Blueberry-Banana “Ice Cream”

If you’re like me, ice cream is something that you can eat, regardless of the time of day or weather. And even though fall is now upon us, I don’t think that the chilly temperatures will diminish my desire for ice cream. Ice cream isn’t the healthiest food in the world though, so I’ve been trying not to eat as much of it. Imagine my delight when I discovered a recipe for a nutritious and healthy “ice cream!” There’s no added sugar, none of those long unpronounceable preservatives that they add to most processed food, and no artificial colors or flavors. It’s all natural, super easy, and there are only three ingredients. Can you believe it? And to top it all off, it tastes delicious. Honestly, there’s no down side to it. You can eat it as a mid-afternoon snack or dessert after dinner, but truthfully, it’s healthy enough that you could eat it for breakfast! The recipe is below. Bon appetit!

Total Time: 5 minutes or less

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1 frozen banana, sliced

1 cup of frozen berries (blueberry/raspberry mixture works really well)

1/4 cup of your choice of milk, water, or juice

Directions:

1. Combine ingredients in a blender. Make sure that there is enough liquid for the blender to work.

2. Blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.

3. Spoon it into a bowl and enjoy!

Homemade Ice Cream Cones :)

Ice cream is a favorite dessert throughout the year, but summertime provides countless excuses to eat as much ice cream as you possibly can. You’re hot? Have some ice cream. You want to spend some time with your friends? Go get some ice cream! You want some dessert after dinner? You guessed it 🙂 Have some ice cream~~

(delicious frozen custard in Kentucky)

Now people can argue over different variations of ice cream. Gelato, frozen yogurt, frozen custard, milkshakes, sherbert, and the list goes on. And once you decide on that, you have to choose a flavor. The options are just about endless. No matter what you choose though, the age old question that you have to answer is: Bowl or cone?

(even more delicious gelato in Italy)

I used to always go for a bowl, because I didn’t like the cardboard-like texture of the cheap sugar cones. But if you give me the option of a waffle cone? That wins all the time. The crunchy, buttery texture of a waffle cone, plus the fact that waffle cones can also come as waffle bowls, makes them the perfect receptacle for ice cream. Plus, there’s no dirty dishes to wash afterwards if you eat from a cone.

While I lived overseas, we couldn’t get waffle cones at the store, and the ones at ice cream stores were outrageously priced, which meant that waffle cones were a treat, that we usually only got when we visited our grandparents. Since I’ve been back with my family, we’ve needed waffle cones, but still haven’t been able to find them. So , I finally looked up a waffle cone recipe online and decided to try and make them.

(yes, these are the finished product, don’t they look wonderful?!)

Have you never tried to make waffle cones because you don’t have a waffle cone maker/ iron? Not to fear! You can make waffle cones without it. The above picture is proof. I hadn’t tried to make these before, because we have neither a waffle cone maker nor a cone to wrap the waffles around to make them conical. Yet, these still turned out decently well. All you need is a little creativity. I fashioned a waffle form (cone shaped) out of some parchment paper, tape, paper towels, and some other odds and ends. Then, instead of baking the batter in a waffle cone iron, I used a skillet. True, you don’t get the cool crosshatched design on your cones, but that doesn’t change the flavor of the cones. I did try using the oven as well, but those were a disaster. So if you don’t have a waffle cone maker, use the stove. While they are a little time consuming, waffle cones don’t have a whole lot of ingredients in them. I used the recipe that I found on Our Best Bites by the way.

All you need are 2 eggs, 1/4 cup of butter, 1/2 cup of sugar, 2/3 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of milk, and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. See, it’s pretty simple!

Whisk the eggs and sugar together for about a minute, until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the flour, stirring until that is well combined. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix everything together, but don’t over mix the batter.

Now here is where I tried using the oven form my first few attempts. They sadly did not work, so I decided to try the stove, which was much more successful. Unfortunately you have to work very quickly, so I wasn’t able to capture the process in pictures. Hopefully my descriptions will suffice.

