Vintage Ice Cream Dishes and Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

Ever since last fall, when I was inspired by Joanna Gaines to collect vintage glasses for our kitchen, I feel like I have been on an open-ended scavenger hunt.  I find a glass here, a goblet there, a few more glasses here and there.  When decorating intentionally, and with a budget, you just have to be comfortable with it taking time.  In Alaska, that time factor is often exponential, because our recourses are so much more limited.  But it makes the finding all the more rewarding.

When I shared about starting my Vintage Glass Collection and How to Make Them Shine back in June, I was greeted later that morning by a message from an old middle/high school friend who was thrift store shopping in Colorado and found more of my glasses!

She very sweetly offered to pick them up for me and mail them to Alaska, which I decided wasn’t such a good idea because we both knew the cost of shipping would quickly negate the cost of thrifted glasses.  But it was so fun knowing that people are actually reading the blog, and inspiring others to various degrees.  She ended up picking up the ice cream dishes and said she’d think of me when she used them.  Sigh, isn’t that sweet?

So on the last day of summer break, I dragged all five of my kids into my favorite thrift store (if you’re wondering where that is, check out this post) looking for things more related to school.  But what greeted me just beyond the door were five water goblets and seven ice cream dishes to compliment my growing set!  I was elated and immediately set them on the counter, like they were the most prized possession in the store, and no one else could even look at them.  I paid for them (after a wander about the store) and soaked the dingy dishes to make them shine again, as I shared in this post.

Ever since my friend mentioned she found the ice cream dishes, I have been hoping I would find some.  They’re cute and vintagey (that’s a word, right?), but as we pursue health, and try to  teach our kids a healthy lifestyle, portion control is a big deal.  Most of the time, we don’t need a large bowl of anything.  And for some reason, eating out of these dishes make the boys feel so grown up and special.  So for $1.50 each, it’s a win.

As school has started last week, we have been using the little ice cream dishes in full force.  Everyday in fact.  Not with real ice cream, but Chocolate Banana Ice Cream.  If you’ve been on Pinterest for any length of time, you’ve no doubt seen it.  My sister in Australia turned me on to it.  And, let me be honest, at first I was skeptical.  Would it just taste like bananas?  And ultimately, my boys would be the determining factor.  But it passed the boy test (and the baby girl, she utilizes the word “more” a lot with it), in fact they all LOVE it, and I love that it is nothing but fruit and protein!

If you haven’t tried it yet, I would encourage you to, your kids (and you) will be begging for it every day after school!

Chocolate Banana Ice Cream

4 bananas (frozen, chopped in chunks)

1/3 c. chocolate unsweetened almond milk (in the small cartons)

1 T (heaping) almond butter

1 T cocoa powder

1/2 t vanilla

Put all ingredients in the food processor and blend until smooth.  (I use a blender, but it is thicker than a smoothie, so it takes a lot of stirring).  Scoop and top with other fresh fruit.  Enjoy!

We have our annual abundance of organic raspberries right now.  No complaints here!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cheryl