Since I've jumped on the eat clean food wagon a few months ago, I've learned two things:

I have a lot less will power than I thought. I kept Whole30 for a week and then broke it for a glass of wine. (No regrets. It was worth it.)
I want to change my approach to food + cooking, as a whole. Sugar and processed foods as a treat, not a cornerstone of my daily diet.

Truly the greatest shift of the last few weeks hasn't been whether or not I can stick to a diet but rather the attention I pay to the kind of food I eat. I knew that most of what we were cooking and eating had additives and so much sugar, but since I've made it a practice to notice, the amount is frightening. Switching to primarily whole foods has not just been healthier, it's been more flavorful. I've been so pleasantly surprised by how fun cooking has been! (I originally wrote "easy and fun" but that's a lie. This is not easy, ordering pizza and Indian is easy.) Cutting out processed foods and substitutes has made me experiment and look up more new recipes than I have in months. Oh, and my jeans fit better.

frozen muscadine grapes in place of candy or chips as a snack.

Unfortunately, it's not all roses and saturated fat free brownies over here. There's one thing that I've tried to go without the last few weeks that has been difficult to forego. Ice cream is my downfall. One problem, I don't handle dairy very well so ice cream has been relegated to the "once in a while with an acid reducer pill" category. There's also that whole fitting into jeans thing, remember?

Hence the discovery of Chocolate Banana (N)Ice Cream.

For weeks I've been heading to the grocery looking for ice cream substitutes because to me Summer = Ice Cream. I've tried everything on the market and here's the problem - none of it is that good. I'm sorry vegans, but that stuff doesn't cut it. Also, the imitation ice cream is expensive! $6.99 for less than a pint adds up quickly. There's also added sugar, weird ingredients I don't know, etc. To satisfy my craving and save money I've been making my own creamy, cold, slightly sweet treat to have after dinner on a warm summer eve. Maybe topped with a few berries and a drizzle of honey, maybe with a spoonful of crème fraîche. Just a little something. Give it a whirl? It's not ice cream, it's for sure not frozen yogurt, it's just... (n)ice.

Chocolate Coconut (N)Ice Cream

3 bananas, sliced.
1 can coconut milk
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup almond butter
1/4 cup cold espresso or coffee

Freeze bananas for an hour.
Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.
Eat immediately with toppings of your choice.
Freeze leftovers for up to two weeks. Frozen dessert will be hard to scoop so before eating let it sit on the counter for a little bit. Most ice creams have preservatives and additives that make them easy to scoop once frozen, natural versions do not.