Coconut Lime Paleo Sorbet

Sundays are rest days, which is good, because I swear every joint from my back to my feet is not happy that I ran yesterday.  Two more weeks until the taper.  I'm going to back off on strength training a bit, both due to time, and because I think I'll benefit more now from just focusing on core work.  I can hit the weights once October rolls round.

Today was a good day for a garden party hosted by a friend.  It was potluck, but figuring out what to bring was a challenge.  My diet is mostly healthy, but completely omnivorous.  I eat bacon.  I eat bread.  I eat tofu and chickpeas and chard and melons and tomatoes and cheese, and well, you get the idea.  Of no party or clique when it comes to nutrition, except for minimal reliance on processed, packaged foods.

Of the twelve or so people attending, three are strict paleo, and three are strict vegetarians.  Almost everyone is giving up grains. As a result, it was something of a challenge, as usually I bring homemade cookies or ice cream.

Here's what I came up with.  To make it best, you have to hum "put the lime in the coconut and shake it all up" while you mix it.   Total time: about forty minutes, including churning.

Ingredients:

• 1 ~15oz can coconut milk.  Don't skimp on the fat here!  
• 3 very ripe bananas.  You know the ones lurking in your freezer, waiting for you to make banana bread?  Their ripeness is ideal.
• 3 limes.
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup maple syrup, to taste
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.  

Zest and juice the limes into a glass container -- I use my 4 cup Pyrex.   Add the bananas and mash them up.  Add the coconut milk and vanilla extract.  

Sneak a taste, and then add as much maple syrup as seems necessary to you.  You want it to brighten up the coconut without overwhelming the lime; how much depends on exactly how much lime juice you used, the ripeness of your bananas, etc.

Then, pour the whole thing into a blender or in batches in a Magic Bullet (what I did), and blend it until it's smooth.  It will look like melted ice cream.  The flavor is mostly lime, with slight coconut notes.  The banana disappears, providing texture but little banana flavor.

Freeze in your ice cream maker according to its directions.  When it starts to look like soft serve, scoop it out into containers, and freeze it for at least two hours, to allow it to ripen. Serve plain, or with paleo granola or nuts sprinkled on top.  

Bask in the admiration of your happy, becitrused friends.

....lime in the coconut and shake it all up....