Vegan Chocolate Banana Peanut Ice Cream (No Ice Cream Machine Needed)
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I don’t know
about you, but generally speaking I think vegan food gets a bad rap. A very bad,
and thoroughly unnecessary, bad rap.
Why? I’m not sure really but I suspect that the word “vegan” conjures up
images of thin, lifeless hippie drones eating endless salad after salad or
miles and miles of wheatgrass fields in the minds of the majority of
herbivores. I’m here to say for a fact that such images are more fantasy than
reality.
Many moons ago
when I was a full-time vegetarian (and even more moons ago when I was in fact
vegan for a stint), I was a strapping young athlete. I played basketball in
high school and was a vegetarian for my entire tenure as a student athlete. I
was strong back in those days-very strong. So much so that I was able to bench
press my body weight and squat more than twice my body weight. All during in a
time in my life when I was eating meatless full-time.
One of the few
foods I missed during my meatless vegan days was real ice cream. Traditionally,
real ice cream is made with egg yolks, cream and milk – three ingredients which
make ice cream less than vegan friendly. While there were some vegan ice creams
out there, many of them left an unappealing soy flavoured aftertaste (think
frozen tofu on a stick, covered in vegan chocolate-yuck!). Good thing it’s not
like that now of course. More than ten years on and vegan ice cream is light
years away from where it used to be.
In Norway (if
you can find them), vegan ice creams are usually soy- or rice-based and are
heavenly, even compared to many more traditional cow’s milk varieties. While
these tasty alternatives do exist, they can cut deep into your food budget if
you aren’t careful. They are a pricey luxury in my world so in order to manage
this, I did what I do best. I created a cheaper, easy to make vegan alternative
to what can be bought in stores. As shocking as this sounds, believe me, no one
will ever know that this ice cream is actually sans eggs, milk or cream. It’s
made with bananas, 3 other ingredients and is 100% vegan. It’s also wheat and
soy free, too.
(*) For those of you new to vegan cooking, vegan
food is food made without the use of any animal based food products – including
meat, fish or dairy (milk, cream, eggs, butter, etc.) and without food products
like honey or gelatine. People who eat vegan food exclusively are called vegans
and many people participate in the vegan lifestyle for religious, ethical and
health-related reasons. Many vegans do not wear clothes or use other products
which are derived from or contain animal products such as leather.
Vegan Chocolate Banana Peanut Ice Cream (No Ice
Cream Machine Needed)
Ingredients
5 ripe bananas,
cut into bite sized pieces
100 ml coconut
milk (**)
85 grams cocoa
powder
1 tablespoon
natural peanut butter
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5 ripe bananas,
cut into bite sized pieces
½ cup coconut
milk (**)
¾ cup cocoa
powder
1 tablespoon
natural peanut butter
(**) Alternatively, use almond, soy, oat or another
milk alternative. Cow’s milk can also be used, but then of course, your “ice
cream” won’t be vegan.
Directions
1 Place all ingredients in a blender and
pulse until smooth. The mix should be thick but not chunky. If you have any
banana chunks in the mix, add a bit more coconut milk and blend again.
2 Next, pour the mix into a freezer safe
container and freeze for at least 4 hours.
3 After 4 hours, the mix should be hard to
the touch, which means it is set.
4 Serve and enjoy!
To learn more
about vegetarianism, veganism or eating meatless in Norway, check out these
links:
Norsk Vegan Samfunn - The Norwegian Vegan
Society (NVS) was established on 16th December 2009 and is a nationwide and
democratic organisation which aims to bring together all those who are
practising vegans or wish to become vegan, in Norway.
Norsk Vegetarforening – The Norwegian
Vegetarforening (NV) was founded in 1995 and has its roots in Norway's
Vegetarian Association, founded in 1930. NW is now the umbrella organization
for all of Norway with an interest in vegetarianism and veganism.
Vegetarbloggen – Written by Mari and my
favourite Norway vegetarian blog. Written in Norwegian with lots of tips and
tricks to help making living as a vegetarian successful in Norway.
This post is for non-commercial, personal
use only. Copyright ©2012 by Whitney @ Thanks For The Food.
Be sure to check out my Useful Links Page
1 and Useful Links Page
2 or read more about me on the About Page. You
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Vegan and easy to make! |
This 'ice cream' looks wonderful and is not just a perfect alternative for vegans but also for those who don't have an ice cream machine at home...
ReplyDeleteThis 'ice cream' looks even better than normal ice cream! So yummie and tasty. You have to try vegan chocolate pudding: use an avicado instead of milk!!! Just avocado and cacao: amazing!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments Tofy and Deukap! It's amazing...so refreshing and chocolaty! Yum.
ReplyDelete