Saturday, May 28, 2011

World's Easiest Dessert, I Promise.

Long time, no see? Thanks again for the emails--it's really nice to know that if I ever went truly missing that you'd all send out the Navy Seals to come find me. Makes me feel appreciated!

I have another post in the works for later this week but for now I thought I'd share with you the excitement I'm feeling over discovering the world's easiest dessert. I know that's so hyperbolic but truly it is the easiest--just you wait and see.

It comes from Apartment Therapy's Kitchn Blog which I faithfully follow and it's banana ice cream with only one--count it one--ingredient. Bananas. Yup, bananas and only bananas.


All you do is freeze some bananas (they were on sale this week so I grabbed a dozen or so and popped them directly into the freezer) then peel them (that's important).  Then puree them into ice cream in your food processor until they're the proper consistency--something similar to soft serve ice cream which you can then let ripen in the freezer if you want it more like the hard packed stuff.

A couple of tips:
1. I froze mine with the skins on which worked fined, it kept them from tasting like freezer, but it's hard to peel a frozen banana the way you would an unfrozen one. Just clip off the top and tail a bit, slice it crosswise in half, then slice each remaining half again lengthwise. They're pretty easy to peel that way, you'll just freeze your fingers a bit.


2. It's particularly good with homemade hot fudge sauce and a dab of whipped cream on top--it's so creamy and fresh tasting. And did I mention healthy? So healthy. Your mouths will rejoice.


And lest you think I've been doing nothing at all around here, this is my proof that I haven't been a complete slacker. My garden is coming up nicely in front as you can see--love those columbine and daffodils. I'm afraid I haven't been as diligent on the computer as I used to be, there have been so many other things that have seemed to occupy my attentions lately--more on those later.

I've been reading--The Night Attila Died by Michael Babcock which was completely fascinating.  Of course it went into the history of Attila but from a completely different angle. Babcock is a philologist, or one who studies the history, forms and meaning of language and while the common thought is that Attila died of a hemorrhage on his wedding night (one of many wedding nights I'd add), Babcock reconstructs the historical records linguistically to put up a case for his murder. It's Sherlock Holmes meets Henry Higgins meets CSI.  Only without any singing or dancing of course.

Then I followed that up with Round the Bend by Nevil Shute who is one of my favorite authors. If you haven't read A Town Like Alice drop everything and go read it--though honestly, I do think Requiem for a Wren (also published as The Breaking Wave) is even better. It's a novel about a British man after World War II who goes to the Persian Gulf to start up an airfreight business and his relationship with the man he's known since his teen years who is the zen-master of airplane maintenance. 

Hard to describe but Shute's characters and stories are always wonderful and this one has a bit of religion and philosophy that get you thinking. It's not what you'd call a churchy book--not at all--but it's a book about religion and what that means in relation to our lives and livelihoods and place in the world.  Five stars.

And finally, next week I'll be a guest on the local radio program "Kids These Days" with Lenore Skenazy, author of Free-Range Kids talking about helicopter parenting. At least we're taping the show next week, I'm not sure when it will air--I'll have to update this when I learn more. It ought to be fun, I'm sure I'm bound to shock a least a few with my dangerous parenting antics like letting my children play with chainsaws and all that (you know I'm kidding, right?) See you there!

18 comments:

susan said...

So good to see you back as I check here everyday for a read.

Your garden looks lovely and I've made that banana ice cream and it is delish. Thanks for the peeling tricks. I freeze mine in the peels too and it is a messy, cold business to release the banana from its frozen coffin.

Congrats on the taping of the show next week. You will be awesome. Go ahead and shake things up, it'll only be recorded for eternity. lol.

Hazel said...

Congrats on plugging Nevil Shute - I have ALL his books loving collected over the years from charity (thrift) shops as and when. Some are very tatty but still readable. My favourite is always the one I have read most recently which today happens to be The Chequer Board.

M said...

Nice to "see" you!

Suzi said...

Welcome back! FYI, this technique works well with most fruits. My hubby's favorite is strawberries but I prefer peach. Love your garden - so green.

Kathy G said...

I cut bananas into small pieces, freeze them on cookie sheets, and eat them as is. No need to dirty the food processor!

Nancy from Two Mountains said...

Hi Michelle, Now and again, I check to see if you've posted and so I was happily surprised this morning when I saw you had! I see you've been busy. Lovely garden. Thanks for the dessert tip; it will make a fine refreshing dessert if the weather even warms up over here. LOL Glad to know you and your family are doing well. Priorities change, our kids grow up (sometimes, not fast enough, oftentimes, way too fast), through it all, it's still nice to hear from you & read your posts. Have a great summer.

jean said...

I'm glad you are back. Of course I'm happy that you have been busy - but I miss you.

Now about that banana... I saw that too and gagged then and now again. Sorry. Bananas and I just don't get along. But from what I've read, if you like bananas you'll love this.

Amelia said...

I have made this banana ice cream before! It was yummy, especially with the chocolate, you're right! I froze mine for too long though. I think it says you are only supposed to freeze them for an hour or so.

Your garden looks wonderful! We've been sprucing ours up and I'm trying a veggie garden for the first time!

Mrs. Ohtobe said...

Yay - I've missed you!

J said...

Glad to see you back. That banana ice cream thing seems amazing...I had banana creme pie tonight, and gosh, it would have been even better without all of the sugar. A little chocolate and maybe some nuts? YUM. Did you know bananas are high in fiber, so one of the things that is great to eat to maintain or lose weight? Nice.

I hope you and your family are well. I look forward to hearing the interview about helicopter parenting.

Kellie said...

Your garden is gorgeous and that banana treat looks yummy!

John Valenty said...

Does it really taste like ice cream?? This sounds amazing!

Inkling said...

Thankfully, my fingers have thawed out so that I can type a comment here. ;)

My little guy has had a horrid stomach bug for five days, and today was the first day he wanted food. I really needed him to have some bananas, but can't get him to eat more than two or three bites of a regular one. So I tried this idea and put a tiny bit of chocolate syrup on it. He totally loved it and said that we need to share some with his daddy when he comes home from work tonight.

So thank you for posting this idea. I never would have thought of making ice cream. You are right, it comes out in a perfect texture and tastes so fresh! I'm thinking that I might just have to make some homemade hot fudge sauce and do this again on the weekend with all sorts of sundae fixings.

Anonymous said...

I just discovered Nevil Shute a couple months ago! I adored "A Town Like Alice" and just finished "Pied Piper" which was a great read. Can't wait to read the others mentioned here.

Kristina

Mirien said...

I have missed you, but wasn't one of those nice, thoughtful people who sent you an email. Now you're posting at my frequency--isn't it liberating? I don't know how you ever managed before!

I'm not surprised that you'll be on Lenore's show. After reading her book (loved it!), I thought of you and knew she'd approve! I'll have to tune in.

Unknown said...

Hmmm. I haven't tried just bananas yet. I regularly use frozen bananas and mangos for a special treat, with a dash of milk and vanilla. Does taste like ice cream.

Alison said...

Hi Michelle,
I made the frozen banana "ice cream" for my family. It was super easy and delicious. Thanks!

Stephanie said...

That looks delicious! I wonder, however, if the bananas would be too "intense" for me.

stephanie@metropolitanmama.net