Perfectly decadent summer treat
Many of you regular readers may have noticed the nifty badges to the right. That’s right, Vampire Gran is now a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher. Yay! That said, I am joining with other Foodbuzz publishers in helping to raise money for OCRF, Ovarian Cancer Research Fund. Foodbuzz has teamed with Electrolux and actress Kelly Ripa to raise money for OCRF. For more information about this important cause, please go to Kelly Confidential,
Foodbuzz has a little something they like to call Top 9 Takeover. They ask all of us Featured Publishers to construct a post around a theme, then for one day only, all Top 9 posts reflect that theme. Sounds pretty straight forward.
How am I contributing to OCRF, you may wonder? Well, here’s something pretty cool. For every Banana Split posted by a Featured Publisher created by July 16th, Foodbuzz will contribute $50.00 to OCRF. So, by tempting you all with my wicked goodness, I am helping ovarian cancer research. My ovaries would probably thank me, if I had any!
I opted for using zero fat sorbet instead of traditional ice cream
Katie and I have been eating so healthy these days that the thought of a traditional Banana Split kinda gave me nightmares. Since I am a total newbie to Foodbuzz and I really, really wanted to participate in this challenge, I decided to make my entry a more healthy version of the soda fountain staple. My banana split is a Tropical Treat. Tropical, Raspberry and Mango sorbets with layers of banana and a fresh pineapple, mango, peach salsa. I topped it off with a not-so-healthy swirl of coconut whipped cream, toasted almonds and a beautiful Bing cherry!
The only thing with fat in it, Coconut Whipped Cream. Oh, yeah!
Here’s how I made the fruit salsa:
Start with a sweet, fresh pineapple
I actually had the produce guy at Safeway cut a couple pineapples to try before I purchased one. A lot of people don’t know that you can do this, ya know. Trust me, I work in a grocery store. They would rather have you try before you buy so they have a happy customer.
Chop the pineapple up as fine or as chunky as you like
The produce man picked out a great mango for me.
Perfectly sweet and juicy mango. Yum!
Remove the pit and peel and start chopping.
Chop the same as the pineapple
I also bought a decent peach. I really love summer fruit.
summertime = peaches
Combine the fruit and chill
I added a little honey to make it a wee bit more saucy and a pinch sweeter.
Slice a banana and whip some cream
After you whip and sweeten your heavy cream, fold in a couple handfulls of sweetened, shredded coconut. I used a large pastry tip to pipe my cream on top of my banana split, but you could also use a spoon.
You will not miss the ice cream or sugary sauces, trust me
I put a few slices of banana in first because I want that last bite to contain banana. Next I added a scoop of tropical sorbet. Top with fruit salsa and a few more banana slices. Scoop of raspberry sorbet, more salsa and banana. Mango sorbet, salsa and banana. Top with coconut whipped cream, toasted almond slices and a cherry on top. Viola! A banana split that won’t split your pants.
I can't help it, I just want you to keep looking at it
Vampire Gran's Kitchen 