banana "ice cream"

Food processor-- you scare me no more.

Monday was Martin Luther King Jr Day, and I was lucky enough to have the day off from work. While enjoying my very lazy day, I told myself I had to do SOMETHING productive... other than running and grocery shopping, which were both accomplished. My project? Conquer the FOOD PROCESSOR.  

I know, it's a pretty irrational fear... Ooo scary food processor. But seriously, when something comes with unpacking instructions, warning upon warning about the seriously sharp blades, and you yourself are a very clumsy person... Fear seems normal. 

But the pros outweighed the cons by a boatload. There are SO MANY things you can do with a food processor. And I have SO MANY recipes that need a food processor. Including this wonderful, healthy and delicious banana "ice cream".

Why the need for quotation marks? Well, J-Hay claimed that since there is no cream in this treat, it's not really ice cream. Touché, my dear. But I certainly believe this treat is creamy (and sweet) enough to please even the most ardent of ice cream lovers. 

Banana "Ice Cream"

- 6 frozen bananas (or more)

- 1/2 cup coconut milk (for every additional 3 bananas, add 1/4 coconut milk)

- mixings as you please

1. Slice frozen bananas into 1" pieces. Keep your pieces small!

2. Put slices into food processor bowl. I did this in two steps, as I didn't want to overwhelm the bowl. I would suggest you do the same!

3. Pulse banana slices in ~30 second intervals until there is a chunky consistency. You will probably need to unstick banana from the blade using a spatula a couple of times. 

4. When you have a chunky banana consistency (and potentially a ball of frozen banana on one side of your bowl), add the coconut milk.

5. Pulse mixture again in ~30 second intervals until it becomes creamy. 

6. Pour into bowl, and repeat steps 2-5 if you've split up your banana slices.

7. Add your mixings to your banana mixture! Mix well!

8. Okay now you have two options: do you want soft serve, or ice cream? If you want soft serve, you're all done! Go enjoy your banana treat. If you want ice cream, read on...

9. Pour banana mixture into a freezer-safe container. 

10. Freeze banana mixture. At 30 minute intervals, take container out of freezer and use a fork to scrape sides to mix frozen parts together with soft part in middle. Repeat process another couple of times, until consistency is more of an ice cream throughout. I started this process around 6:30, and we enjoyed around 9:30, and it was definitely looking and tasting like ice cream by then. 

This time I added Trader Joe's mini peanut butter cups... Yum :) next time, I'm feeling almond butter and maybe some chocolate chips would be yummy additions. Be creative!

Stay hungry, my friends :)