Is it hot where you are? I know, I know, silly question, right? Unless you live south of the equator where it's winter now.

I personally love the heat. Some call me crazy, but I'm definitely a warmer weather lady. I'd much rather be in my flip-flops than snow boots any day.

And with my favorite summertime warm weather comes one of my favorite, FAVORITE summertime foods...ice cream!

What's not to love about it. It's cold, creamy, sweet and creates the most incredible summertime memories, right?

I don't know when it started, but ever since I can remember, I always have a Carvel ice cream cake for my birthday. Now, if my birthday was in January, I'm not sure if it would be the same. But, I'm one lucky lady because I love me some ice cream cake in July!

Even though the cake only comes once a year, I still love having some ice cream in the house. But sometimes, I don't always have a carton to dig into after dinner.

But, most of the time, I do have frozen bananas stashed away in the back my freezer for smoothies.

Now that my little one is almost 2, I'm starting to feel like I'm getting back to the swing of things in the kitchen. And, remember, I said starting. :)

I hadn't made this recipe since before my pregnancy. So it's been over two years. Holy moly!

I'd actually forgotten about it. But thanks to my health coaching friend, Dana, who reminded me of this easy and delicious, go-to ice cream recipe in her newsletter last week.

My husband, daughter and I enjoyed it pretty much every night this week.

So if you like bananas, and you like ice cream, and you find yourself craving a cold, sweet and icy treat and you have nothing of the sort in the house (except for some frozen bananas!), then this will definitely be something you'll enjoy.

All you need is one or two frozen bananas. You may want to take the bananas out 10 to 15 minutes ahead of time so they can soften, but it's not mandatory if you have a rockin' blender.

2 to 4 tablespoons of your favorite dairy drink; milk, almond milk, coconut milk, hemp milk or rice milk. Or, even none at all.

Then all you gotta do is add the frozen banana's and dairy to either a blender or a food processor and let it spin for a good 5 to 10 minutes.

It will look like it's not doing much at first.

But, that's OK. It'll start swirling into some banana-nana goodness in no time.

Once all the chunks have smoothed out, it's ready for some cooling chow down time.

Place it in your lovely ice cream bowl and add any toppings that are screaming out to you. :)

I chose chocolate chips and walnuts. The husband chose walnuts. The daughter chose it as is (well, her parents chose it for her since she's not ready for chunky toppings just yet ;) ).

And there you have it! Quick, easy and oh, so bananan-ana delicious i-ceee cream (name given by my lovely daughter!).

Oh and can you find me in the picture? Gotta love those hidden reflections! :)

And, one last thing. I usually cut up a ton of bananas, place them in a freezer bag and then take out as much as I need for that recipe and go from there. Instead of making one entire batch, I like to make it fresh, each time.

You can make a larger batch, refreeze, and then mix it up again, but I prefer to make it fresh. :)

What's your favorite summertime ice cream flavor? I have to say, I love this one, but I'm a huge cookies and cream or anything peanut butter, chocolate and nuts related lover.

Until next time...

{food IS oh, so yummy}

Banana-ana I-ceee Cream

Ingredients
2 frozen bananas
2 to 4 tablespoons of your favorite dairy (optional)
Toppings of your choice (handful of walnuts and chocolate chips were used in this recipe)

Directions
1. Place frozen bananas and dairy in food processor. Mix until creamy (about 5 to 10 minutes, depending on how frozen the banana's are).
2. Place in your favorite serving bowl.
3. Turn off all distractions, sit down by yourself or with your family and/or friends, take a few deep breaths, say how much gratitude you have for your food, your family, your life and dig in, slowly and savor the deliciousness!

Variations: add 1 to 2 tablespoons of cacao powder in food processor with banana's and dairy to make chocolate banana-ana ice cream. Add other toppings such as coconut, pecans, marshmallows, peanuts, dark chocolate shavings...the sky is the limit!).

Recipe adapted from Andrea Beaman