St Patricks Day Rat Ice Cream Recipe

Photo Credit:
A Hat For My Rat-Hats, costumes and wings creation for small pets. Click photo to visit site.

 

My rats love to get all up in my bowl whenever I eat ice cream (okay, they get into ANYTHING I eat, but they have a special fondness of ice cream in general!) so in honor of St Patrick's Day, here is a fun green ice cream that rats and humans alike can share.

The secret ingredient in making this ice cream rat friendly is SPINACH! Yup, you read that correctly...spinach.

This recipe is adapted from a recipe for Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream in Jessica Seinfeld's "Double Delicious: Good, Simple Food for Busy, Complicated Lives" cookbook. The only thing I changed from the original recipe is switched dark chocolate chips in place of the bittersweet chocolate.

To begin, you will need to make a spinach puree. No preparation is needed for baby spinach but if you use mature spinach you will need to fold the leaves in half lengthwise with the stem on the outside, then strip the stem off the leaf.  Steam for 30 to 40 minutes or cook in a skillet with 1 tablespoon water for about 90 seconds, or until wilted. Lastly, use a food processor or blender to puree the spinach for about 2 minutes until smooth and creamy.

You will need:
1/2 cup of your spinach puree
1/4 tsp pure mint extract
3 cups nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Place the puree and mint extract in a food processor or blender and puree until very smooth
2. In a medium bowl, stir the spinach mixture, yogurt, sugar and chocolate chips. Freeze for at least 2 hours in an airtight container until solid.

You'll be GREEN with envy that your ratties get such a nutrient packed dessert! It makes 12 human sized servings so go ahead and dig in, Popeye!