Update: I’ve experimented a lot with the recipe (since I make it almost every day) and discovered a few interesting tidbits. While you can use regular yogurt, greek yogurt is much creamier but, surprisingly, nonfat cottage cheese works just as well and is a lot cheaper. If you like it really sweet, feel free to use a flavored yogurt or cottage cheese. Also, I just found out that cantaloupe works great as the secondary fruit! I’ve updated the recipe to reflect these changes.
I’ve been dishonest with you guys. Well not dishonest… more like… I’ve been hiding something from you. A while ago I posted The Perfect Smoothie but since then I’ve discovered something big, something huge, gargantuan even – the white nectarine. The summer here in Davis, CA sees at least 1 full month of nonstop 100+ degree days. Fortunately, there’s no humidity. But on days like today and tomorrow where the projected high for the day is 105 and the last thing your body wants to do is eat, there’s only one solution: ice cream.
Luckily, the summer here in Davis also brings a few quality crops, namely peaches ($0.49/lb), white peaches ($0.99/lb), nectarines ($0.69/lb), white nectarines ($0.99/lb), pears ($0.19/lb) and gala apples ($0.59/lb). To say the least, I’ve been eating my fair share of fruit. But when they come in 3-5lb bags and you can’t leave the market without at least 3 different bags, what do you do with the quickly ripening fruit? My solution is fresh ice cream. By “fresh” I mean “make it when you want it” and without an ice cream maker. The same method applies to the Chocolate Peanut Butter Anytime Cookies – simply bake ‘em when you want ‘em. And I’ve discovered the newest secret to this culinary masterpiece: White Nectarines. As you’ll see, the base for this ice cream is always the same, and while you can use strawberries, peaches, or any other fruit, white nectarines reign supreme. The key is to keep a freezer full of fruit. Right now I have 5 bananas, 3 bag of nectarines, 1 bag of cantaloupe, 1 bag of peaches and 1/2 bag of strawberries in the freezer all ready to go. Peaches and strawberries make for a creamy ice cream but for some reason the regular and white nectarines make this ice cream incredibly creamy – move over Ben & Jerry’s. Fruits like pears, plums and apples are tasty but the resulting ice cream has more of an icy texture. I can’t explain why certain fruits work except that they seem like more “creamy” fruits, if that makes any sense. It’s so good, in fact, that this my entry into the No Bake Peanut Butter Exhbition.
I also wanted to share my latest accomplishment: I was interviewed for an article in the Sacramento News & Review entitled The Peanut Gallery. I was really excited but I doubt anyone read it. The reason is that it’s in a very odd location – right below the article is an advertisement for “POT – Not a party drug anymore!”. It also directly follows “The Rainbow Festival” section which I have no problem with except that it was nothing but 8-pages of solid ads, all of them highly suggestive. Not to mention the article was smack in the middle of 56 restaurant reviews (yup, I counted), of which, 50 restaurants got a 4 star rating and 6 restaurants got 4.5 stars. No 2’s, no 3.5’s, all of them received 4’s and over which doesn’t seem like a very good rating system in my opinion. Anyways, here is the article in all it’s glory:
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1 banana
1 (or more) white nectarine (peaches, strawberries, cantaloupe, etc..)
1 container (4-6oz) nonfat greek yogurt (or cottage cheese, seriously)
2T creamy natural peanut butter (can omit for a nonfat ice cream)
2-4T vanilla soymilk (as needed)
2-3T cocoa powder (optional)
1 scoop vanilla protein powder (optional, for the gym rats like myself)
Instructions:
1. Prep the fruit. Peel the banana, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze until rock-solid, about 4 hours but preferably overnight. Wash nectarine and remove pit, cut into at least 4 chunks and freeze in a sealed plastic bag for 4 hours or preferably overnight. If using a fruit other than nectarines, wash thoroughly and remove any pits, seeds or stems and cut into small chunks before freezing.
