Food allergies suck. Hubs has a gluten intolerance, and both he and my youngest are sensitive to dairy. It sucks. Thankfully, neither of them have any life-threatening allergies, but it does mean they get deprived of a lot of yummy stuff, particularly at special events like birthdays and family get-togethers. Hubs gets really congested and Kay gets a bright red rash on her cheeks and chin whenever they eat any amount of dairy. I’ve asked for an appointment with an allergist to get Kay thoroughly checked out, but in the meantime we avoid giving her any milk or milk products.
Even for the rest of us, ice cream is a very rare item in our household. Partly because of allergies (it’s not nice to eat ice cream in front of people who can’t have any) and partly because of all the sugar, preservatives, emulsifiers, and artificial flavourings in commercial ice cream.
Last year I read about a machine that makes soft serve “ice cream” from frozen bananas. Just bananas. No dairy, no added sugar, no emulsifiers. Honestly it sounded too good to be true. When Yonanas gave me the opportunity to test out one of their machines, I jumped at the chance. On behalf of my poor deprived family, thank you!
How Does Yonanas Work?
It’s actually very simple. Peel and freeze overripe bananas (catch them when the skin is “cheetah-spotted”) for at least 24 hours so they’re solidly frozen all the way through. When you’re ready to make dessert, take the bananas and any other frozen fruit you might be using out of the freezer and let them thaw at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes. Then alternate pushing the bananas and the fruit through the machine, always starting and ending with banana. You can also use (unfrozen) nut butter, chocolate, or nuts in the mix.
Each Yonanas machine comes with a recipe book full of ideas like cookies & cream and coffee chocolate chip. Or if you don’t feel like bananas, try making strawberry pineapple sorbet. It’s the bananas that give it the creaminess though, so the no banana recipes are more like a sorbet. For the grown-ups, how about some pear, raspberry, and chardonnay yonanas? The Yonanas website has even more recipes, both banana-based and non. Half the fun comes from experimenting with different flavours and mixes!
For our very first yonanas experience, I used two bananas, 3/4 of a cup of frozen blueberries, strawberries, and cherries, and half a teaspoon of cinnamon. I sprinkled the cinnamon on the bananas and berries, cut the bananas in half, and alternated banana, berries, banana, berries, banana, berries, banana.
How Does It Compare?
It’s really good! Now I don’t hate bananas, but they’re not my favourite fruit either. If you absolutely can’t stand the taste of bananas, then you may want to stick to the no banana yonanas recipes. Having said that, while I noticed the banana taste for the first few bites, I found that the more I ate, the less I noticed it. I would describe the texture and mouth feel of yonanas as closer to frozen yogurt than soft serve ice cream. Obviously, the banana taste will be more or less noticeable depending on what you add to the bananas.
So what did the rest of the family think? Hubs said, “It tastes like a cheat without being one,” and Tee literally licked the bowl clean. Kay said, “Yum!” and she didn’t get any rash! Yonanas has four new fans over here.
Bananas are high in potassium, manganese, vitamin C, vitamin B-6, and fiber. While they are fairly high in sugar for fruit, bananas have a lot less sugar than you’d find in ice cream. That makes this a paleo-friendly treat I’m happy to serve my family, and nobody has to miss out.
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The Yonanas maker I reviewed retails for $49.99. You can purchase directly from Yonanas or through Amazon.ca or Amazon.com.
Disclosure: I received a sample item for review. All opinions expressed are completely honest and my own, based on my personal experience. Your experience may differ. This post contains affiliate links. This West Coast Mommy is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
The first recipe I would make is the apple maple walnut yonanas.
What a novel idea… yummy!
My first recipe would be the frozen bananas with whatever nuts I have, cause banana nut is the best flavor there is!
My first recipe would be Yonanas bananas and nuts.
cookie dough yonanas
I would make a banana split yonanas
I would make the cookie dough yonanas
Probably the Cherry-Chocolate or anything with blueberries π
Cookie dough
Chocolate peanut butter banana.
Blueberry sorbet!
Strawberry-Pinapple Sorbet
The first recipe I would make is the Apple Maple Walnut Yonanas.
I will make blueberry sorbet
I would love to make the kiwi sorbet!
Cookie Dough Yonanas..thank you!
I’d make Rum Raisin Yonanas
Blue berry sorbet would be my choice though the Apple Maple Walnut Yonanas is on the list also….TY
The first recipe I would make would have to be the Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas, mint chocolate chip is my absolute favorite!!! π
Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas sounds very delicious..I think I will start there, and continue to create yummy frozen treats for my family.
I’d start with the mint chocolate chip yonanas, even though st pattys day just passed, oh well a little late lol………..but then id definitely get creative with it and absolutely send you my creations π
Apple Maple Walnut
The first dessert I would make with my Yonanas Frozen Dessert Maker is Frozen Strawberry Yogurt…..Yummy!!
I would get some fresh strawberries, pomengrate & blueberries to mzke a nice healthy dessert.
I’d have to try the Bean Brownies with Bananas. Doesn’t sound so good but looks yummy and it must not taste like beans. LOL. This product looks like it would be an awsome addition to my household as we alll love frozen desserts of any kind, especially ice cream and frozen yogurt.
The first thing I would make is the blueberry sorbet.
yummy, most definitely the irish coffee !!!!
Mint Chocolate Chip is my husband’s favorite.
Looks very healthy, would love this in my home
Don’t forget to answer the question to get the entries. Good luck!
mint chocolate chip
I would make strawberry-banana, it’s my favourite frozen yogurt and I would love to try it with this machine. After that I would have fun experimenting
I would make the Irish Coffee π Thank you!
Chocolate raspberry with cheesecake chunks
I would love this!!! I would make raspberry banana yogurt every day!!
We are ice cream eaters !! We buy ice cream every week ,so winning this is right up my alley!!
I love MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP…….That is definitely the first recipe we would make .
Homemade vanilla and/or chocolate ice cream with ingredients I know. Maybe banana ice cream.
Def the cranberry orange pie with Graham cracker crust yummy yummy. Cant wait to try them all. Thank you for chance.
I would like to try the yonanas dairy free machine not just because its dairy free, its seem to promote a heathier style of ice cream
Don’t forget to answer the question to get the entries. Good luck!
I would make Strawberry Pineapple Sorbet with my Yonanas machine.
sorbet with blueberrys
Just wanted to say love this site. I would make a cherry frozen sorbet with my yonanas machine π
I would want to make Blueberry Sorbet
frozen banana
MMMM Blueberry Sorbet!
Strawberry & banana sounds good too.
first thing to make would def be the Mint Chocolate Chip Yonanas
This thing is amazing. The first recipe I would make is the Cherry Chocolate Yonanas – http://yonanas.com/recipe_categories/banana-yonanas-recipes/
Looks super yums!!
Mixed berry sorbet
I’d like to make the Irish Coffee.
I have been wanting to buy one of these, everything looks so yummy! The first thing I would make would be the cherry chocolate one. I can’t wait to win this so I can make this….lol
the first recipe I would try is the chocolate yonanas
The first recipe that I would make is the peach blueberry yonanas….sounds yummy.
My first recipe to try would be Cookie Dough Yoanas