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Friday, October 26, 2012

Soft Serve Ice Cream


Today, I have a few variations of a recipe I have been making for the past 2-3 years. BANANA SOFT SERVE ICE CREAM. Yes, that is correct. It is exactly like the soft serve ice cream consistency but it's made with bananas! Some of you have possibly made or heard of it before, but I will remind you of how awesome this invention is...

Soft Serve Ice Cream Base

2 frozen bananas (chopped into chunks)

2 Tb. almond milk

Place banana into food processor and add the 2 tablespoons of milk. Blend until you have a soft serve ice cream consistency.

Okay, so this standard recipe is a bit boring, at least I think it is. So I have some variations...


Pumpkin Soft Serve Ice Cream 

2 frozen bananas (chopped into chunks)

2 Tb. almond milk

1/3 c. pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie mix)

dash of pumpkin pie spice

dash of cinnamon

Blend into the food processor until the correct consistency. How appropriate for Fall, right?!




Almond Butter Soft Serve Ice Cream

2 frozen bananas

2 Tb. almond milk

2 Tb. almond butter**

1/2 tsp. almond extract

dash of cinnamon

Blend into the food processor until the correct consistency.
**You can use peanut butter instead to make peanut butter and banana which would be fabulous! However, I would switch the extract to vanilla.



As you can tell  I added some Reese's on top of mine. Mmm.

Apple Pie Soft Serve Ice Cream

2 frozen bananas

2 Tb. almond milk

1-2 Tbsp. apple butter** (my granddad makes the BEST  homemade apple butter)

1/2 tsp. vanilla (optional)

Blend into food processor until correct consistency.
**For this recipe you can actually use any kind of preserve you would like. Try it out and let me know how it is! 


There you have it! A few variations you can try out next time you have the craving for a small sweet treat. You can add just about whatever add ins you would like. For example, candy, nuts, fruit, nut butters, syrups, etc.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Spaghetti Time!

Hello my lovely friends! This weekend was pretty low key, besides Friday night when DB and I went to the Zac Brown Band concert!!!! I was just a bit excited for this concert! They are by far one of my favorite bands ever, and they sounded better live!

I have a slight crush on the violinist...he is awesome!  

Okay, so enough about that. Since I had a low key weekend I made some delish pasta sauce for dinner Sunday night. My mom makes THE best pasta sauce and of course I asked for her recipe a few years ago when I began cooking.

However, I somehow never have the appropriate ingredients when it comes to recipes, so of course I did a spin on the recipe.


Remixed Mom's Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb. very lean ground turkey (I used Trader Joe's)

1 can organic tomato sauce

1/2 c. water

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp. italian seasoning

1/2 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder (omit if you are not into garlic, crazy)

1/2 tsp. red peper flakes (depending on your spice level)

Dash of salt and pepper

10 fresh basil leaves


1. Brown ground turkey with the garlic until fully cooked. You shouldn't have to drain the turkey since it is very low in fat. However, if you use regular ground turkey you will need to drain at this point.



2. Add the tomato sauce, water, and all spices besides the basil. Cover, and let cook for 1 hour. Stir occasionally while the sauce is cooking. **This sauce is very heavy on the meat so if you want a thinner sauce add an extra half to a whole can of tomato sauce.

 
Once the sauce is done, add in the fresh basil leaves. It is now ready to be served over pasta of your choice or spaghetti squash! Enjoy!

 
                                           

Monday, October 8, 2012

Faux Lara Balls and Swim Workout!

Today I had the day off thanks to Columbus. Therefore, it was kitchen time. I also got to workout on my own time which meant swimming with all the old people at the pool. We had a good time chatting...old people are so awesome. I didn't talk the whole time unfortunately. Here is the workout I did:

600 warm-up choice
6x75 (25 kick, 50 swim)
6x50 (Breathe 3-5-7 x 50)
3 x( 25 FAST/ 50 easy
        50 FAST/ 75 easy
        75 FAST/ 100 easy)
2x200 Kick choice build
200 cool-down
Total: 3075

Short and sweet! Besides the lovely swim I also made a version of a recipe I saw online the other day...I call them...

Faux 'Lara' Balls 

24 Dates, chopped

1/2 c. unsweetened dried coconut

1/4 c. whole almonds

2 Tb. cocoa powder

2 Tb. almond butter

1 tsp. vanilla

dash of sea salt 



Place all ingredients into a food processor and let it go for about 2 minutes. Stir and let it go for another minute. The mixture will be crumbly.


 Make into uniform balls. 



Store in the fridge, this makes about 14 balls. These are great for a quick pick-me-up snack or treat!