Banana 'Ice Cream'

Let's talk about diet food for a minute.  I have been on a diet for the past couple months (and I've lost 21 pounds so far!) but we all know that diets are tough.  When most people go on a diet, they try and find every way to get around them and eat what they want that they possibly can.  I'm actually impressed with how well I have been able to stick to mine AND workout for an hour a day but the food still gets old (I mean, how many different ways can you cook chicken that are healthy??).  So, I just wanted to share a recipe I learned with you that you will not need to feel any guilt about.

Now, this is going to sound strange and you will have to see it to believe it but bare with me.  For this recipe you will need:

• A food processor
• As many banana's as servings of ice cream you want to make ( I used 2 for this batch)
• And, whatever healthy stuff you want to mix in.  I used 1 packet of fat free hot chocolate (only 20 calories per packet) but you can use reduced fat peanut butter, sugar free chocolate syrup, other fruit -strawberries would be good- or for those of you NOT on a diet, use whatever the heck you want.

To get started, you will cut the banana's in half length wise and then into bite sized chunks.  Place on a cookie sheet (or whatever you want to freeze them on) and make sure they are in a single layer and not touching.  You may want to lay some plastic wrap down before you spread out the banana's for easy removal later (ask me how I know this).  Then cover them with another layer of plastic wrap pop them into the freezer and wait until they are frozen solid.  I did mine over night but a few hours should be good enough.

After your banana's are frozen, get out your food processor and toss in the banana pieces.  Make sure to hold it tight while you pulse, other wise it may go flying off the counter.  Be patient and keep pulsing. Once the banana's are about the size of peas, add a little bit of cold water (1 or 2 tablespoons) to help it 'go'.  Keep on pulsing, you are almost there!

After much patience, you will have this WONDERFUL, creamy banana soft serve!  You can eat it just the way it is, or you can add in your delicious extras (this is when I added my packet of hot chocolate mix) and pulse some more, just until mixed (if you are adding other fruit I would suggest just stirring it in).  For best results, I would put it in a container and back into the freezer for a half hour to an hour before serving just to let it harden up again. 

Dish it up and serve!

Hope you all like this recipe!  It is a great alternative to real ice cream and you don't need to feel one bit of guilt about eating it!