When he was small, my youngest son had a habit of filling his pockets with treasures he encountered in his daily adventures. I didn't always understand the value he saw in his chosen objects -- really, how many rocks and sticks could one boy keep? In his eyes, though, each one was beautiful and important. Life is just like that on a larger scale, isn't it? We gather up the precious bits of our experiences and save them all to learn from and enjoy later. Perhaps you'll find a little something here that you'd like to keep in your own pockets. Thanks for visiting.

Thursday, July 5, 2012

Fruity soft-serve sundaes (dairy-free)

It's been really, really hot outside lately, and we've all been looking for fun ways to beat the heat now that we're on summer holidays.  We headed north for a wonderful couple of days early this week to visit some friends at their cottage, and while the grown-ups relaxed and chatted on the shady dock, the kids all enjoyed hours and hours of fun in the sand and water amidst a beautiful backdrop of trees.  Now that we're back home, we're anxiously awaiting the installation of a permanent pool in our backyard, which is supposed to be happening within the next couple of weeks (hooray!!) -- I'm sure that soon we won't be minding the summer heat at all!  In the meantime, I've been making some more cool and healthy treats to help everyone feel a little more chilled out.

A few weeks ago, I decided to bake some banana oat bundles, but all of the really ripe bananas I had on hand were in the freezer.  Rather than waiting for them to thaw (sometimes I am not the most patient of people), I just threw them in the food processor as is when it was time to mix the wet ingredients together.  I came to realize that processing frozen bananas results in a cold, smooth, creamy concoction very similar to soft-serve ice cream, and I filed this information away in my brain for later use.

This afternoon, I decided to try throwing frozen bananas in the food processor along with some frozen strawberries to see what would happen.  What I ended up with was a delicious soft-serve treat, made entirely from fruit with no added sugar, and both of my boys and one of Noah's friends gobbled it up when I asked them to be my taste-testers.  I love when something so simple turns out to be so good!

Strawberry Banana Soft-Serve Sundaes


2 large frozen bananas
1 cup frozen strawberries
a small amount of chopped walnuts, finely chopped dark chocolate, and finely diced strawberries

Break frozen bananas into one-to-two-inch pieces and place them in a food processor.   Add frozen strawberries.  Process fruit for several minutes, stopping the food processor every now and then to scrape the sides of the bowl down, until fruit is completely combined and smooth in texture. 

Spoon fruity soft-serve into bowls, and sprinkle with a little bit of chopped walnuts, dark chocolate, and strawberry pieces.  Voila -- an easy, nutritious, and really yummy summer treat!


After searching the internet today, I've come to realize that making soft-serve out of bananas is not a new idea;  apparently people have been making this concoction for some time already.  Who knew?  I'm still very excited to have figured it out by accident in my kitchen, and to share it with you!  I plan to try lots of different flavours over the summer:  blueberry-banana, mango-banana, banana with nut butter (drizzled with a little melted dark chocolate -- mmmm!).  The possibilities are endless.  What flavours will you try?

2 comments:

  1. Are you kidding me?! These look awesome! What a discovery you made!

    I can't wait to try it!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I hope you love it, Summer! :)

    ReplyDelete