Spinach Ice Cream?
The spinach will be our little secret; I swear you cannot taste it at all!
It’s an ice-cream version of a recipe posted a few weeks ago.
This recipe: Mint-Chocolate Milkshake.
(That shake is one of my fave recipes on the whole blog!)
Finally the weather’s getting warmer. When I discovered that the temperature was a perfect 74 degrees, I decided to celebrate: with ice cream. Taking advantage of the waning spring-break hours, I invited two friends over to eat ice cream on the patio.
Yes, I really did serve spinach ice cream. And yes, my friends really did eat it all up! I honestly don’t even know why they allow me to feed them anymore, for how many times I’ve snuck funny things into their food—tofu chocolate mousse, spinach ice cream, kale milkshakes…My friends laughed when I told them the truth (after they finished eating). Then they requested more. (For theirs, I replaced the cacao nibs with regular chocolate chips. I know not everyone shares my love of those bitter little crunchies.)
Spinach Ice Cream
(sugar-free)
One of my Raw Dessert Recipes.
- 2 frozen bananas, as ripe as possible
- 2-3 drops pure peppermint extract
- scant 1/16th tsp salt
- 1/4 cup or more frozen spinach (I used 40g) (If you don’t like spinach, you can sub food coloring or omit completely.)
- scant 2 tbsp milk of choice (I used almond milk)
- chocolate chips or cacao nibs
Blend everything together in the Vita-Mix. (If you don’t have a high-powered blender, just add more liquid; it won’t be as ice-cream-like, but it’ll still taste good!) Use an ice-cream scoop for authentic-looking ice cream.
Not a fan of spinach?
If you prefer, try this recipe for real Healthy Mint-Chip Ice Cream.
(The above link is also much healthier than traditional mint-chocolate chip ice cream… but it doesn’t have spinach! So check that one out if you still don’t trust me about spinach ice cream!)
After my friends left, I continued the St. Patrick’s Day theme (and the leafy-green theme) with dinner. It’s just a simple stir-fry over bulgur. But the mache greens look like four-leaf clovers! I also ate a spoonful of raw cashew butter, straight-up. Anyone else like eating nut butters straight-up?
How do you get your daily servings of leafy greens?
And thanks for all the feedback about My FAQ Page.
I really appreciate it!
Why have I never added spinach to my banana soft serve! I get tonsss of leafy greens via green smoothies and salads. But I could never say no to this ice cream!
Slash giiiirl I eat nut butters straight up ALL the time! Often it tastes best that way:)
this looks so good! LOVE it! I love you and your yummy recipes!!!
I eat greens in salads and stir-fries, but I also like to add a handful to smoothies — why not? I can’t taste them and it is so easy to do.
I love how GREEN that ice cream is!
All of the above! I love my greens in smoothies, salads, soups, stir fries, steamed however I love them! That mint ice cream looks great – a good natural food colouring would be some spirulina!
I’ve never tried spirulina! I’ll have to look for it!
Spirulina is super-healthy and visibly great for the skin! 🙂
That’s the plus…on the minus side, it has a *very* strong flavour. It’s completely vegan…but it tastes like fish food, bleugh. Not too surprising, considering it’s the main ingredient in most…fish food.
I used to gulp down my daily dose of spirulina powder mixed with water and sweetener, whilst holding my nose tightly, then immediately grab a toothpaste laden brush and go crazy (tongue included). Would follow with an (unhealthy) diet coke just to get rid of any aftertaste burning through the toothpaste. It’s *that* strong…so not sure what it would be like in a recipe.
The health benefits are too good to miss, so now I take the weaker but less hard-work tablet form.
Thank you for the recipes Katie – looking forward to trying them. 🙂
Hi Katie,
I’ve been reading your blog for a couple of months now and love it! Ever since you told the “Brocci, more brocci…” story, my 6 and 4 year old ask me to read your blog to them every morning. I wanted to say a special thanks for your PMS chocolate. My 9-month old who is still nursing gets really miserable when I have dairy or soy, and the only thing that has been a real sacrifice for me has been chocolate! There are very, very few chocolate items that don’t have soy lecithin in them! Ever since finding your blog, I’ve been making PMS chocolate, freezing it in bar form and breaking it apart for chocolate chips. I don’t want to be melodramatic or anything, but you may just have saved both of our lives! (Or at least made mine a whole lot better! And you know what they say, when Mama’s happy, everybody’s happy!) 🙂
I also want to thank you for the recommendation of the Nu-Naturals vanilla stevia drops. I’d given up on finding a stevia that I could stand, but with your rave review, I decided to give it one more go, and I’m so glad I did!
OK, one last thing – sorry to be long-winded! My 6 and 4 year olds think spinach smoothies and spinach ice cream are the best desserts ever. Smoothies are definitely our delivery-method of choice for greens around here. And if you’re ever out of mint extract, you can always just put fresh mint in with the spinach for even more green goodness. We like it both ways, and the fresh mint is free from the garden so we often go that route.
Thanks again. We all love you around here!
Tina
Oh wow, Tina, your comment made me smile SO SO much! And wow, you must have super-smart children to love spinach smoothies already. Can they come teach my mom? I have to put the smoothie in a dark glass for her to drink it, because she just cannot get over the green!
Now I want to try your fresh-mint idea! *Runs to add “mint” to her grocery list*
Happy to make you smile! Spinach does make for super-smart kids, you know! When I make spinach smoothies for people who have a hard time with the green, I always make a strawberry banana one and add about a quarter cup of fresh grated beets for a full Vita-Mix blender. I know it sounds weird, but it makes for the most gorgeous strawberry-red color, it totally covers the green of the spinach, and the beets actually add a little sweetness. (I, of course, never tell the secret ingredient – everyone always assumes the strawberries made it so beautifully red!)
Hallo
I have question what kind of peppermint exctract do you use?
Thanks a lot
I just use McCormick pure peppermint. Make sure it says “pure” though, not imitation :).
I go to a dairy farm here in Massachusetts that makes ice cream from asparagus, and it is totally awesome:
http://www.cakeandcommerce.com/cake_and_commerce/2009/06/asparagus-ice-cream-hadley-grass-.html
Woah, that sounds hilarious! I know there’s also a festival (in TN?) where they make garlic ice cream!
Wow! I want that ice cream now! It looks delicious.
Wow this is a totally genius idea. I am in awe. I can’t wait till I have kids one day and can trick them with all sorts of healthy treats like this! Haha!
Oh my gosh, I love it! Great idea! 🙂