  I am dying to make a chocolate version, but my son is requesting peanut butter and since I am a big fan of anything PB, I am sure I will go that route next… I am happy to score some points wherever I can!

INGREDIENTS
3 cups cooked (fresh) Japanese sweet potato, peeled
1 cup So Delicious Original Creamer
1 cup canned organic pumpkin
¼ cup yakon syrup
3-4Tbs. Somersweet*** or Stevia to taste
1 vanilla bean (or alcohol-free vanilla extract to taste)
1 ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice
 
***Somersweet no longer contains Acesulfame K.  It’s ingredients are Inulin, Erythritol, Fructose, and citrus peel extract
 
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To cook the Japanese sweet potato steam them until softened (mine took 30 minutes) and then bake them at 400-425 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-30 minutes.  I learned this technique from my Chinese in-laws and it makes sweet potatoes and yams sooooo sweet and creamy.  It is my experience that when a sweet potato or yam in only steamed they have a slightly watery texture.  Baking the sweet potatoes after steaming them makes them creamy every time.

Place all of the ingredients into your high speed blender and blend until very smooth.  I blended mine long enough that the mixture was warm.  Although I have not tried it, I am sure it would work ok in a food processor as well (make sure you periodically scrape down the sides).

Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions.  You may decide to cool the mixture in the fridge first; I poured it straight in to my ice cream maker.

***A little side note…sometimes taking photographs by yourself can get messy.  Notice anything funny about the pic above???  My depth perception was messed-up since I was looking through the camera and I ended-up pouring some of the ice cream mixture onto the counter, down the cabinet, and onto my feet.  After cleaning up, I took the picture below and actually made it into the ice cream bucket.  Sheesh!!!

If you have any of the ice cream left and freeze it, make sure you take it out of the freezer 15 minutes before serving so it can soften a bit.

For a printable version of this recipe click here.

13 Comments

Filed under Dessert, Frozen Treats, Guest Blog, Ice Cream, Kid Friendly, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

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August 29, 2011 · 11:00 am

THE SECRET RECIPE CLUB – Deep “Un-Fried” Ice Cream

Last month I heard about a fun way to add some spice to my blogging.  Amanda from the blog, Amanda’s Cooking started something really neat called The Secret Recipe Club back in April with 19 participants.  Basically, you sign-up to participate and you are assigned a blog to make a recipe from once a month and you are encouraged to make the recipe work for you by i.e. making it gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan…basically whatever you need to do to make the recipe work for you.  You don’t reveal whose blog you were assigned until Reveal Day (much like the Secret Santa concept).  There are now over 150 participating blogs.  How’s that for growth?

I was assigned the most charming blog, Peas in a Blog, which was started by two friends who now live across the world from each other.  They started sharing veggie recipes and fitness tips with each other almost daily and decided that they should start a blog together to share their tips with everyone.  Carolina is a Columbian living in Florida and Katie is an American living in South Africa.  It is so much fun to follow their friendship and tips!

While surfing through their blog I came across a lot of recipes I wanted to try.  First I made their Grilled Peach Delight Salad and really enjoyed it.  To completely veganize the recipe you can easily sub out the honey for agave (I made it with the honey).  The dressing was really tasty and grilling the peaches adds such dimension to them.

The second recipe I made was their “Fried” Ice Cream which wasn’t fried at all!  It was a TOTAL WINNER and thus the subject of my first entry for the Secret Recipe Club!  I made the dessert for a dinner party I was hosting and no one believed it wasn’t fried.  My father-in-law isn’t usually a sweets person and he said he really liked it (he finished the whole bowl!).

I did make a few changes to the recipe since I needed to make it gluten-free and vegan for my family’s needs, but that was easily done by switching out the traditional Corn Flakes for Erewhon’s Organic Gluten Free Corn Flakes and by using  So Delicious’s Coconut Milk Vanilla Bean Ice Cream for the ice cream.

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INGREDIENTS

1 Small pint of your favorite Ice Cream (They used Dulce de Leche…I used Vanilla Bean)

1 Small box or container of Corn Flakes Cereal (…I used gluten free)

1 TBS Brown Sugar (…I used coconut sugar)

1 TSP Ground Cinnamon

Parchment or Wax Paper

Zip-Lock Bag

Your favorite topping sauce (Caramel, Hot Fudge, Honey, chocolate shell, whatever you like. I used vegan Hard Chocolate Shell)

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Cover a large plate or cookie sheet with some parchment or wax paper.  With an ice cream scoop, try to get good circular scoops and place them on top of the paper (I used my hands to reform the balls into nice circles once I had scooped them). Place the plate with scoops in the freezer for at least 10 minutes (I prepped them ahead of time and left them in the freezer for 2-3 hours).