2. Break the banana into 4-6 chunks and drop into the blender. Add the yogurt, peanut butter, 2T soymilk and any of the optional ingredients. Process until a smooth consistency is achieved. You may need to stop the blender several times to mix or scoop down the sides with a spoon.
Note: The more room-temperature optional ingredients you add the thinner the mixture gets. Therefore, you’ll need to add more frozen fruit to thicken it which will lead to a larger batch of ice cream, not a bad thing really. You can freeze any excess, but you need to let it thaw for about 20-30 minutes to achieve an edible consistency – but even then it’s a little bit icy. Best enjoyed fresh.
3. Add the frozen nectarine chunks (or whatever fruit you are using) and process until smooth and consistency is very similar to soft serve ice cream.
Note: Stopping the blender several times to help the process along is normal. If the fruit is pureed and the mixture is too thin and melted, add more frozen fruit to make it thicker. Add more milk only if the mixture is too thick to process (shouldn’t be the case, you want it really thick).
4. Pour into a large mug and eat with a large spoon (it should be so thick that it isn’t really “drinkable”). Top with crunchy cereal or granola – I use a mixture of 1/2 Kashi GoLean and 1/2 Kashi GoLean Crunch.
Additional Info:
Here’s the final product, a thing of beauty really. The one pictured here is the basic smoothie with none of the optional ingredients. One bite and I promise that not only will you be making it once a day like myself, but you won’t even mind washing the blender every day. Don’t be daunted by my lengthy instructions, I just have a lot of tips from my extensive experience. Once you get the hang of it, it’s really quick and easy. Makes a great breakfast, lunch or dinner – I’ve had it for all of them.
All you chocolate fanatics, be sure to add plenty of extra dark cocoa (I actually forgot the peanut butter in this one but it still worked beautifully):
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Wow! That’s a great idea for a non-dairy ice cream. I’ve tried it with just frozen bananas, PB, and a little maple syrup, all whirled up in a blender… it’s excellent! Now, white nectarine, that’s a totally new idea. I have some peaches lying in the produce drawer, maybe I’ll give those a try.
I’m buying fruit and putting it in the freezer as soon as I get home! Well, after I get the gerbil from the vet, but you’ll read about that later.
This looks awesome! I sooo wanted ice cream today and settled for a sonic vanilla cone (i know, bad, bad! ;) I have tried to make ice cream before using fruit, protein, powder, etc…I’ll definitely give this one a go!
I just discovered your blog and seem to be a peanut butter addict ha. I love peanut butter too. So maybe a get alot of new ideas how to use it from your blog. This ice cream look delicious.
Love it. Period.
I have failed you. I tried to think of something no bake but all I could come up with were various peanut butter spreads. Ice cream is so obvious, duh! I’m so pissed of with myself!
That ice cream sounds perfect for today’s heat. I’m curious why you added protein powder.
Congratulations on the newspaper mention! Very cool!
White nectarines are such a delight, especially on hot days. I love them on their own but I can imagine a nectarine ice cream would be intensely delicious. Yes, I’d like some.
Hey congrats on the newspaper mention. Don’t you love when that happens?
You know I eat peanuts once a day, every day for decades….I’m peanut girl. lol
Yum, the ice cream sound so good.
Do you like peanut butter cheesecake? I just posted some KILLER cheesecakes I made on my blog if you want to take a look.
http://www.pbloco.com/Browse.asp?category=peanut%20butter
I’m sure you’ve already seen this, but if not…
http://www.saratogapeanutbutterco.com/our-products/index.asp
Neat little article!!
And yum! I should just go ahead and make every recipe from your blog. Tomorrow. :)
My curiosity is up – love the alternatives to whole milk and full cream.
Food fight – let’s just throw nectarines :)
Oh my gosh, thank you so much for the pb ice cream receta, I am using that ASAP!
