Peppermint Mocha Nice Cream!

Three sleeps until Christmas!!

Who's excited!? I know I sure am! Unprepared as all get out, but at least I have my Christmas wardrobe all ready to go. #priorities ;)

Tonight, I'm coming at'cha with a delicious recipe that will make 10 lords a'leap and nine ladies dance!

It's my Peppermint Mocha Nice Cream!

What is Nice Cream, you ask? It's ice cream made from frozen bananas! And its clever name comes from: Banana (or 'Nana) + Ice Cream = Nice Cream!

But the best part about this recipe, is that I used Generous Coffee!

Photo: Generous Coffee, used with permission 

Generous Coffee, founded by former Bachelor, Ben Higgins, is offering "Life Changing Coffee." It's a for-purpose company, with a significant portion of the sales of the coffee and apparel going to help our brothers and sisters in Honduras. They're providing life changing jobs and partnerships, and I couldn't be more thrilled to use Generous Coffee in this recipe.

Visit Generous Coffee!

But I'm super pumped because it's the star of this secretly healthy treat!

Creamy and rich vegan ice cream with a holiday twist!

OH! -- and I won't tell if you want to add a shot of Bailey's or peppermint schnapps either. ;)

And it's also gluten free and paleo too! (And Specific Carb Diet friendly, if you omit the peppermint candy!)

Here's what you need: (Serves 1...because I'm single haha)

2 large, extra ripe bananas (read: with lots of brown spots) --  peeled, sliced, and frozen
1/4 cup of cooled Generous Coffee (I used their Dark Colombia roast!)
1 Tbsp agave or honey (or French Vanilla liquid stevia) --> SCD use stevia
1 candy cane, or peppermint hard candy (SCD omit)

Tools:
Food processor (here's the one I use and love)
zip top bags

Directions:
Peel and slice two very ripe bananas into coins and place in a ziptop bag. Freeze until solid, at least 4 hours. Preferably overnight. (PRO TIP: I buy bananas in bulk, let them get extra ripe and covered in brown spots, and then slice & freeze a bunch of them in individual baggies. That way, they're ready to go when I want to make smoothies or nice cream!)

Place the candy cane in a ziptop bag and crush with a rolling pin or with the base of a mug, in order to form sprinkles. Set aside.

Add the frozen banana coins to the food processor, and blitz until they form little pebbles. (Warning -- this makes a LOUD noise, and shakes the food processor, so be ready!)

Once the bananas reach that pebbly consistency, drizzle in the cooled coffee and sweetener. Keep processing until it comes together into soft-serve consistency

You'll need to stop and scrape the sides of the food processor once. (This would also be the time to add some peppermint schnapps or Baileys!)

Dish up the beautiful soft-serve, mocha ice cream, sprinkle with the crushed peppermint candy, turn on some Christmas music and ENJOY!!

My oh my, friend. This was outrageously delicious! The coffee flavor was out of this world, and that kiss of peppermint at the end -- sheer perfection.

It was luxuriously creamy and melty - it's hard to believe you can achieve this consistency from bananas! It's bananas!

And that's the thing - this recipe is SO healthy! I've got to tell you - I have turned several gentlemen in my life on to this "(N)ice Cream" treat.

I will randomly get texts from them with a photo of their homemade banana ice cream, gushing about how much they love it.

One of those gentlemen may have been a former romantic love interest, but I'll never tell. ;)

But all that to say -- this is some seriously good eats. It's so decadent, you won't believe it's actually good for you!

So make this delicious Peppermint Mocha Ice Cream. Order yourself some Generous Coffee, and have yourself a Merry little Christmas!

To learn more about Generous Coffee, visit generousmovement.com, or follow them on Instagram, @generous_coffee_.

Photo: Generous Coffee, used with permission

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COTTON CANDY NICE CREAM!

Oh my goodness...HELLO!

Here we are. 2018. It has been a hot. minute! Scratch that. It has been a hot TWO YEARS!

