On my shopping list was ice cream, we needed some to go with all the fruit crumbles that are in the freezer. But then I thought well that's not very austere or in the spirit of using things up for Austerity August, and it's not that healthy if we are having so many juices in our bid to get ourselves nice and fit for the hard work of the next few months, so what can I make instead.
Yes, it's in a Carte D'Or tub but I can assure you this is very yummy homemade icecream and it took minutes to make.
For some reason I always tend to buy four or five bananas when in fact I could probably get away with two or three a week, we don't eat them that often. Sometimes Lovely Hubby will get a taste for them and suddenly start having one every day and I start buying more, and then as men do, he changes his habits without informing me and I end up with bananas on the worktop going brown and spotty.
Well not one to waste them I started to make choc ices out of them, see the pictures below. But I thought to myself if they make such good choc ices they are bound to make good icecream.
So before I went away last week I simply popped the bananas into the freezer, in their skins. Next time though I will make it even easier and slice them up and freeze them peeled, they freeze so quickly they don't get chance to turn black. When they were solid I put them in the food processor and gave it a quick whizz, a strong fork would work just as easily though. Then I added a swirl of toffee sauce that was lurking in the cupboard, but it would be brilliant with chocolate chips or berries if you had them. Then I scraped the mixture into the icecream tub and popped it all back in the freezer.
It's not soft scoop, but you can get it out of the tub very easily, and it tastes divine, and not that bananary (sorry most definitely NOT a word). It just tastes like a densely flavoured richly textured icecream.
Result!!
Of course if you have some chocolate that needs using up, you can make Banana Choc Ices which I have been doing with lurking spotty bananas up to now.
Simply melt the chocolate, either in a dish over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave, but do keep an eye on it, it melts very quickly, then dunk your bananas in the chocolate and lay on some greaseproof paper on a tray in the freezer until they are frozen.
Once frozen pop your choc ices into a bag or box and they keep for ages (if you let them).
Not the prettiest things in the world, but most definitely very tasty, and half a banana is a good sized portion for one person. They are very filling unlike normal icecream choc ices which simply melt in your mouth leaving nothing but calories that travel straight to your waistline, at least with these you are getting the goodness of the banana.
Of course also lurking ready to give us tasty treats throughout Austerity August are our second batch of 'Smoothie' Ice Lollies ....
... and possibly the easiest ice cold treat in the world - frozen grapes.
I simply wash my grapes when I first buy a bunch and all the loose ones that fall off the bunch are dried on a tea towel and then thrown into an open tub in the freezer.
When you need something cold and juicy to cool you down between jobs there is nothing more easy or delicious than grabbing a couple of frozen grapes to bite into.
Let's just hope for some more warmth and sunshine to help us enjoy our ice cold treats for a while to come.
Sue xx
