All Natural Almond Butter and Banana Ice Cream

Don't let what you can't do interfere with what you can do
                                                                 ~ John Wooden 

                                                          



Today is Earth Day – a celebration of nature and an opportunity to enhance our awareness and appreciation of Mother Earth. 

Pan-Canadian events include earth day planting, litter clean-up & recycling (more affectionately known as a "Trash Bash"), meatless Monday challenges, tree talk & tours, local food challenges and, a personal favourite, earth day yoga in the park.

One of the best ways to honour Mother Earth and support planetary sustainability, is to enjoy foods that are as close to nature as possible: whole foods found on the farm, in the orchards and in our gardens.

Natural foods provide the greatest concentration of nutrients for our bodies – vitamins, minerals, fibre, enzymes and antioxidants. These same foods also tend to be easier for our bodies to break down, digest and metabolize. Whenever we start tinkering with nature, we begin whittling away at the vital elements that help keep us healthy and whole.

Food doesn't have to be complicated (nor flavourless) to be good for you.  The recipes featured at Inspired Edibles tend to be simplistic - sometimes embarrassingly so - but the focus is on whole foods that have been minimally processed and refined.  Tasty, Achievable, Healthy.

Here is an example of a yumilicious snack/dessert that took me about 7 minutes to pull together (I exaggerate.  More like 5 minutes ;-).

 

 

All Natural Almond Butter and Banana Ice Cream

• 2 fresh, ripe bananas, peeled
• ¾ cup almond butter, smooth or crunchy
• 1 + ½ cups milk, or alternate milk beverage
• 2 tsp pure vanilla essence
• Handful of chopped almonds for garnish

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Place bananas, almond butter, milk and vanilla in a blender and blend until smooth.

Transfer liquid (it will be the consistency of a smoothie - and could also be enjoyed this way) into a container and store it in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours.

Note: Because this ice "cream" does not actually contain cream, if you freeze it for more than 1 or 2 hours (depending on the temperature of your freezer) it will freeze like ice and become rock hard.  To avoid chipping your tooth, best to freeze the mixture for a shorter duration, until desired consistency is achieved.

Scoop almond butter and banana ice cream into serving bowls and top with scattered nuts.

Enjoy!

You might also like: All Natural Frozen Banana-Lemon Cream