Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Happy Meatless Monday everyone!

I'm assuming you've all heard about the Meatless Monday movement?

Of course when you're a plant-based rock star, every day is meatless Monday!  But if you're still moving towards a healthier diet, and aren't quite there yet (progress, not perfection), then consider going completely meatless at least on Mondays.  Check out their website to read some of the many, many reasons we should go meatless.

Anyway, Mondays, in general, kind of suck.  So I have a fun recipe today as part of the pumpkin recipes I'll be sharing this month (like Pumpkin Mac & Cheese and Loaded Baked Potato).

A recipe to get you through the Monday blues.

It's meatless.

It's pumpkin-y.

It's awesome.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

In my pre-vegan days, I used to LOVE pumpkin ice cream (well pumpkin anything for that matter).  But seriously, pumpkin ice cream is insanely good.  And I will admit, I kind of miss it this time of year. Although I know since my taste buds have changed over time, I wouldn't even be able to enjoy it anymore - all I would taste is the fat and the sugar.  Not to mention I would know how bad it was for me.  So yeah, it's pretty much freaking ruined for me.

Until now.

I actually made vegan pumpkin ice cream last year in my ice cream machine.  Although it was vegan, it still had a ton of sugar and fat in it.  And it required me to plan ahead by freezing the ice cream thing-y and making the mixture, and then waiting an hour for it to be done.  UGH.

I needed something that I could consume almost immediately.  And this recipe is perfect for that.

Very little planning, very little ingredients, and very little time.  I literally got the craving for pumpkin ice cream and threw this together in 2 minutes.  Not only was my craving satisfied almost instantaneously, I didn't have to feel guilty about it.  Very little calories, very little fat, a ton of flavor, and just a couple of ingredients.  Literally a banana, pumpkin, plant-based milk and spices.

Oh and a handful of chocolate chips.  Natch.

Super, super healthy and super, super yummy.  Now if you eat lots of sugar (you shouldn't, read here why), you might not find this sweet enough.  I found it plenty sweet because my bananas were very ripe when I froze them.  You could always add a bit of honey, agave nectar, or stevia to sweeten it up a little.

Either way, it's a creamy, pumpkin-y (and healthy!) fall treat.

Love & Kale,
Ali

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Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Serves: 1

Print here.

Ingredients:

• 1 large or 2 small frozen bananas
• 1/3 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup coconut milk (or other plant-based milk - may need more or less, depending on the size of your bananas)
• 1-2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• Handful of chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Um....put everything but the chocolate chips into a high speed blender and blend until combined. Remove, top with chocolate chips and ENJOY :)

Ingredients

Yummy, healthy pumpkin chocolate chip ice cream!