Mint Chocolate Chip "Nice Cream"

So, a long time ago I was looking for healthy alternatives to ice cream,  (DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE THAT STUFF EVEN) and I came across this one-ingredient version of basically, a banana ice cream.  It's banana -- chopped, frozen, and blended into a soft-serve consistency OR it can be frozen for a firmer ice cream.  And as I learned...it's appropriately called "nice cream." IT'S NICE FOR YOU YO.  AND SO GOOD TOO.

July was National Ice Cream Month, but even though it's over, I'M STILL EATING ICE CREAM SO.  I made a lot of ice cream last month, and I experimented with a few different "healthier" versions of ice cream.  First version was frozen, blended banana.  Second version was a better take on the famous two-ingredient ice cream.  I made my own homemade dairy-free condensed milk and beat that with whipping cream.  Third version was THIS  one.  I found it on the Minimalist Baker site and it's a vegan, no-machine chocolate ice cream.  (SO SO GOOD.)  I actually do have a ice cream maker, we just packed it up a month ago when we were packing.  Obviously that was a bad decision. 

So all of those ^^^ were so so delicious and and incredible.  But I probably made the nice cream the MOST.  It's so easy, tastes really good, and is the BEST okay.  'nuff said.   Personally, my favorite way to eat it is with hot fudge sauce swirled in it or loaded on top (blissssss), but I'm thinking that this mint chocolate chip version is coming pretty close to being my favorite.

 There are so many variations that you can make with this ice cream, and THIS ONE IS SO SO GOOD.  I kid you not.  I experimented on this recipe like 4 times to get it right.  I didn't have any peppermint extract on hand when I started, so I decided to try something completely random and use fresh mint leaves.  Best decision everrr. It took awhile to finally get it to look right and TASTE right, but this nice cream is perfectly mint-y, creamy, bursting with flavor, delicious, and studded with chocolate chunks.

 Of course, if you want you can use mint extract, but I highly recommend that you try it out with fresh mint leaves.  The nice cream has a really nice fresh, strong flavor from it, which I don't mind, but just so you know that you can adjust the amount of mint to fit your preference! And I definitely recommend chopping up the mint beforehand unless you have a really strong blender.  I used a Vitamix, so I didn't, but I had small pieces of mint in my nice cream, which I didn't really mind.  And just a note, this isn't going to taste like your typical store-bought ice cream.  But the fact that it's really good for you and tastes good is like...the best thing ever.

Also I don't think you guys realize how happy and excited I am right now because GUYS I'M WRITING A FOOD POST I COULDN'T BE HAPPIER. *tears of joy* Not sure why but food blogging brings me great joy.  I might not be the very best at it (PSHH I'M NOT.) but it's SO. MUCH. FUN.  And obviously because exhibit A, B, C.  I'M JUST REALLY HAPPY RIGHT NOW.

MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP NICE CREAM

Ingredients

• 3 bananas, chopped and frozen
• 1/4 c. mint leaves, finely chopped
•  2-3 T. almond milk (or any other milk)
• 1/4 c. chocolate chips
• food dye (optional. I used a natural food dye)

Directions

1. In a blender, add in your frozen bananas, fresh mint leaves, almond milk, and food dye.  Blend on high speed or until a fluffy, soft-serve texture forms and all the ingredients are mixed together.  It's fine if there are a few little pieces of mint leaf.

 2.  Stir in your chocolate.  At this point, you can either immediately scoop it out and serve or pour into a container and freeze for several hours until desired consistency. 

SOOO are you going to try this out? ALSO DO  YOU KNOW HOW FRUSTRATING THE LAYOUT OF THIS POST HAS BEEN URGHHH.  I was very, very very frustrated at this post for the longest time....and I think I'm still a ltitle.  That's like the only con of making a recipe post...the layout is so tough.  Agh.

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But what did you think? Have you ever heard of "nice cream"? Are you going to try it out? (pssst you should.  Summer's still here for a little ;) What's your favorite ice cream flavor in general? What do y'all think of me doing recipe posts like this? yay or nay? (I suppose I'll be fine if you say nay.) How's August going for you so far?

- autumn