When I was about 20, barely an adult, I moved from my little hometown to a very big town. The adjustment for me, a somewhat shy, young girl, was kind of hard. I didn't make a lot of friends right off the bat, school wasn't working out and I just generally felt blah. So I did what I did best. I comfort ate.  I especially loved Bryer's All Natural Banana Chocolate Chunk ice cream (I don't think they make this anymore, but it was SO good). I ate it in front of my tiny black and white TV that I picked up from the side of the road (I love big cities). All was good in those little moments. I was soothed, calmed and at peace with that tub of ice cream (yes, I ate it straight out of the tub). I gained about 30 lbs in the process, but at least I was at ease while the weight piled on.

I stayed put in that big city for about 10 years, most of them being absolutely the best of my young and single life. I made amazing friends who I loved deeply. I found my passion in Holistic Nutrition and eventually gave birth to my first baby, in a tiny west - end basement apartment.

This recipe brings me back to when I first started to make the connections between my eating habits and the many physical and emotional issues I was dealing with - I was tired, moody, introverted, overweight & out of shape. There was a lot going on, and for the first time ever, while studying nutrition, I didn't attempt to go on a diet to solve my problems (I'd been on many). I didn't bother to restrict calories or specific food groups. I didn't deprive myself or try to harness all of my will power to achieve something completely unsustainable. 

I simply accepted my comfort eating ways and changed my comfort food.

People often ask me "what did you do?" if I start talking about my past weight issues. The truth is, I didn't "do" one single thing, I slowly, over many years, changed my view of food. I studied it, I learned how my body responded to certain types of foods (and chemicals and preservatives and colourings and refined flours and sugars etc, etc, etc..). I tried different types of eating styles - vegan, vegetarian, low meat & paleo. I learned that there isn't one magic diet that works for everybody. And even though some diets promise - and deliver - weight loss, unless I was willing to live on that diet for the rest of my life, the weight would come back. I had to learn to include compromise into my life and diet to achieve long term health - no more 'falling off' some sort of diet wagon.

And that little lecture brings us to this. My first and very successful attempt at switching the types of foods I found comforting - Banana Ice Cream. I detest the terms "low calorie" or "low fat" and that's not what this is about. It's about improving the ingredients in the foods we love and consuming nourishing food that also tastes good and doesn't come with side effects!

Now we've all seen this basic recipe; many of us probably whip it up for ourselves or our kids regularly. So I'm really just offering some fun ideas to make it a bit more interesting and even a bit more nutritious (although it's wonderfully nutritious on it's own). For those who've never made this lovely "nice cream", I'll run through it real quick:

p.s. Click on the images for a larger view.

Chop up about 2-4 frozen bananas (depending on how much ice cream you're making) and throw them into your food processor. Process until crumbly, stopping the machine to scrape down the bowl and scoop out banana bits from the lid (shot 3). Continue to process until smooth. You many have to stop the processor throughout to stir your bananas. Shot 4 shows the bananas almost ready, but still a bit lumpy. You're done when it's smooth and scoop-able. You can add vanilla if you'd like.

This is your basic banana ice cream. The kids love it, I love it. It's delish.

Raspberry Banana Parfait

This ice cream can be jazzed up with so much ease. I'm going to offer three goodies. The first being a raspberry sorbet parfait. So easy.

I've pureed about 1 cup of raspberries with about 1 tbsp of maple syrup, a splash of lemon and 1 tbsp of MCT oil. Yes - MCT oil. If you've ever made a bullet proof coffee (hot coffee blended with butter or coconut oil - or MCT), you know that these oils can froth up when blended. Adding MCT to these frozen berries basically does the same thing, it won't froth up, however, but it contributes to a beautiful creamy and silky texture. It turned these raspberries into an instant sorbet. Adding fat to this recipe will increase the absorbability of all vitamins and minerals contained in the raspberries and bananas. Awesome!

I've created layers, starting with my raspberry sorbet:

Sorbet-fresh raspberries-banana - repeat.

Delightful! So fresh and energizing.

Cashew Banana Hemp Parfait

If you've been following along on the blog so far, you know how I feel about raw cashew butter. Raw cashew butter with bananas is a match made in heaven. And when you add hemp seeds? Perfection! Seriously!

The cashew butter and hemp seeds together create a really impressive fat profile. Monounsaturated fat + omega 3 & 6. The hemp seeds are high in protein as well, and they are so lovely in texture. This makes a great, fun and filling breakfast:

Banana-cashew-hemp, repeat.

Rich, nutty and sweet with a nice crunch. Yum!

Good Old Banana Chocolate Chunk

And here it is. My inspiration, my old pal - turned superfood. This version of banana chocolate chunk ice cream won't cause weight gain, it won't mess with your hormones or give you an upset stomach. It will make you feel satisfied and energized. And it's really straight forward and so so good. I'm just going to stir raw cacao nibs into my ice cream. No measuring required, just stir in as many as you want.

Top it off with anything that takes your fancy. I chose those lovely chocolate covered chia seeds and a bit more nibs. You can use dark chocolate instead of the nibs if you want. As long as the quality of your chocolate remains top notch, it comes with endless health benefits - it's a good source of fibre (especially raw chocolate), it's a powerful anti-oxidant, aids in gut health, increasing our gut bacteria, high in magnesium, potassium and many B vitamins as well as vitamin E. 

Now this is comfort!

Whip up a few of these little parfaits and pop them in the freezer for the next time you're craving a treat.  Let them soften on the counter for about 10 minutes before digging in. 

Enjoy!