For Our Lactose-Intolerant Friends . . .

This recipe has been pinned to my Healthy Eating Pinterest board for some time now. I've been wanting to make this "ice cream" for months, as Jono is pretty much for sure lactose intolerant. I'd heard of the Yonanas ice cream maker and thought that this recipe was a good alternative to buying a $50 machine, especially if Jono and I decided the final product tasted like booty.

I adapted this recipe from Berry Ripe:

• 4 or 5 ripe bananas, frozen

• 2 cups almond milk

• a splash of vanilla

• a dash of cinnamon

• other frozen fruits, if you'd like

All the ingredients. So simple!

(1) If you have slightly over-ripe bananas you're looking to get rid of, peel them, seal them in a freezer bag, and throw them in the freezer for at least eight hours. I happened to have some already chillin' in there from the last time we couldn't eat a bushel of bananas fast enough. They are great for smoothies or, I imagine, dipping in chocolate, too.

Audrey patiently waiting for any food to fall.

(2) Put your frozen bananas (I broke mine in half to make it easier to blend) and almond milk in a blender and combine until smooth. You may need to add a little more almond milk if you notice the mixture isn't creamy enough. We used our Ninja blender that we bought last year and love. It's what we use for smoothies in the mornings and post-workout, and there's a smaller, food-processor component that we use to make guacamole!

Bananas and almond milk, ready and waiting!

(3) Once smooth, add a splash (or about a teaspoon or two) of vanilla and a dash of cinnamon. Blend again until those ingredients are incorporated throughout. We poured the banana-cinnamon "ice cream" into a mason jar and popped it in the freezer for another day.

(4) I am not a huge fan of banana-flavored things; I would much rather just eat a regular ol' banana. So I wanted to try this dessert with some other fruits added in to maybe mask all the banana that was going on. We had a bag of frozen mixed berries, so I added those and blended until smooth.

(5) We divided out the berry-banana-cinnamon "ice cream" into a goblet for Jono and topped it off with a little whipped cream and toffee bits. The rest went in a mason jar to go back in the freezer. All in all, we got about four to five servings out of this single batch. It took only about ten minutes to make and should last Jono a while. Unfortunately, the banana flavor was a little too strong for me, so Jono will not have to worry about competition for his dessert. But it looked damn good! It really reminded me of a thicker smoothie but without all the protein add-ins we do. The frozen bananas are what gave it an ice-cream-like texture.