See the list of all Jason Murphy’s recipes at www.mysaline.com/jason-murphy.
Well, it seems we are hitting a running theme of getting a song stuck in your head three weeks in a row. Why not? Cooking is always better when some tunes are playing. So anyone familiar with Van Halen’s self titled album from 1978 will be very familiar with today’s topic…ice cream. That’s right, stop me when I’m passing by…and you’re welcome.
Many of you may not know that legendary Chicago blues musician John Brim actually wrote and recorded that song back in 1953. If you’ve never listened to it, it is definitely worth a YouTube search. Not that Van Halen’s cover is bad…but Brim feels better for you, somehow.
Which brings me back to ice cream. There are a million different versions of it, all with varying degrees of sugar, fat, processed chemicals, and who knows what else. I’d like to show you a better way of doing ice cream, one that tastes as good as it makes you feel, much like Brim’s original recording feels better compared to David Lee Roth singing at you.
The thing about my ice cream is that it’s not ice cream at all. It’s bananas. No, it’s not crazy. It’s bananas. Damn it, I mean it’s made out of bananas. Fun side note, I spell banana by just randomly hitting a’s and n’s and then let spell check sort out the mess. I never quite know when to stop. I can hear some people now protesting that bananas are full of sugar and high in calories. Keto people especially would rather lick a leaky car battery than eat a banana, convinced it’s going to completely reverse any and all weight loss. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
True, bananas are higher in sugars and calories than other fruits like berries, but if you eat them before they go soft and brown, they are full of prebiotic resistant starch, soluble fiber, and tons of nutrients. They are perfect for exercise, as they can help muscle recovery and strength building, kidney functions, and heart health.
In the pic below, the left side is me when I would eat store bought ice cream and other junk food. The right side is when I started eating several servings of fruit a day, including one (gasp) banananananana a day.
So yeah, a banana will not make you gain weight. This “ice cream” is so fast and easy, it’s much quicker than going to the store to buy a tub of antifreeze and sugar. You can whip up a single serving batch in no time at all. All you need to keep around is a chopped up frozen banana, and have a regular blender and a stick blender handy. Sad side note, I used to have a stick blender that looked like Darth Vader’s lightsaber, but it died. Now I just have a regular plain old stick blender that can’t defeat Obi-wan. I know it seems like overkill to use both blenders, but trust me on this, you need a contained space when first breaking up the frozen chunks. The stick blender just sends pieces flying across the kitchen if you use it first. All you need is a splash of heavy cream, a drop of vanilla extract, and a tablespoon of natural peanut butter, and you are in ice cream heaven.
One important note on your peanut butter, the ingredient list should just say peanuts and salt. That’s it. If it has one more ingredient, put it back. I really like Smucker’s all natural, and it’s easily found at all the mega-marts. If you are worried about having to stir it, just keep the jar upside down. That makes it much easier when you flip it over, the oil will be evenly distributed throughout the jar. Seriously, this is good, good stuff. It’s quick, easy, full of fiber, protein, and good fats. You can also modify it to make any flavor profile you like. You’ll never have to stop creepy David Lee Roth again.
Banana Peanut Butter Ice Cream
Ingredients:
- One banana cut into pieces and frozen. Try to avoid over-ripe.
- 1 tbsp grass fed heavy cream
- 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp all natural peanut butter
- 1 pc dark chocolate for grating
Instructions:
Load your bananas into a blender and pulse with short bursts until the banana is broken up into small pieces and starting to soften:
Scoop out all the banana into a large mixing bowl and use the stick blender to continue processing the banana until the texture turns smooth and creamy:
Add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and peanut butter. Hit it again with the stick blender until smooth:
Serve with grated dark chocolate on top and enjoy:
See the list of all Jason Murphy’s recipes at www.mysaline.com/jason-murphy.