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Posts Tagged ‘food processor’

Chocolate-banana ice cream: Experiment No. 4

Posted in Eats, Photographs, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on July 26, 2011| Leave a Comment »

This version of the sugar-free frozen banana ice cream that I’ve been toying with all summer (see Experiments 1, 2 and 3) is the best yet. Seriously, it will change your life. Or at least the mid-afternoon snack portion of your life.

I found the recipe while browsing Pinterest, a “virtual pinboard” that lets you post photos of awesome stuff you find on the web. Better yet, Pinterest lets you see things that other folks have found, leading you into a scavenger hunt of awesomeness that is reminiscent of the Internet circa 1996.

Anyway, I traced the original recipe back to here, although it seems to have originated from a Tumbler blog that’s no longer in existence. Sorry, rouxeats.

Cut up a ripe banana, freeze the slices, dump them in a food processor with 2 tbsp. cocoa powder and you have a delicious, if weird, rendition of chocolate-banana ice cream. Those beige pieces you see in the photograph above are bits of peanuts; because I famously cannot leave well enough alone, I threw in probably 3 tbsp. of peanuts. DO THIS.

It was so delicious that the husband ate the two bites I offered him and noted that, perhaps, his earlier derision of the mixture as “frozen banana mush” was a bit shortsighted. He wants back in on the banana ice cream experiment.

Next up: Nutella banana ice cream.

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Peanut butter-banana ice cream: Experiment No. 3

Posted in Eats, tagged , , , , , on July 3, 2011| 1 Comment »

After the grand pineapple-rum-banana ice cream failure, I was hesitant to add anything new to my frozen banana ice cream, but curiosity won.

After returning from a long weekend drive, I wanted peanut butter. I also wanted banana ice cream.

I was afraid the addition of peanut butter (not even an entire tablespoon) would make the bananas mushy, but instead, the frozen banana slices seemed to freeze the peanut butter during the processing. The bananas and peanut butter ended up with the same texture.

I will be making this again.

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Learning to love coleslaw

Posted in CSA, Eats, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on June 27, 2011| Leave a Comment »

True confession: I didn’t eat coleslaw for nearly 30 nears.

For someone who grew up in the South, that’s quite an accomplishment.

The coleslaw I remember from my childhood was a gloppy, mayonnaise-laden mixture that I could not imagine eating. For one thing, it was incredibly crunchy, although I can’t tell you precisely WHY that was so off-putting to me. I’ve never been anti-mayonnaise, either, but those tiny bits of cabbage coated in it were uniquely unappealing.

At some point, however, I discovered vinegar-based coleslaw.

This. Yes. This made sense.

Flavored with vinegar and a little salt and sugar, this brand of coleslaw was more akin to a fresh salad than the heavy blob of a side dish I remembered. I was old enough by that time to be over the fear of crunchiness, too.

I still didn’t venture to make my own coleslaw, however, for a while after that. For one thing, I knew it was a dish that my sometimes-picky husband wasn’t going to touch.

When I joined a CSA, however, I suddenly found myself facing a head of cabbage every couple of weeks. I was also armed with a brand new food processor, complete with a shredding blade.

Oh yeah.

I quickly found a Rachael Ray recipe for Oil and Vinegar Slaw on FoodNetwork.com and went to work. It calls for a 16-ounce bag of shredded cabbage mix, but I just substituted 16 ounces of the head of cabbage (I just chopped off a chunk at a time and weighed it) and ran it through the shredding blade. I never looked up what else might be in cabbage mix, but what I’m making is delicious as is.

Oil and Vinegar Slaw
(Recipe by Rachael Ray)

  • 1/4 cup red wine
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 tablespoons peanut or vegetable oil
  • 1 sack, 16 ounces, shredded cabbage mix for slaw salads
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Salt and pepper

Mix vinegar and sugar. Add oil. Add cabbage and season with salt and pepper. Toss with fingers to combine. Adjust seasoning. Let stand 20 minutes. Re-toss and serve.

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Pineapple-rum-banana ice cream: Experiment No. 2

Posted in Eats, tagged , , , , , , on June 21, 2011| 2 Comments »

I figured out what you can’t add to banana puree ice cream: 1 ounce of cachaca and most of a 4-ounce cup of pineapple chunks.

A friend suggested adding rum and pineapple to the ice cream, and it seemed like such a great idea that I immediately refrigerated the pineapple and inspected the rum supply, which was running unexpectedly low. I grabbed the bottle of cachaca instead, since it’s very similar to rum.

The combination completely ruined the texture of the final product, but I’m the only person in the house who enjoyed a refreshing bowl of banana-pineapple daiquiri for dinner.

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Coffee-banana ice cream: Experiment No. 1

Posted in Eats, tagged , , , , , , on June 16, 2011| 1 Comment »

I finally had time for my first experimental batch of the easy-to-make frozen banana ice cream that’s gone viral. I added about a tablespoon of cold coffee (I had refrigerated the dregs from the coffee pot) before I whirled the frozen banana slices around in the food processor. It was absolutely delicious.

I used the food processor attachment that came with my immersion blender this time. It’s got a very small bowl, so it hasn’t been very useful in the past, but it was just the right size for this job. Especially given that the husband doesn’t want any part of this dessert.

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That frozen banana ice cream thing? It works.

Posted in Eats, tagged , , , , , , , on June 5, 2011| 3 Comments »

I was slightly skeptical that a frozen pureed banana would emerge from the food processor and actually resemble ice cream, but I couldn’t ignore the numerous posts that have been making the Internet rounds. When a friend posted this one on my Facebook page a couple of weeks ago, I knew I had to run my own experiment.

It totally worked. After whirling frozen banana slices for about one minute in the food processor, I took off the lid to reveal a clumpy-looking concoction that really did have the consistency of ice cream when I tasted it.

Totally worth it, especially given my revulsion for bananas that have slightly exceeded their perfect level of ripeness.

Now I’m contemplating additions, like a hint of cinnamon and maybe a spoonful or two of walnuts. And chocolate. Definitely something chocolate.

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