Vegan Banana Coconut Milk "Ice Cream"

My friend Gerry served this at a dinner party. I was so jealous I didn't get any (it went fast) that I decided to try my hand at making a batch of my own! This is a great way to use up bananas that went straight into the freezer when you dumpstered them. Also, it's a healthy dessert since there's no added sugar and potassium galore! Now that the weather is getting warmer, I don't feel quite so bad about posting an "ice cream" recipe...there's a few more sorbets coming up in the future too...

Ingredients:
- 6 bananas, pre-frozen
- 1 can coconut milk (I hardly ever dumpster this stuff, but I got a few dented cans/boxes recently, which got me really excited!)

Stick it all in a blender until it's smooth-ish (no more banana chunks). Stick it in a container. Stick it in the freezer in an air-tight container. THE END. Makes roughly 1 pint.

When I went through my pint, I would drizzle a little honey and made a blackberry reduction (literally just sticking blackberries on the stove and cooking off the liquid until it's a sauce. You can easily do this with pretty much any berry) to put on top of it with some mint since I was eating this stuff for a long time and wanted to spice it up, but it's really nice plain too, or with a little nutmeg.

A warning about not eating the "ice cream" right when you make it: this stuff hardens up like a rock in the freezer since there's no added sugar or liqueur (the stuff that makes sorbets easily scoop-able), so you'll probably want to leave it out to thaw at the beginning of dinner so it's scoop-able by the time dessert hits. I also had some luck with putting it in the microwave to thaw it out, but that method was less reliable.

Items not dumpstered or donated: ZERO!

BANANAS!

I have the good fortune of dumpstering bananas often, usually in large numbers. Even dumpstering 1/8th of the bananas in the dumpster will usually yield up to 10 bunches.

Bananas are great, because they're pretty easily frozen and keep for a long time, regardless of how ripe they were when you got them initially. You can use them for smoothies, vegan banana ice cream (just mash up with a little cinnamon, brown sugar, and nutmeg. Freeze it and you're set), or one of my personal favorites: banana bread.


Banana bread is great for a lot of reasons.

1) I'm poor. Gift-giving times like pot lucks, birthdays, or Christmas can be difficult on the rent money, so finding cheaper, home-made alternatives to give as gifts is awesome. If you make a seriously yummy loaf of banana bread and wrap it with a jar of Nutella (less than $3) to spread on top, you just made someone's tummy very happy.
2) As stated before: banana bread + Nutella. GREAT.
3) Banana bread can be used as breakfast food AND snack food AND dessert food. Look at that versatility!
4) Overripe or defrosted bananas are actually ideal for making banana bread, so it's a dumpster diver's dream!

I'm still experimenting with finding the best banana bread recipe, so I'd encourage you to find one online or through your family that seems to be popular or to your liking (vegan, gluten-free, low-fat, etc.) until my recipe is fine-tuned enough to post.

To prepare you, most (non-vegan) banana bread recipes call for:

Ingredients:

- 3-4 bananas
- Butter
- Sugar (brown or white)
- 1 Egg
- Vanilla
- Baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- Flour
- Chocolate chips (optional)
- 1 loaf pan (most grocery stores will sell recyclable/disposable loaf pans if you're giving the bread as a gift or taking it to a pot luck).

If you're defrosting the bananas - be forewarned - there's usually some liquid at the bottom of your container once they defrost. This is NORMAL. Just discard the liquid and add maybe 1 more banana than your recipe called for (like, if it says to use 3, go with 4).

Also, I usually freeze bananas with their skins on. This just means that you need to cut them off before you put them in a smoothie or make vegan ice cream.

Also, don't be afraid if your bananas have brown spots. This is also normal.

Items not dumpstered or donated: Butter, egg, vanilla, baking soda, salt, flour (from the sadly now-defunct Beet Food Co-op)

Skurvy Killer Smoothie

So, my current roommate, Ryan, has an interesting diet...he only eats red meat (burgers & steak), bacon, cake, and vanilla whey protein shakes with milk. I have also seen him eat plain pizza a few times.

He takes multivitamins (I hope), because otherwise I think he'd get scurvy.

What is scurvy, you say?

It's "a disease marked by swollen and bleeding gums, livid spots on the skin, prostration, etc. due to a diet lacking in vitamin c." It was most commonly seen among sailors who were out at sea for long periods of time before the era of refrigeration.

So, basically it's disgusting.

One of my favorite breakfast treats is a perfect remedy for Ryan the Roommate: THE SKURVY KILLER SMOOTHIE (too bad he hates all fruit and would never drink this even though it's amazing):

SKURVY KILLER SMOOTHIE

Ingredients:

An ever-changing line-up of:
- Any berries
- Bananas
- Pineapple
- Mango
- Papaya
- Orange juice (freshly squeezed or otherwise)
- Apples
- Etc.
- Plain or vanilla yogurt (which can be left out if you're vegan)
- A tinge of honey (which can be left out if you're vegan)

It's a super-refreshing way to start your day. I like to drink mine on our porch's picnic table in the sun. I usually will freshly juice some oranges if I have them, then put a mixture of fresh fruit recently picked from the dumpster and frozen fruit as a replacement for ice (since ice just waters down your smoothie) into a blender. It never gets old, because you can continually change the ingredients based on what's in season, your mood, and what the dumpster has to offer.

It literally takes 5 min. or less, and it's also a healthy snack in between meals. NOMZ.
The smoothie pictured above included strawberries, mango, banana, pineapple (both fresh & frozen), kiwi (previously frozen), freshly squeezed orange juice, blueberries (previously frozen), and a drizzle of honey.

Items not dumpstered or donated: Honey