Think Healthy: Frozen Treats

I don’t know about you, but I’m never satisfied until I’ve had dessert. I always crave something sweet from right when I wake up until the moment before I fall asleep. Most of the options at Wawa aren’t the healthiest, though, and I’ve finally learned that there are definitely better things to reach for than one of those ice cream milkshakes or a bag of chocolate covered pretzels!

My newest discovery is homemade ice cream with only one ingredient: bananas. Simply freeze a sliced banana, take it out, and stick it in a blender (Magic Bullets work great for this) for a few seconds, and you’ll get an amazing, creamy concoction that looks and feels like ice cream. Obviously, it tastes a bit like banana, but the flavor isn’t too strong. If you’re not a fan, try adding in peanut butter (or anything else of the sort, for that matter – even Nutella works), chocolate chips, or even frozen berries for a delicious, froyo-like dessert. Sure, you can get a similar dessert at Frobana, Philly’s new banana ice cream shop, but making it at home is just as easy! If you want to take it a step further, check out this awesome recipe from Averie Cooks for avocado banana ice cream. You can’t taste the banana at all, and this version has a way creamier texture. It’s also a lot more filling!

Ingredients
1 ripe avocado
1 medium banana (previously frozen in chunks)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup milk (nut milk, vanilla flavored nut milk, milk, cream, or water can be used as substitutes)
1/2 cup sugar (agave or stevia work too)
1 cup ice cubes (optional)

Directions
Throw it all in a blender and mix away! My second go-to dessert is frozen grapes. I know it sounds weird, but give it a try. Just take some grapes (red is preferable to green because the green ones freeze rock solid) and after washing and drying them, take them off the stems and stick a plate of the grapes in the freezer. In a few hours, you’ll get these amazing fruity creations that taste like little popsicles – they’re irresistible! It doesn’t sound like much, but trust me, once you try frozen grapes, you’ll never go back to regular grapes again. Another great way to spice these up is by covering them in some Jello powder before you freeze them; my personal favorite is strawberry, but any flavor works great. Just shake the grapes up with some powder in a little Ziploc bag and you’ll have a healthy treat in no time!