Peanut Butter Banana Ice Cream

So, I do not normally like banana-flavored desserts.  I love bananas, but as part of a dessert?  No, thank you.

But, when I read the simplest recipe ever for peanut butter banana ice cream in Littler Women, we had to try it.  And, it, my friends, is Ah-MAZING!!  I highly recommend it as a “healthier” dessert, AND a great way to make sure you don’t waste bananas.  If some are about to go and you can’t eat them all in time, peel, chop, and freeze.  Then, use in awesome recipes like this one!

Trying to find a similar “recipe.”  This one uses the same ratios we do, but we only use the bananas and peanut butter.

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Greek Yogurt Frosting-Yum!

We celebrated a birthday in our house recently.  And while I loves me a good buttery cream cheese frosting, I happened to stumble across this recipe.  Now, I haven’t done a taste comparison or anything, but I will say that this frosting using yogurt, instead of butter or shortening, is quite delicious!
We happened to only have regular yogurt on hand, and so our frosting came out a bit runny, but still doable and super tasty.  In the future though, I probably would either get a Greek yogurt for this or strain it through a cheese cloth.
I also will say that I, personally, find most frosting recipes have an excessive amount of powdered sugar for my taste.  This one offered a range, and so I used a scant bit of the smaller amount and found it worked perfectly.
Hope you enjoy!

Homemade Brownies

Homemade brownies are so FAR superior to ones from a box and almost as easy.  Box ingredients include fillers and unpronounceable items.  Brownies don’t need corn syrup and hydrogenated soybean oil and artificial flavors.  No, thank you.
This is the recipe I use as our go-to brownie recipe.  I decrease the butter to 1/2 cup, instead of 3/4, and I decrease the sugar to just over 1 cup, instead of 1 2/3.  It is still quite delicious and even a bit more moist.  I also like making these in muffin cups, instead of a pan, so we can freeze them easily.  
As an environmentalist, I love that there is less waste when making homemade too, since you can buy in bulk.  And, even though I do use the Toll House recipe as a basis, I like that I don’t have to actually support the Nestle company. Homemade also means you have control over the ingredients, so you can do things like decrease the sugar, use organic ingredients, etc.  Doubling or halving the recipe becomes much simpler with homemade.  You can also mix and store dry ingredients together ahead of time.
 
Twice a year, on Mother’s Day and my birthday, my kids and husband bake a peppermint brownie recipe from a children’s graphic novel called Bake Sale.  These are definitely a special treat, and if you can check out the book from your library, I recommend copying out the recipe!
If you’re not going to eat or share all the brownies in time, I find that brownies actually freeze quite nicely if I cut them into squares (or bake them as cupcakes) and store them in a Pyrex container.  Frozen brownies are an excellent thing to have on hand!
If you haven’t made brownies without a box in awhile, I highly recommend giving it a try!

Homemade Ice Cream

We just made a small batch of homemade ice cream, and every time we make this I cannot believe its delicousness!!  
If you want to binge eat ice cream, this probably isn’t the way to go, but if you really, truly want to appreciate and savor ice cream, you must try to make it from scratch.
Our family does not have an ice cream maker, and for as rarely as we make this and as delicious as it still comes out, I really don’t think it’s necessary.  I’ve pieced this recipe together from different sources, which, I, unfortunately, have not done a good job documenting.  Again, my apologies.  I’m usually very good at referencing my recipes.
This recipe is for Mint Ice Cream.  (Alana Chernila has some great ice cream recipes in her cookbook, and there are plenty of choices online.)  Many of the online mint recipes call for green food coloring, but I truly don’t think it’s necessary, and I do my best to avoid food dyes when possible.
Ok, so, here’s the recipe:
In a saucepan, combine: 
2cups heavy cream
1 cup sugar
Heat gently, until sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat.  
Then, add:
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 tsp peppermint extract
Stir well.  Let cool, if needed.  Pour into heat-resistant/freezer-safe container, like Pyrex.
Freeze for one hour.  Remove and stir.  
Freeze for another hour.  Remove and stir.  Add:
1 cup mini chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
Repeat the freeze and stir process about two more times before letting the ice cream sit in the freezer for a longer period of time–5 or 6 hours.  
Or, if you like soft ice cream and are feeling impatient, as I usually am, just skip letting the ice cream sit for those extra 5 hours and enjoy this scrumptious treat as is!