Friday, July 20, 2012

Banana soft serve

My friend Emily has been telling me about banana soft serve for months and I hadn't tried it until about a week or so ago. Let me tell you- it will change your life. Think: creamy, decadent, delicious soft serve ice cream. Made only from bananas. I didn't believe it until I tried it!! I really should listen to Emily more often.

There are so many ways you can eat this- just plain, or with cocoa powder and peanut butter, with vanilla, spices, etc. So many choices! You can also do some add-ins like chocolate chips, coconut, peanuts, fresh raspberries- the sky's the limit.

Oh She Glows (yes I know I talk about this blog all the time) has some excellent blizzard posts with cookie dough and brownie add-ins. I've made both and they are so delicious. I think I prefer the cookie dough but the brownie bites are also lovely- I just polished off a few this morning :p 

I love healthier dessert options because you can enjoy a decadent dessert without feeling guilty or disgusting afterwards. Sorry there aren't any pictures in this post- I ate the ice cream before I could take a picture.


Ingredients:

bananas, peeled, broken into bite-sized pieces and frozen
splash of almond milk (if needed)
nut butter (optional)
vanilla (optional)
other add-ins as desired

Place the frozen bananas in a food processor and process until smooth and creaming, scraping down the sides as needed. If the bananas aren't breaking down add a splash of almond milk. Add whatever mix-ins you like and continue processing.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

July 4th cupcakes


I made these last year for the 4th of July and thought I'd post a picture for this year! You can make them with any kind of cupcakes but I used the lemony variation on the vanilla cupcakes in Vegan Cupcakes Take over the World. For frosting, I just did a basic vegan frosting but added vanilla extract. You can google recipes for these or just use any of the recipes in Vegan Cupcakes.

Ingredients:

15 cupcakes
white frosting
blueberries
strawberries
toothpicks

1. Prepare the cupcakes and let them cool entirely before frosting. Place the cupcakes in a 9x13 inch baking pan.

2. Cut the strawberries in half. Using toothpicks (broken in half) gently pierce the fruit on one side and then put the other end in to the cupcakes, forming an American flag pattern. It takes some patience and the result is an abstract American flag but people will get what it's supposed to be. Be sure to warn unsuspecting eaters about the toothpicks!

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!