Recipe Re-purposing: Banana "Ice Cream"

Today for the StartClean2013 challenge, the prompt is about re-purposing a recipe to make it healthy & clean. My recipe repertoire usually fall into one of two categories: Super Healthy or Treats. So while my actual food recipes (soups, stews, stir-fries, salads, etc.) are pretty damn healthy, my Goodies could use an upgrade.

I tried out this recipe the other day for Banana "Ice Cream". It was- excuse my language- fucking delicious. And it's SO healthy, I can't even handle it. Perfect for those of us in the middle of a Whole30 program, or trying to Eat Clean. It doesn't even have chocolate in it, which is usually my requirement for all good desserts. Maybe it's the Day 8 crazy-talk, but I don't even miss the chocolate. WOAH.

Anyhow, try it out, and let me know what you think. If you use bananas as a base, you can add other fruits- my personal favorite are raspberries, so that's what this recipe calls for. 

Banana "Ice Cream"

 Ingredients:

1 frozen banana

1/2 cup frozen raspberries

1-2 tbsp coconut milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:

• Blend banana and raspberries in a food processor for 1-2 minutes. 
• Add in coconut milk and vanilla, and blend entire thing until mixed, but don't over blend!
• Eat the heck out of this, and pat yourself on the back for getting in a serving of fruit and some healthy fat!!

Happy Eating!

Juicing- Why it's Worth a Try!

Having just recently gotten into Juicing, I thought I would share some tips, thoughts, and a few of my favorite recipes!

Why Juice?

1. Access to Extra Veggies-
   It's hard sometimes, to get in the amount of recommended veggies & fruits we're supposed to eat per day. Whether you believe that's the minimum of 2 1/2 cups Veggies & 2 cups Fruit per day as recommended by MyPlate.gov, or whether you're starting out on the Whole 30 program (or anywhere in between), it's hard to shovel away that much produce! Juicing is a nice way to cram more produce into your diet in a way that's realistic for you.
2. Try out some new Veggies & Fruits-
   If you're new to the world of "clean eating", eating "whole foods" or even just getting into eating vegetables & fruits, juicing is a tasty way to expose yourself to some new & interesting fruits and vegetables that you might not try otherwise. Does kale freak you out? How about beets? Juice 'em.
3. It's delicious!-
   Make one of these and get back to me- I will be sincerely shocked if you don't find one of these juices to be amazingly delicious and rejuvenating: Carrot-Apple-Ginger juice. Nom nom nom nom!
4. Use as a Healthy Meal Replacement-I am not a believer in supplements, protein powders, power bars, or any of that stuff. I'm not against them, I just don't feel they're necessary for the average person. I do, however, believe in using homemade juices as replacements or substitutes for some of your meals each day. How many meals should you replace? I recommend starting with one and go from there. I eat between 5 and 6 200-300 calorie small meals per day. It's really easy and quick to make a Carrot-Apple-Ginger juice before I head out the door in the morning as my first morning "meal", and then whip up a Cucumber-Carrot-Celery-Kale-Apple juice when I get home from the gym at night as my last meal of the evening.

My Favorite Juices
Carrot-Apple-Ginger juice
 3-4 medium carrots
1 large apple
a 1" chunk of ginger, peeled
 
Pineapple-Mango-Carrot juice
1/4 pineapple, peeled & cored
1/2 mango, peeled & pitted
2 medium carrots

Red Pepper-Cucumber-Carrot-Apple juice 
1 red pepper, de-stemmed & seeded
1 large cucumber
2 medium carrots
1 large apple

Cucumber-Carrot-Celery-Kale-Apple juice
1 large cucumber
2 medium carrots
2 stalks celery
3 large kale leaves
1 large apple

More Resources
Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead- Great film if you're new to juicing
Reboot-Companion to Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead- lots of juicing info
My Juice It! Pinterest board
PBS: 5 Things you Need to Know about Juicing
Williams & Sonoma 30 Days of Juicing Blog

Cheers! I hope this information is helpful to you and inspires you to give juicing a try, even just for fun!