After six plus years of writing posts about healthcare and health insurance, I thought it would be fun to throw in something a little different every now and again. Don’t worry – we’ll be back to our regular commentary on the Colorado health insurance industry next week. For today though, how about a sweet treat instead?
A healthy lifestyle is a big deal for me, and I work hard to make sure that our family is eating as much real food as possible. That means that I cook almost everything from scratch. So I love when I come up with food ideas that are good for us (or at least not bad for us, in the case of treats and desserts…) and don’t require spending hours in the kitchen.
The idea of freezing bananas and then blending them into “ice cream” is not my own. I discovered it online a few years ago, and it has since become so popular that I’ve noticed bananas in the grocery store with little stickers on them letting people know that they can be blended into soft-serve style desserts. But the recipe I’m sharing here is my own creation that came about when I started tinkering with the basic blended bananas idea.
It’s quick, easy, and the sweetness in it comes almost entirely from the bananas. What’s not to love?!
Mocha Chip Banana Soft Serve
Ingredients:
- 2 cups frozen banana chunks
- 3 Tbsp cocoa
- 1 scoop chocolate protein powder (try to stick with a brand that doesn’t use artificial sweeteners or a whole bunch of synthetic ingredients)
- 1 tsp coffee extract
- ¼ cup chopped nuts (I use a combination of brazil nuts and pecans)
- 2 Tbsp mini dark chocolate chips
- 2 Tbsp shredded coconut
Place first four ingredients in a food processor fitted with the “S” blade. Blend until you get a soft serve ice cream consistency. It will take a while – usually about five minutes – and you’ll probably have to stop the food processor a few times to scrape down the bowl. Just when you think that it’s not working, you’ll see little ribbons of soft serve forming around the bottom of the bowl. Once it’s blended, add chopped nuts, chocolate chips and coconut, and pulse to combine. Serve with a sprinkle or chocolate chips, nuts or coconut on top.
Serve this to people without telling them that the main ingredient is bananas… see if they can guess!
