I saw a couple of recipes for chocolate banana cardamom jam, and made it a few weeks ago.

It’s wonderful for spreading on bread or vanilla cookies.

It’s also great to eat it right from the spoon.

But guess what else you can do with it? You can make a batch of it and then combine ... [read more]]]> I saw a couple of recipes for chocolate banana cardamom jam, and made it a few weeks ago.

It’s wonderful for spreading on bread or vanilla cookies.

It’s also great to eat it right from the spoon.

But guess what else you can do with it? You can make a batch of it and then combine it with some other ingredients to make a Swiss orange banana almond ice cream

that tastes incredibly rich and delicious! And guess what…you don’t need an ice cream maker. How cool is that!!

I still have some in my freezer. I’m savoring it…a few creamy bites at a time because I want it to last. And it’s so full of flavor that only a few bites satisfies me.

The chocolate and the orange flavors come through loud and clear, and this makes a wonderful summertime treat.

Give it a try sometime and see for yourself.

I’m having a blast making small-batch ice creams this summer. They’re really so much fun to make! What about you? What have you been having fun with in the kitchen lately?

Recipe Source for the Chocolate Banana Cardamom Jam: Chef in Disguise who adapted the recipe from Baking Obsession.

Inspiration for the Swiss Orange Banana Almond Ice Cream: Chef in Disguise who adapted the recipe from Baking Obsession.

Ingredients for the Swiss Orange Banana Almond Ice Cream (No Ice Cream Maker Needed):

• All of the ingredients listed at Chef in Disguise’s recipe for chocolate banana cardamom jam plus:
• 1 cup frozen banana slices
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 tsp. orange extract
• 1 tsp. dried orange peel
• Optional: 1 tsp. Cointreau

Note: Don’t add the Cointreau if you’re going to be serving this to children.

Note: The chocolate I used when making the chocolate banana cardamom jam was 1 bar of Chocolove Orange Peel in Dark Chocolate.

Instructions for Making the Swiss Orange Chip Banana Almond Ice Cream:

• Set your frozen banana slices on the counter top and let them thaw out a little bit.
• After they’ve thawed out some, put them in your blender along with the almond milk, chocolate chips, orange extract, orange peel, and the chilled chocolate banana cardamom jam.
• Puree the mixture.
• Then pour into a shallow plastic freezer container.
• If you’re going to add in the Cointreau, this is the point where you want to do it. Just stir it into the mixture before freezing.
• Secure the lid and freeze.
• If you’re going to be home, you can stir the mixture every couple of hours but it’s not necessary. You can just freeze it overnight and in the morning your ice cream will be ready.
• Just let it soften about 5 minutes and then scoop it out.

I haven’t had banana bread in a while and was craving some yesterday morning for breakfast. So I made a loaf of cashew butter banana bread, and boy is it good!!

I adapted the recipe from Joy the Baker’s peanut butter banana bread. The only thing I did differently was use cashew butter and chopped cashews ... [read more]]]> I haven’t had banana bread in a while and was craving some yesterday morning for breakfast. So I made a loaf of cashew butter banana bread, and boy is it good!!

I adapted the recipe from Joy the Baker’s peanut butter banana bread. The only thing I did differently was use cashew butter and chopped cashews instead of peanut butter and chopped peanuts.

I also made it without any granulated and brown sugar. Instead used only 1/2 cup of raw coconut crystals sweetener in the entire loaf. It wasn’t a sweet bread at all, and I’m glad because I didn’t want it too sweet.

What was interesting is that the bread didn’t really seem to taste like cashews. The flavor of the bananas definitely came through, and while the bread definitely tasted nutty, I would have never know the nut butter in the bread was cashews. Next time I might add more chopped cashews, as well as a bit more cashew butter. Perhaps the cashew flavor will come through better that way.

Last night at work I got the shakes shortly after I clocked in, and the shakes continued almost the entire evening despite eating a very routine and normal meal for me before work…two very small pieces of lepinje (Bosnian flat bread) with butter and a bowl of vegetable broth.

I guess my sugar levels had dropped, ... [read more]]]> Last night at work I got the shakes shortly after I clocked in, and the shakes continued almost the entire evening despite eating a very routine and normal meal for me before work…two very small pieces of lepinje (Bosnian flat bread) with butter and a bowl of vegetable broth.

I guess my sugar levels had dropped, and as soon as I could, I ate a banana hoping that would would help with the shakes but unfortunately it didn’t.

For dinner I had an open-faced fried eggplant sandwich, and since I was still ravenous and shaky after eating that, I decided to make a high-protein dessert with natural sugars from fruit, and that seemed to do the trick because the shakes finally stopped.

Anyway, I normally don’t get the shakes like this so I’m curious if detoxing from processed sugar might have been a factor in my sugar level dropping. It’s possible I guess. Hopefully this won’t happen again.

Anyway, the cashew banana ice cream I made turned out absolutely wonderful!!

It was so creamy and luscious, and it really it the spot!

Recipe Slightly Adapted from: Whole Foods Market (If you click on the link, you can watch a video of how to make it.)

And this is such a versatile recipe because you can use any kind of nut butter or you can just leave out the nut butter altogether and just whip up some frozen bananas, making one-ingredient ice cream instead which is also quite popular.

If you don’t have any nut butters on hand, just throw some nuts into your blender/processor with the bananas and whip up your dessert that way. And instead of using coconut cream like I did, you can use regular cream and/or milk, coconut milk, almond milk, soy milk, or even oat milk.  You could also sprinkle the top with toasted coconut flakes, and you could also throw in some frozen strawberries instead of nuts/nut butter.

This is such an indulgent dessert that you can enjoy without adding any sugar.

I totally love it, and I’ll bet you will too!

You could add a peanut butter frosting, a chocolate ganache, or even a cream cheese icing, but they truly don’t need it.

They have a beautiful flavor, and the bananas and chocolate chips compliment each other perfectly. The cupcakes are very moist, and while ... [read more]]]>

You could add a peanut butter frosting, a chocolate ganache, or even a cream cheese icing, but they truly don’t need it.

They have a beautiful flavor, and the bananas and chocolate chips compliment each other perfectly. The cupcakes are very moist, and while I wouldn’t call them “airy,” they’re not dense by any means. Actually, there’s nothing about the flavor, texture, or sweetness of these cupcakes that I would change. For me, they’re perfect.

They make the best banana cupcakes I’ve ever tried. They make look like a muffin, but trust me, they’re 100% cupcake…just naked.

Don’t be scared of this sweet little cupcake’s nudity. It make not look as cute and as pretty as the ones that are decorated and iced, but it’s what’s on the inside that counts, right!? Give it a try. There’s nothing missing in this naked cupcake.

Naked Banana Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Recipe Slightly Adapted From: Nibb’lous:  Recipes for Sharing

One of Kemal’s favorite snacks (and mine too) is chocolate covered banana chips. They’re sinfully delicious and super easy to make.

Baked Banana Chips Dipped in Chocolate (Recipe Source: Spark Recipes)

They’re hard to resist, but really…why would you want to?