Mint Mocha + Cherry Cacao Almond Frozen Banana Dessert

+

[Sponsored Contest: California Milk Advisory Board]

“I received a gift card to offset the expense of my ingredients. By posting this recipe I am entering a recipe contest sponsored by the California Milk Advisory Board and am eligible to win prizes associated with the contest. I was not compensated for my time.”

 

Mint mocha banana ice-cream anyone?

Perhaps cherry cacao almond pleases your palate a bit more..

Enjoy the Taste of Eating Right

’tis time to celebrate all. It is March, which means it’s National Nutrition Month (one of my favorite months). The California Milk Advisory Board has helped us Recipe Redux members create a healthy addition to this month’s theme of enjoying the taste of healthy food.

CMAB encouraged us to lighten up our favorite recipes with a California dairy product. Why dairy you may ask? High in protein with low to moderate fat and carbohydrates, California dairy is a tasty snack that can be incorporated into many dishes and into your diet as part of a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle. When deciding on how to lighten up my dessert recipe, I chose California plain greek yogurt to keep the fat content down compared to traditional indulgent desserts, as well as increase the protein content for satiation and blood glucose control. Check out more info on dairy and CMAB, here.

Plus, California greek yogurt added a nice whipped and creamy composition to the icy banana base. I feel this really gave the texture a nice edge on the one-ingredient banana ice-creams.

In my Community Nutrition class, I’ve been working on a group project that aims to educate elementary school children on incorporating a variety of colored fruits in their diet. We’re working on “eating a rainbow a day.” I’m super stoked about it and our group is making banana ice-cream for the children, to introduce a new and fun way to enjoy eating fruit.

Speaking of nutrition education for children, this is a really useful (not to mention cute) nutrition site with a focus on healthy children/eating, and wellness and school programs. Check it out for more pointers on nutrition education and knowledge :) Healthy Eating.

Moving forward, I thought it’d be neat to combine the two healthy concepts and add in some greek yogurt to the banana ice-cream. After some experimentation with ingredients, two beautiful flavor babies were born:

Mint Mocha + Cherry Cacao Almond

I couldn’t even taste the banana anymore in these flavor combinations, not that that’d be a bad thing anyway, but I found this to be a suitable healthy ice-cream alternative with decadent flavors that didn’t make you feel like a heavy overloaded human blob afterward.

Guhh, I ate this stuff up too quickly. I already started freezing more bananas to recreate this. Healthy, yummy & cheap ice-cream made from frozen bananas and greek yogurt? What more could I ask for…

I only had one frozen banana left when I started making the cherry cacao almond flavor, so the addition of frozen cherries to add mass was quite helpful. You can add in more of anything/everything to have a larger yield.

Banana ice-cream is super customizable regardless, so do as you please to be, well, pleased…

 

Mint Mocha Ice-cream

Ingredients:

2 large very ripe bananas*, sliced and frozen

1/4 cup California plain greek yogurt (0% or 2% fat, suggestion: Wallaby Greek)

1.5 T almond butter (I used no salt/no sugar added)

2 T raw cacao powder (or cocoa powder)

1 tsp ground coffee

stevia or preferred sweetener, to taste

1/2-1 tsp vanilla extract

1/8-1/4 tsp peppermint extract

 

+++

 

Cherry Cacao Almond Ice-cream:

Ingredients:

1 large very ripe banana, sliced and frozen

2 T California plain greek yogurt (0% or 2% fat, suggestion: Wallaby Greek)

1/2-3/4 C frozen cherries

1 T almond butter (no salt/sugar added)

1 T cacao powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/8 tsp almond extract

1/4 tsp ground coffee (optional)

stevia or sweetener to taste

 

*PLEASE make sure your bananas are very ripe or they may taste starchy merr.

 

Directions:

1. Peel bananas and slice into sections about 2-3 inches in diameter.

2. Place bananas in a Ziploc bag (I used the freezer-safe kind) and freeze for a few hours, overnight or until frozen

3. Add bananas to a food processor or blender and blend until a smooth consistency is achieved. Tip: if the bananas are frozen rock solid you may need to let them thaw in the blender for a few minutes at room temperature, until they can be blended fairly easy.

4. Add in the rest of the ingredients and blend! I would suggest adding the sweetener last so you can adjust as needed. Also, feel free to adjust any of the spices or extracts. Start off in small increments with the vanilla and especially the mint and increase to your preferences. The almond butter didn’t have a super strong taste here, but it added the perfect balance to the flavors. Add in more if you want, I think you get the idea ;)

5. Once all is blended, add toppings if preferable and eat up! Or place in freezer to solidify for different texture.

Store in freezer and let thaw a bit when ready to eat.

Enjoy xx