Banana "Ice Cream"

I like food. I mentioned in my last post that I love to cook. I read food blogs constantly and copy recipes I like into Journler on my Mac. I LOVE how easy this software makes it for me to keep track of my recipes. I can tag recipes by ingredient, label them with different colors, and search the entire recipe collection for key words.

Gray means I've made it, purple means I should make it again, and red means 'try this next!'

One recipe that hasn't made it into Journler yet (mostly because it's so stinkin' easy you don't need a recipe!) is the banana "ice cream" I first heard this idea from the lovely Kelcie Miller. My banana ice cream-making process usually goes something like this:

Shoot, my bananas are turning brown.

In this case, the bananas are brown because Karissa and I both bought bananas at the same time. We eat lots of bananas at our house, but, I mean, not that many. Even with the banana ice cream, banana bread is probably in order.

But not for this banana. This one will be chopped up,

Sprinkled with cinnamon,

and forked.

Smash, smash.

Squish, squish.

All ready!

After a few hours in the freezer, it will come out niiiiice and ice creamy. Some people will stick the banana in the blender to make it more smooth and 'scoopable' like ice cream, but I usually skip that step. Firstly, that means you have to wait longer to eat it. Secondly, then you have to wash the blender.

It actually tastes like ice cream! And you don't have to feel bad about eating it because it's just a banana! TOTALLY a win!

Here We Are!

I have had this blog for several months. I've started introductory posts, saved them as drafts, and never finished them. I've thought of other things I could post, but felt like I couldn't post them until I had introduced myself, my life, and so on. Well, forget it. I'm going to blog whatever I darn well please. Chances are pretty good that if you're reading this, you already know me. If you don't, this post will serve as a pretty decent introduction.

First of all, this is my fiance, Andrew:

I love him:

I also have fun with the Glow Paint iPad App.

Currently Andrew lives by himself in an apartment in Des Moines, where he is studying at Des Moines University to be a podiatrist.

Feet:

I love to cook. When I go up to Des Moines to visit Andrew, I enjoy stuffing his freezer with food. While I like to know that this means he doesn't have to eat peanut butter sandwiches every day, I also love that it means I get to be in a cooking frenzy for a week or so. Fun!

When I am not in Des Moines--and the freezer stock runs low--Andrew is left to fend for himself. He's creative when it comes to typical bachelor fare, though. Cheese toast, for example, is a staple. That's bread + cheese + (sometimes) garlic powder toasted in a toaster oven until it's nice and melty. The disadvantage of cheese toast is that sometimes the texture leaves something to be desired. Melty= mushy. Not good. But not to worry! This creative mind has a solution.

Chex Mix cheese toast! The key, I'm told, is to put the Chex Mix on when the bread is fresh out of the toaster oven so it gets stuck in all the melted cheese. Yum! *crunch*