by Texas Homesteader ~
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It’s hot, hot HOT out there, y’all! I mean hot as in temps at 100 degrees or HIGHER several times this week. WHEW! Here in NE Texas it seems we went from winter to summer with nary a mild spring day between! So I’m focusing these days on cooler foods and cold desserts. But I wanna keep it healthy too. RancherMan loves, loves, LOVES ice cream, especially when it’s this hot outside. But it’s just not healthy to indulge in such a high-fat treat too often.
I’ve written before about making a mock fat-free ice cream using frozen bananas and pudding mix. The pudding makes the ice cream more creamy and less icy. But I was looking for something even a little healthier. So I started making our ‘ice cream’ using the frozen bananas for the sweetness and frozen fruit for an extra punch of flavor.
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Making this sweet frozen treat literally takes only minutes. That’s important y’all – I don’t want to spend time in the kitchen. A cold, sweet treat that’s healthy & cheap plus fast & easy to prepare? Yes please! I literally just loosely chop the fruit & plunk everything into my Ninja at one time. Done & done!
Plus it’s super cheap. When the grocery store begs customers to buy those over-ripe bananas by offering them for almost nothing, I snatch them up. When I get them home I peel them & toss them in the freezer. I do the same thing with other various quick-sale fruits & berries. It seems this ripe fruit is even more sweet than its less-ripe counterpart. And I’m helping eliminate food waste by snatching up food that the store may have had to throw away soon.
On this day I brought out three of the frozen bananas, a handful of frozen strawberries, some vanilla extract & some of our honey from our own apiary along with my *Ninja Blender. (Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE that thing??!!)
If you’ll remember I initially bought my Ninja because my regular blender just wasn’t blending our ‘ice cream’ smoothly enough. This Ninja rocks, y’all! (I try to share all the items we use & love in our Homesteading Tools tab above – feel free to check out our faves!)
Anyway, I chopped the bananas & tossed them into my ninja. Then I chopped several frozen strawberries – about a heaping cup’s worth. You can add as much as you like though. I added the chopped strawberries to the Ninja. I also tossed in 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and a couple of tablespoons of honey because RancherMan likes it sweet.
Then I give it all a quick whir until it was all blended together. This makes a soft-set type of ice cream ready to eat right then, right there. But if you want your sweet treat more firm you can toss it into the freezer for about an hour.
If you have flavored liquid creamers it’s super fun to toss in a couple of tablespoons for a little extra sumpin’ but it’s totally not necessary. In the past I’ve added French Vanilla or Hazelnut and RancherMan really seemed to like it.
But it’s delicious one way or the other. And quick to prepare too. Here’s the recipe:
Healthy Banana & Berry 'Ice Cream'
Ingredients
- 3 Frozen Bananas, chopped
- 1 heaping cup Frozen Strawberries, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Tablespoons Honey (optional for added sweetness)
- 2 Tablespoons French Vanilla or Hazelnut Flavored Liquid Creamer (optional)
Instructions
-
Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth. Can be enjoyed immediately as soft-serve consistency, or placed in freezer for 1 hour for a firmer treat.
~TxH~
Other Easy Desserts
- Pumpkin Bread (with Cake-Mix Shortcut)
- Depression-Era CRAZY CAKE – No Butter, Eggs or Milk
- Rich, Chocolaty Homemade Brownies
- Chocolate Pudding In A FLASH
- Banana Pudding – A Hug From The South
- Cherry-Pie Tortilla Rolls
- Cantaloupe Bread w/Pecan Praline Glaze
- Easy Blueberry Muffins
- Fresh Pear Cake
- Healthier ‘Ice Cream’ Using Bananas & Fruit
- Easy Cookies-n-Cream Ice Cream Cake
- Homemade Honey Graham Crackers
- Cake-Mix Cookies – Only 3 Ingredients!
- Double Chocolate Banana Chunk Cookies
- Sugar-Free Chocolate No-Bake Cookies
- Triple Chocolate Truffles
- Rich & Creamy Hot Cocoa
- …And MANY MORE!
See All Recipe Posts
We love it, Joe. And it’s healthy too! ~TMH~
I have pureed fruit (in my ancient/non ninja blender) then poured it onto a baking pan to freeze and later just scraped if off with a spatula and it was kind of like sorbet. I have also used it as an addition to an apple or other fruit pie.
I was thinking about using it as an addition to apple or fruit pie too Candace – just wondering what flavor wouldln’t clash with the pie. (I typically enjoy vanilla ice cream with pies or cobblers) Thoughts?? ~TMH~
I own a champion juicer and it has, what they call a homogenizer. I freeze fruit and run it through that. It makes the fruit nice and creamy.
Now THAT would streamline a cold dessert, Nancy! ~TMH~