Congrats on the write up. It’s always nice to get recognized. As far as the reviews go, I was reading “Will Write For Food” not that long ago, which is a book all about, you guessed it, food writing. One section was all about food reviews. Essentially it said that publications are most likely to take positive reviews. This is because one, a publication doesn’t want to offend its advertisers and two, most readers come looking for restaurant suggestions. The one exception is expensive restaurants because a review suggesting a restaurant is “overrated” makes for an interesting read. I know I’m butchering the author’s explanation but it’s something along those lines. :-)
Fantastic idea- Nick, this amazes me! And it’s yogurt too.
Congrats with the newspaper feature- clink your peanut butter jars for cheers! =)
Lucy, Peaches are great too, I just finished eating a batch of ice cream made with peaches and Greek yogurt, it was delicious!
Vittoria, Haha, keep it stocked, you won’t be sorry!
Kati, You’ll love it, you really can’t beat it. It’s the perfect meal.
Snooky Doodle, Glad to find another addict =)
VeggieGirl, And if you use soy yogurt it’s vegan!
Dee, It’s alright. You better enter next time then! I added protein powder to up the protein level because I’m a gym rat myself.
Ari, Try it!
Dawn, Hey peanuts are still tasty, if not for them where would I be? I don’t like to think about that…
Katrina, Peanut butter cheesecake is delicious. I’ve only had it once or twice before but it makes such a richer and creamier cheesecake.
Jenn, Actually, the name rings a bell but I don’t really remember all those flavors. So expensive though! There seems to be a ton of companies these days making flavored peanut butters, I love it!
ttfn300, Haha, let me know how it turns out…and how long it takes!
Giz, You’d better choose your words wisely – I just bought a white nectarine from the second Chinatown in San Francisco and it is so large that I don’t think I could finish it for dinner!
Danielle, Let me know how it is!
Kelly, Interesting. It makes sense I suppose. I guess the paper doesn’t want to deal with angry restaurant owners or people who strongly disagree with the review and boycott their paper.
Daphne, Clink! Thanks! And yes, the ice cream turns out even better than you’d expect.
Thanks a bunch for your comment on my blog. That means a lot coming from a pb expert like yourself!
I love that you respond to your comments! It’s just another reason why it’s one of my favorite blogs to read on a daily basis:-).
Jenn, Thanks! Actually, I apologize this time, it took me much longer than usual to respond.
Those white nectarines look scrumptious! Will have to look for those at our local Whole Foods. I wonder how a slice spread with just a bit of peanut butter would be… :)
hey cool, you’re at davis – i went to uc davis for a year~ cool blog!
ur so freakin’ cool, man.. never have i known someone to love ONE thing SO much! :)
i should really try to make this.
Wow awesome stuff, I took a white flesh peach, plain yogurt, and vanilla protein powder, and used coconut milk over soy milk (sorry I can’t stand soy). Tasted awesome, I’ll try it with the PB next time.
Now I don’t have to feel guilty buying 12 peaches at costco now that I can just freeze them!
This is purr-fect! Did you say I could leave out the peanut butter for a low fat version… You made my day!
First time here. Boy, you definitely are a PB fanatic. This ice cream sounds terrific. I’m going to browse your other PB recipes too.
Lauren, Definitely give them a try, they’re not the most easy thing to find and they don’t seem to stick around for long but they are delicious. I haven’t had them by themselves with peanut butter though.
Madison, Thanks! Did you like Davis? I like it, it’s a quaint little town with really nice people.
Bren, Haha, I am obsessed…it’s a real passion. Probably similar to your passion for flan. And yes, this is one you really need to try.
Gregg, Excellent! I know, I now drool over the big bags of fruit at costco or the produce stand because I know that they’re going to turn into this!
Divya, Haha, yes of course you can leave out the peanut butter but I don’t recommend it!
Madhuram, Thanks and yes, I am a fanatic! Welcome to the world of peanut butter!