In the meantime, pour the package of corn flakes into zip-lock bag along with the sugar & cinnamon, close the bag. Have fun by crushing the flakes until they’re almost powder form (its up to you the texture you’d like on the scoops…My kids had a blast doing this), mixing them with the sugar & cinnamon. Once you’ve reached your desired texture pour contents onto a plate. Note – this will make A LOT of topping, so you will have more for later…yay!

Take scoops out of the freezer. Place a scoops on the mixture plate and coat, one by one. Serve drizzled with your favorite topping sauce. Add cinnamon sticks or fruits for garnish. Note – I played around with making them different ways by putting the hard shell on some of them before coating them with the corn flakes (you will have to work quickly) and for others I rolled them in the corn flakes and then covered them with the hard shell afterwards.  Both were amazing!

How easy was that?! Trust me, these taste like fried ice cream. Delicious, impressive and ready in a flash. You and your dinner (or dessert) guests will love them, guaranteed. Buen provecho!

It was so much fun to participate in the Secret Recipe Club.  Get ready to see one of my SRC posts monthly…it’s fun to mix it up.

For a printable version of this recipe click here.

Click here to view Peas in a Blog’s “Fried” Ice Cream post

37 Comments

Filed under Dessert, Frozen Treats, Gluten Free, Ice Cream, Kid Friendly, Quick, Recipes, Secret Recipe Club, Vegan, Vegetarian

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July 14, 2011 · 1:30 pm

ICE CREAM PIE IN A JIFF

It was my husband’s birthday at the beginning of this month.  When planning birthday treats I of course try to make something that the person we are celebrating loves and that all of us can eat together.  My whole family drools over all of So Delicious’s Purely Decadent Coconut Milk Ice Creams, so I thought it would be a great idea to make an ice cream pie for my hubby’s B-Day celebration.

This pie turned out REALLY well.  We all loved it!  The great thing about making an ice cream pie like this is how flexible it is.  YOU get to choose the flavors of ice cream you use (and even how many flavors to use)…clearly my husband is into chocolate!

The kids and I left the day after his B-Day celebration to go up to Northern California to help my parents out.  I am sitting in a hospital waiting room as I type this because my mom is in the middle of having hip replacement surgery (doc just came out and said everything went really well!).  We were able to leave 4 slices of the pie for my dear hubby and I fully expect it all to be gone by the time the kids and I roll back into town…no biggie…it will provide me with an excuse to make another one.

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INGREDIENTS

CRUST

1 ½ cups gluten free chocolate cookie crumbs

6 Tbs. melted Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread (Soy Free)

FILLING

2 pints So Delicious Purely Decadent Coconut Milk Ice Cream (flavors of your choosing)

2-3 Tbs. Enjoy Life’s mini chocolate chips (vegan and gluten free)

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Begin by making the chocolate cookie crumbs.  I made my gluten free cookie crumbs by placing 2 cups of K-Kritters Gluten Free Chocolate Animal Cookies in a quart Ziploc bag and mashing them with a meat tenderizer.

Meanwhile melt the Earth Balance spread.  Measure out 1 ½ cups of cookie crumbs and mix with the melted Earth Balance.

Pour the crust into a springform pan (like this one here).  Press the crust firmly and shape it to the pan.  I used a 6 ½” pan and was able to cover the bottom and sides of the pan.  If you use a larger pan, form the crust only on the bottom of the pan.  Place the crust in the freezer to harden for 30 minutes to an hour.

Remove the ice cream from the freezer 20-30 minutes prior to using (this will allow it to soften).  Once the ice cream has softened, spread the first layer of ice cream on top of the prepared pie crust using an offset spatula.  Make sure you press the ice cream down as much as possible in order to avoid air bubbles.  At this point you can either return the pie to the freezer to harden prior to putting on the second layer, or spread the second layer immediately.  I was not concerned with having perfect lines between my two flavors, so I spread my second layer immediately.

If you plan on topping your pie with chocolate chips (or nuts, or coconut, etc.) do so now prior to placing the pie in the freezer.

Return the completed pie to the freezer to harden.  Remove the pie from the freezer 15 minutes prior to serving. Open the springform pan, slice the pie, and drizzle each slice with your favorite sauce before serving

For a printable version of this recipe click here.

6 Comments

Filed under Dessert, Gluten Free, Ice Cream, Kid Friendly, Pie / Crumble / Cobbler, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian

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