Kosher Vegan Banana Ice Cream

I made 2 ice creams this weekend - one with Lactaid milk, one with Soymilk. My husband raved over this one and said the Lactaid milk experiment was okay, but nowhere near as crack-a-licious. This is also so easy it's almost criminal. No scalding of milk or melting of cocoa - just mix and pour. In a couple hours, it's ready to eat. I can picture making it every weekend this summer.

• 2 cups vanilla soy milk (8th Continent or Sun Soy preferred)
• 3 ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup sugar

Mash the bananas until they're paste. The blacker the skins, the easier this is. Mix in the sugar. Mix in the soymilk. Keep mixing until relatively smooth. Pour into your ice cream maker and follow your manufacturer's instructions.

Variations:

I think 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips would be a tasty addition.

Kosher Cinnamon Apple Chicken

I've finally made a chicken dish with no garlic or onions! Be impressed. Of course, I personally think a teaspoon of minced garlic and a small sliced onion would mingle beautifully with the rest of the flavors, but I've been outvoted on this one.

• 1 tsp rubbed sage
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp coase ground peppercorns
• 4 four oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 4 medium granny smith apples, cored and sliced thin (1/4 inch slices)
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Mix sage, coriander, salt, and pepper. Dampen chicken then rub the spice mix onto both sides. If you have a George Foreman Grill, cook the chicken there. If not, spritz a nonstick skillet with cooking spray and cook the chicken on both sides until done (usually 7 minutes per side, though always cut your chicken open to make sure).

Set cooked chicken aside. If you used a skillet, keep using the same one. If not, get out a skillet and put it over a medium heat. Add the olive oil, brown sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Mix until smooth. Now add the sliced apples and stir until they're evenly coated with oil mix.

Cook apples over a medium heat for about five minutes, or until tender. Turn off the heat and add the chicken back to the pan, stirring until it gets a nice glazed coat of the sugar/oil mixture.

One serving is a single chicken breast and about 3/4 cup of apples. It comes to 6 Weight Watchers points per serving.

Variations:

• Add 1/2 tsp minced garlic to the oil, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon mix.
• Add 1/2 tsp anise seeds to the oil, sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon mix. This will add a sort of licorishy flavor which goes well with fruit.
• Substitute 2 medium white onions for 2 of the apples. Yes, I love onions. I promise, a nice mild white onion would go beautifully with these flavors. If you do it, I'd also add the garlic.

Kosher Lite Apple Cinnamon Muffins

Unlike the Blueberry and oh-so-tasty Banana Chip muffins, these are Healthy with a capitol H. I still like them, but keep in mind, these are for enjoying the sensation of fullness after a hard workout, not for kids lunchboxes (unless you want them trading up for Fiery Hot Cheetos.)

• 1 1/2 cups lite apple pie flavored yogurt
• 1 cup lowfat milk
• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 large eggs (or your favourite egg substitute equivalent)
• 1 cup diced dried apples
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Preaheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, mix yogurt, milk, oats, vanilla, and eggs. Let sit around 5 minutes (so the oats will soak up the moisture. Otherwise, you'll have tough muffins.) While waiting, take your cup of dried apples (an entire bag of the Sunmaid brand) and dice them up. Add them to the bowl and mix well. Let sit another 2 minutes (again, so the dried apples can soak up some moisture.) Add all remaining ingredients to the bowl and mix thoroughly. Either use paper liners or spritz your muffin pan with cooking spray. Fill muffin cups about 1/2 full of batter. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Makes about 32 muffins at 2 Weight Watchers points per muffin. These freeze well for a couple months.