Easy on the ice cream

I've been troubleshooting a bit lately. Costs of imported goods seem to be rising--perhaps the taxes?-- which likely hits Westerners more. Both my laundry detergent and my cheese alone, for example, went up two dollars per package last month. Holy cow. So as we try to maneuver a grocery budget, I'm realizing that produce, which is astonishingly inexpensive here, is a simple way to replace that bag of teddy cookies or fig rolls. Popcorn, veggie sticks, and g. nuts are a shoo-in; what else?

Enter my friend Terra's genius idea: fruit "ice cream." Three ingredients: chopped, frozen fruit; vanilla; and enough milk to make the mixer blades turn.

 

I can't believe it's this easy. But my kids love it. We typically use bananas--uber-cheap and non-imported. Love it that my kids are getting fruit with zero added sugar, and my snack cupboard remains shut. Confession: I adore this for breakfast, though I feel like a better mom when I don't call it "ice cream." My youngest and most picky eater asks for this every day. (See the grin?)

 Oliver refuses to "drink bananas," so we branched out to mango. Seriously--so. Good. Now I'm dreaming up flavor combos: mint mango? Coffee banana?

She pronounced it delicious. I think I'm hooked.