Chocolate covered frozen banana ice cream....

Remember your teen magazine treat recipes, how you freeze half a banana on a popcicle stick and cover it with chocolate shell?  Remember how cold and frozen it was and how if you're patient enough the banana gets a little creamy inside, and it's not too sweet, you get that earthy aftertaste of the banana and then the rich bitter chocolate, and you can't stop eating them because they seem so much healthier than ice cream, they taste just sort of icy?

We have duplicated the experience. We mixed up about 7 browning bananas with the Kitchen Aid mixer; now lots of people make banana ice cream just like that, in a food processor from frozen bananas, but we started with fresh and then tasted;  we added a little milk to taste, because it so improved the banana flavor, a tablespoon of maple syrup, and for the chocolate:  I had leftover chocolate ganache glaze from a cake in a jar in the fridge, about 1/2 a cup.

The chocolate glaze which I mixed in:   semisweet chocolate chips (Vermont Nut Free Chocolates) melted with equal part heavy cream, and a tablespoon of cognac.

Mixed, frozen and churned:

The taste, texture, temperature and experience, whole family agreed, was exactly that of eating the frozen banana with the hint of chocolate cover. 

Note:  just like the bananas would, this freezes a little too hard at the temperature you would use to freeze your other ice creams, so you may want to turn down the cold a little, or microwave 30 secs. to a minute upon removing from the freezer!

Non-dairy strawberry sherbet!

Creamy, smooth, intensely strawberry sherbet (vegan)

First summer holiday weekend, and we commenced ice cream experimentation to use up nice things in the fridge before the fresh fruits and veggies ripen and start coming home in the Community Share box.  

This is the best ice dessert ever I've made, and I am a dairy princess who loves every food except coconut, but this is totally non-dairy made for my daughter.

Mix about two cups strawberry preserves and about a half cup of lemonade;  mix in a cup and a half to two cups of coconut milk, and a pinch of salt.  That's it!  Chill or freeze for half an hour, then churn in the ice cream maker and freeze for a few hours in a bowl.  

Best yet!