Make Your Own Non-Dairy Alternative to Ice Cream

Easy Non-Dairy Ice Cream To Make At Home

Ice cream is one of those special treats where you can’t stop at one bite. Trust me, I’ve tried!  But with all the excess sugars and fats, guilt can set in quickly–especially if you’ve been working hard to lose or maintain weight. There are also a ton of additives in many brands of ice cream that can simply be avoided if you plan your desserts ahead.  Time to introduce yourself to nana ice cream – which is dairy-free and in most cases depending on what you add in, vegan!

Did you know you can make a wonderfully tasting and filling frozen treat with bananas and your favorite toppings? I promise you will ask yourself why you never did this before because you will be impressed with your own culinary skills after enjoying a bowl. A delicious “skinny” treat that will have you start imagining all sorts of recipes you can come up with!

I’ll start you off with my own favorite version of nana nice cream: A banana-Coconut-Pineapple version.  For any of these recipes you will need a small mixer, like a ninja or magic bullet.

Coco-Banana-Pineapple

1. Peel one or two bananas, slice them up and let them sit in the freezer for a few hours.  I generally found that one small banana was enough for a single serving, and one large banana was enough for two!
2. After waiting at least 4 hours for the banana slices to harden, gather your other ingredients of choice to mix in.  I like to use an organic shredded coconut and pineapple chunks. For extra coconut flavor I will sometimes add in teaspoon coconut manna.
3. Toss all the banana slices into the mixer along with the shredded coconut (and manna if you choose) and blend until it become a thick and creamy consistency.  You may need to stop the blender and shake it around to get all the chunks blended well.
4. After blending, toss in your pineapple chunks and hand mix with a spoon. If you use the blender it will pulverize the fruit instead! You can also try freezing the chunks in advance but some fruit pieces may not stand up to the blending.
5. Scoop your creation into a bowl and enjoy the goodness!

Want other recipe ideas?  Here are a few more to get you started! And remember, if your creation gets a little too soft or melty in the blender – just stick in in the freezer for a little bit to stiffen it back up!

Peanut Butter Choco-nana

1-2 frozen bananas • 1-2tbsp peanut butter • 1 teaspoon cocoa powder • (optional) 1 tbsp chocolate chips or cocoa nibs

Blueberry-nana Supreme

1-2 frozen bananas • 1 cup frozen blueberries

Cherry Garcia Nana Version

1-2 frozen bananas • 1 cup frozen cherries (pitted) • ¼ cup dark chocolate chunks • splash of almond milk

Green Tea Nana cream

1-2 frozen bananas • 1 tsp matcha green tea powder • a handful of fresh blueberries to use as toppings

What type of guilt-free nana nice creams can you come up with?  Is there a holy grail ingredient we need to try next? Share in the comments below!