Can you believe it?! I've missed you!

So much has happened. SO. MUCH.

Just to recap the time we've been apart in 100 words or less:

I am still acting in New York City! But I am now splitting my time between NY and Cincinnati. Christmas of 2016 (so not last Christmas, but the year before) - my mom had a stroke. She's doing amazing now - she's my hero - but I ended up moving home to Ohio for that entire year to help her recover.

But I'm back in NYC now, and I go back to Ohio at least once a month just to check in and also for  some commercial work! (Gotta love the Proctor & Gamble commercial market!)

Other highlights -- I went to Iceland in summer of 2017 with my best friends.

It was an incredible adventure, and I highly suggest traveling there! And if you'd like me to do a specific blog post about it, let me know! (Teaser: We went snorkeling in 34 degree glacial water between 2 active tectonic plates!!)

And this past summer, my mom and I walked the El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage for 80 miles along the coast of Spain and Portugal in gratitude and celebration of her healing! 

It was truly amazing. We made stops in Fatima and Madrid, too. It was the trip of a lifetime!

I was hoping to meet my future husband, casually along the trail, in a "meet cute" worthy of its own chick flick, but alas, no dice. 

So there you have my life in a nutshell! I'm still following the Specific Carb Diet - and my Ulcerative Colitis has STAYED IN REMISSION ever since I started this blog, 8 years ago! So praise God for that!

OK - onto tonight's recipe!

Do I have a treat for you!!

I have recently found a new favorite food. My fondness for it has reached a level of, well -- let's just say I eat this about 4x a week. It is THAT good!

I'm talking, y'all, about NICE CREAM.

But not just any nice cream ... I'm talking COTTON CANDY NICE CREAM.

First of all - what the heck is nice cream?

Well, it stand for Banana (aka Nana) Ice Cream!

In other words, it's non-dairy "ice cream" that is made out of frozen bananas!

And let me tell you - it is slap-yo'-mama good!

And this particular recipe uses cotton candy grapes. And OHMYGOODNESS, if you haven't tried these sweet little poppers yet, do yourself a favor and RUN - don't walk - RUN to the store and get you some!!

They legitimately taste like cotton candy! And I know, you're probably thinking: how the heck do they make a stinkin' grape taste like cotton candy...well they do!

Even my dad thought they were delicious.

So there ya go.

And they're the star of this recipe.

And oh yeah -- this healthy dessert is gluten free, vegan, paleo AND Specific Carb Diet friendly!

Here's What You Need: (Serves 1 gigantic portion)

4 frozen strawberries

1 1/2 frozen bananas

1 cup frozen blueberries

1 cup frozen pineapple chunks

1/2 cup (not frozen) cotton candy grapes

2 Tbsp cashew butter

3 drops coconut stevia

Tools:

Food Processor

Ziptop freezer bags

Spatula

Directions:

Blend in food processor until smooth. Add more grapes if you need more liquid. You will need to scrape down the sides several times.

I do believe that when we get to Heaven, this frozen treat will be available by the bucket-full. I mean, it's mama from Heaven!

It is hard to describe the fabulous consistency of this blissful treat: it is like whipped ice cream. Truly. It is silky and slurpy and melty and exactly what you need when your sweet tooth is barking.

The flavor is out of this world with the cotton candy sweetness and the sweet pineapple and rich banana.

I honestly could eat this for the rest of my life. No joke.

JOY IN A BOWL, people. Joy in a bowl!

And the best part, is that you can pretty much customize this dessert to whatever fruit you have lying around. Just pop it in the freezer for a couple hours, and then blend away! Just make sure you have at least one banana in the mix to give it some body!

Friends, I hope you jump off the computer and make you some of this delightful dessert!

Have an awesome night!

OH YEAH! One more thing!! I'M NOW ON INSTAGRAM!!!!

In addition to my Facebook Page, I just started an Instagram profile! So hop on over there and let's be friends! My handle is @glutenfreehappytummy

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