Banana Basil Ice Cream

This past week, I channeled the spirit of Paula Deen Sunny Anderson and made a pot of buttery, garlicky, creamy, cheesy, vegetable stocky, yummy grits.  Take that Daily Double!*  They were luscious, rich, and beautiful.  I even marveled at the beautiful specks in my pot as they went from "gritty" to "creamy" with all the added fat.  They were the perfect vehicle for stir-fried vegetables and shrimp sausage.  Hmmm....

After indulging myself with such a decadent dinner, I knew I had to lighten it up for dessert.  It was the perfect opportunity to use the frozen bananas stashed away in the freezer by making homemade ice cream.  I've made one ingredient banana ice cream in the past and I found it to be a slightly bland.  So, I decided to kick up the flavor with some added vanilla yogurt, almond milk, and basil.  Yes, basil!  Gotta find a way to use up those leftover herbs and the banana and basil flavors perfectly complement one another.  To be completely honest, it was Sarina's Banana Basil Smoothie that first introduced me to this amazing combination a few years ago, and it's something I could easily see on rotation at Capogiro.

This ice cream is luscious right out of the blender/food processor.  I decided to freeze it to see how it would turn out.  It was slightly icy, but I still enjoyed it a lot.  The more fat you add (milk/cream or yogurt), the creamier the final result will turn out.

Banana Basil Ice Cream:

Ingredients

2 frozen bananas

1 tablespoon yogurt

1/3 cup almond milk

2 handful of fresh basil

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and pulse until luscious and creamy.  Either eat the ice cream right away or store it in a container with a lid in the freezer to enjoy later.

*This is in reference to a radio ad that I heard on NPR this past week referring to a lettucey, tomatoey, cheesy, mayoey, yum--me fast food sandwich.  I vainly searched across the web for the ad with no luck.  However, I think it was McDonald's Daily Double.