I’ve finally found the perfect healthy ice cream recipe.

I recently discovered I’ve become lactose intolerant. It’s only emerged over the past year or so, coincidentally after I stopped drinking milk daily and eating yogurt regularly. Although I used to eat ice cream as a nice treat for dessert during the weekend, it’s begun to hurt my stomach more and more and I’ve resigned to finding a new cheat treat, or just making my own ice cream.

Since I’m a serious sucker for ice cream, I’ve obviously not given my favorite treat up all together. Instead, I’ve begun searching for a healthy ice cream recipe that is still pretty low cal (therefore, not made with coconut milk and very high in fat) but not like ice-milk. In the past, if I’ve tried using almond milk (my very favorite) to make ice cream, it always ends up icy and simply not very enjoyable.

Until I discovered the secret to making low-cal ice cream.

Banana.

Yes, we’ve all heard of the typical banana ice cream. Or, if you’re like me and wish to spice things up a bit, recipes like my Healthy Coffee Ice Cream.

But blending almond milk and banana in a blender? Unheard of! At least, in my case.

Blending the two in a blender allow for the ice cream to reach a consistency just as airy and fluffy as cream-based ice cream, only with 1/3 of the calories and twice the serving size! This recipe creates a larger serving size than my Chocolate Ice Cream for One, meaning you can share with a friend or family member, yet stay just as satisfied! Plus, this recipe’s for strawberry ice cream.

Now, I don’t know about you, but strawberry ice cream is my very favorite. Especially this simply creamy, skinny strawberry ice cream.

Simply Creamy Strawberry Ice Cream

• 2 c unsweetened almond milk (or other non-dairy milk of choice)
• 1 banana
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 c strawberries, chopped
• stevia to taste

Combine almond milk, banana, and vanilla extract in a blender and blend until smooth. Add stevia to taste. Fill a plastic bag with chopped strawberries and zip closed. Mush strawberries either with a mallet, the back of a spoon, or your fingers until they reach a mashed, juicy consistency. Empty the strawberries into the blender and pulse for five seconds until just combined. Pour into an ice cream machine and let run for 20 minutes, until desired consistency is reached. To obtain a thicker consistency, simply spoon into another container and pop in the freezer for about 15 minutes. If making without an ice cream machine, pour into a shallow container and pop in the freezer, stirring every hour until desired thick, frozen consistency is reached. Scoop into a bowl and enjoy!

Nutrition Information (from myfitnesspal.com)

Calories: 106

Fat: 3g

Carbs: 19g

Protein: 2g

(Yields 2 servings)