Heat a medium sized skillet over medium heat once the batter is mixed. Pour a little bit of your preferred choice of oil on the pan to grease it. Using a ladle, pour a couple tablespoons of batter on the skillet, using the back of the ladle to spread it thinly. The batter should be thicker than pancake mix, but thinner than cookie dough. You want to spread it until it is almost see-through. Lower the heat of the stove to low. Cook on each side for 30-45 seconds, or until the batter is browned. Flip to the other side using a spatula. Once the cone is cooked, comes the hard part.

Transfer the flat cone between two sheets of parchment paper. (It is very hot, so if you need some more protection, at a paper towel or something). Wrap the waffle with the parchment paper around the cone form that you prepared earlier, making sure to pinch the point of the cone to close it off to prevent ice cream from dripping down it later. Hold it like that for 30 seconds, or until you are able to hold the cone without the parchment paper. Remove the waffle cone from the paper and the form, and set it on a rack to cool. It’s best to cook one waffle at a time, or the waffles will harden and you won’t be able to shape them. After they are cool, you can store them in an airtight container or serve them with ice cream!

Tips to Overcoming Jetlag as Quickly as Possible

From the age of 3, long flights across the world have pretty much been a part of my life. With flying long distances inevitably comes the dreaded jetlag. So today, I thought I’d blog about a few tips that I use to try and get over jetlag as quickly as possible, because really, who wants to sleep all day when you’re in a new place with tons of things to see? And if you happen to be a person who doesn’t love traveling…maybe this sunrise view out the window of my last flight might give you an incentive to fly 🙂

1. Drink lots and lots of water! (both on the flight and once you arrive)
There’s a reason that they offer you a lot of beverages on long plane flights. Your body gets easily dehydrated. Surprisingly enough, dehydration makes it harder for your body to adjust to a new time zone, so it’s really important to stay hydrated. Try to stay away from the carbonated beverages and such, as those don’t really help to hydrate your body. Water is the best option.

2. Try to use the flights and layovers to start syncing your body up with the new time zone. So…if it’s 1am in the morning wherever you are landing, it’s a smart idea to try and sleep rather than watch a movie on the plane, despite the large selections that they have nowadays on flights. Similarly, if you are flying and will be landing at 5pm, try not to be sleeping too much the last few hours of the flight before you land.

3. Eat as healthily as you can on the plane. I know it’s hard when you don’t really have a choice in what to eat, but let me tell you, airplane food has improved so so much, even in just the last few years. I used to barely touch my tray of food, and on the last few flights, I’ve eaten just about everything. It really does help though, if you feed your body foods that are good for it and not just feed it all carbs and sugars. Meals usually have some salad or fruit on the side, make sure to eat that. And you’re not obligated to finish everything, so leave the extra roll or stash it away for when you might be hungry on a layover. Basically, don’t weigh yourself down too much during a meal.

4. Have activities planned for the first few days you arrive in a new place, so that you don’t waste that time lounging around, sleeping, and getting yourself even more jetlagged. I’ve found having a fairly full first day, and then an activity or two planned for the next few days is the best option for me, so that I do have a little down time  but not too much that I waste the days.

5. Get a good night’s sleep the first night at your new destination! Sleep does wonders for your body, and is pretty necessary for survival. Plus, sleep usually makes people less grumpy. Bring your favorite pill, download some white noise, buy earplugs, but make sure that you’ll be able to have a restful night’s sleep once you get off the plane!

They might sound pretty elementary, but those are my top five tips for overcoming jetlag. If you’re traveling somewhere soon, I hope they help!

 

P.S. For the foodies reading today’s blog, I just had some ice cream that has become my new favorite summer desert. Get a bowl of vanilla ice cream and add some thin slivers of nectarines to it. Mix it up for a semi-healthy, refreshing, and absolutely delicious dessert!