Delicious Creamy Frozen Dessert: Healthy, Too!

What to do with the bananas that get over-ripe? This recipe shows a great way to save and not waste food while making a delicious, healthy dessert.

During the summer, nothing hits the spot like a cold, creamy, sweet dessert. But commercially prepared ice creams and even most frozen yogurts contain too much fat, sugar and calories to be healthy. Here is a treat I enjoy once or twice a week. It's scrumptious, and even nutritious!

Great ways to get children involved in preparing this:

• Discuss nutrition with them, and what nutrients are in the ingredients of this recipe, vs. what they would find in ice cream or commercial frozen yogurt.
• Do a science experiment: Freeze a banana with the skin, and find out why it turns black. Try to remove the skin. Discuss why it works so much better without the skin.
• Have the children save their bananas to freeze, especially if they don't eat them in their lunchbox, or if the bananas get spotted. Make a child responsible for freezing those unwanted bananas, which turn out so much sweeter in this recipe.
• Compost the skins!
• Have the child prepare dessert for the family by using this recipe. They can do the whole thing except removing the finished product from the blender, unless an adult removes the sharp blades first. Then the child can spoon creamy goodness into dessert bowls, and place them in the freezer until dessert time.
• Play with math! This recipe (like all) involves ratios. What happens if you need to double the recipe? What if you double the amount of almond butter? What happens to the calories? Make it a real exploration.

Enjoy, and have delicious learning fun for the whole family!

Step 1: Ingredients

Ingredients: Everything should be organic if possible, but if not, the yogurt should definitely be organic.

1 medium banana (~109 calories, 0.6 g fat, 27 g carbs)
1-2 tbsp plain yogurt (20-30 cal, less than 1 g fat, ~6 g carbs)
1 tsp crunchy almond butter (~30 cal, 3 g fat, 1.2 g carbs)
2 tsp organic cacao paste, or nibs if you can't get paste. (~20 cal, 2 g fat, 1 g carbs)

Totals: For a hearty helping, under 200 cal, ~5 g fat, ~36 g carbs. The only sugars come from the banana.

Oh yeah, and a little kick of caffeine. That paste is potent!

Here is one source for the paste: http://www.nutsonline.com/nuts/cacao/paste.html
 I bought it from my co-op. In this recipe it becomes like tiny chocolate chips.

Step 2: Preparation

Peel and break up one banana into three or four pieces. Freeze until frozen solid. You may want to keep a store of these for use in recipes like this.

Step 3: Blend It Smooth

Put all ingredients in a blender. I use my Ninja food processor thingy and blend until the bananas and yogurt are smooth. The bits of almond and cacao paste remain, though, giving a little crunch to the creamy deliciousness. It's quite sweet with no sweeteners added!

Enjoy guiltlessly, but still in moderation, like anything else when we keep fit.