Spiced Banana "Ice Cream"

Things have gone pretty well this week (except for a mishap with non-pastured bacon).  But, by Saturday night I was pretty ready for a treat.  I was really tempted to break out the AIP-friendly coconut, but knew my gut wouldn't be happy tomorrow morning (it doesn't know that coconut is supposed to be ok for me).  So I added tigernut and waterchestnut flours to my Amazon bag to be purchased tbd and decided to try banana ice cream.  I started simple:

2 bananas
1 tsp cinnamon

When blended it tasted delicious.  I wanted to be a little more adventurous and, since I probably wouldn't have time for treats for awhile, I tried the following:

3 Bananas (brown)
1 T Cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1.5 tsp orange infused raw honey

1. Blend ingredients until smooth (unless you like banana chunks in your ice cream!).
2. Place in ice cream maker for 10 minutes.

***This is REALLY spiced.***

I had some techinical issues with the ice cream maker because the batch wasn't big enough to freeze well and it was really thick.  So, I added the juice from half an orange and tried again.  But, some of the "ice cream" had already frozen to the bottom and sides and prevented the interior arm from moving freely.  So, until I can find a version that isn't so thick I will just stick it right in the freezer after blending.  A machine-worthy version will have to be my next test.

Happy (almost) Sunday!

D-day

Today is day one of my official AIP journey. Over the last couple months I listened to my body and eliminated foods I struggled with. My problem foods I discovered that are allowed on AIP included coconut and a couple later stage foods like dried fruit (😞 dates) and tapioca flour. So, I've given up the baking for now, but keep hope alive. It won't be forever. 

So, the plan is to live the next twenty one days on strict AIP (and mostly low FODMAP) and then listen to what my body needs. I hope it will be ready for me to reintroduce some foods, but I'll just have to wait and see. I was telling my nutritionist last night that I can feel my body reacting to just the idea of certain foods which has been a great guide and the impetus for this push. And I know most (probably all) of my binge eating is stress-related. So I am also working on de-stressing my life and teaching myself to react well to stressful situations. In the past I did not struggle with stress the way I do now, but I think I used up my quota of even keeled me during my son's hospital stays and weaning from his feeding tube. It was the winter we got him off the tube that my body first turned on me. After stressful situations (like getting the whining children out the door to James's school) I am just exhausted which is a key indicator of adrenal fatigue so, that's still there. So...here goes!

So what did I eat for breakfast today?

How does that look?  😄 It tasted fantastic and I was proud of the amount of veggies, fat, and salt I was able to get into it. The base is stripped pumpkin (stringy, although ours didn't look as much like spaghetti this time, more like rice) that I tossed with boiled kale, grilled broccoli, and pork fat. This was a "leftover" breakfast so the veggies were previously cooked and really easy to throw together and pair with our simple sausage. I love playing around with these stir-fry-type dishes. 

When my husband bakes the pumpkin last night I jumped at the chance to purée it. I'm sad that I can't enjoy all the yummy pumpkin baked goods this fall, but I whipped up a pumpkin dessert last night that was mighty tasty. I don't have a picture but here is the recipe:

Pumpkin Custard

1 cup baked pumpkin

2 tsp grade b maple syrup

1/4 each salt, cinnamon, and vanilla 

1. Place baked pumpkin in food processor and process until well-pureed. 

2. Add the rest of the ingredients and process for another couple minutes to get a more fluffy consistency.

3. Enjoy!

We split this into two small servings so there wasn't sugar-overload. Next time I'll try adding some gelatin and will let you know how it goes.