Homemade Banana Ice Cream Recipe
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Have you ever made homemade banana ice cream? I’m talking about the kind you make in a hand-crank ice cream maker or an electric ice cream freezer.
My Dad loves homemade ice cream, and banana is his favorite. I have the recipe for you. This post includes Arkansas photos, a story about a 106-year-old lady, my auction buys, and an update on my parents. The story begins with a birthday.
As I mentioned earlier, Dad loves his ice cream, and pineapple and banana are his favorite flavors. I like both of them equally. My sister whipped up the banana ice cream mixture. I don’t have any experience in mixing the ice cream.
Mom always mixed it up, even when she came to visit us in Tennessee. I help with the freezing, pouring on the salt, and ensuring the freezer stays topped off with ice.
My nephew, Jeremy, helped with the freezing part, and so did the JTS (aka hubby, aka Junktion Technical Specialist).
If you’ve ever made ice cream in an electric freezer, you know it takes a lot of rock salt and even more ice. The electric freezers are nice, but I remember when we used hand-cranked freezers, and I miss that.
I was raised on a farm, and my grandparents, several aunts and uncles, and a passel of cousins lived within a mile or so of us out in the country. The families would get together a few times in the Summer and have what I guess you would call an Ice Cream Social.
We had a big family, so we usually had 5 or 6 freezers of ice cream going simultaneously- all different flavors. I miss those days.
Dad enjoyed his ice cream but he enjoys the family getting together more than anything else. Here he is with two of his great-grandsons.
The homemade ice cream recipe is my Mom’s and is included in the family cookbook compiled and printed in 2004. My great-grandparents are pictured on the front of the cookbook.
Homemade Banana Ice Cream
Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 ½ cup sugar
1 large can evaporated milk
1 tsp. vanilla
4 or 5 large bananas, mashed
Few grains of salt
In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar. Add vanilla and evaporated milk and beat. Add bananas and salt and mix well. Lightly mash the bananas and add to the mix. Pour into the freezer and add whole milk to the fill line on a one-gallon ice cream freezer bucket. If you like a richer ice cream, use two cans of evaporated milk or one can and 1 quart of half and half. Freeze according to freezer directions. The ice cream is better if packed down and left to set for a while after freezing.
Recipe variations:
Vanilla Ice Cream
In place of bananas, use two teaspoons of vanilla flavoring.
Pineapple Ice Cream
In place of bananas, use one large can of crushed pineapple and an additional ½ cup sugar.
Recipe by Ella Anne Owen from the Lemuel A. & Beulah V. Owen Family Cookbook
Click Here To Print Homemade Banana Ice Cream Recipe
As I write this post, I sit in my parent’s living room in Arkansas. This is probably my 12th trip to Arkansas this year. That’s a guess. I’m thankful that I’m at the age and a time in my life when I can spend time with my parents.
If you follow the Arkansas and Alzheimer’s series, you know Dad has been sick a couple of times this year and has also fallen and ended up with cracked ribs. I’m glad to report he is finally getting back to his old self. I guess he’s doing pretty well for 87.
You also know that we put Mom in the nursing home on the first of May. Her Alzheimer’s had advanced to the stage where we couldn’t take care of her at home anymore.
She is doing very well in the Nursing Home. She seems content and is being cared for by loving caregivers. Someone in the family visits Mom every day, usually more than once a day. Hospice also comes in a few hours per week.
Over the past months, a few friends, acquaintances, and relatives have needed the services of the nursing home. We also know many nursing home employees and/or their families.
It’s a tiny town, and my family has lived in the area for generations. When Dad and I are out and about, there is very seldom a time when we don’t run into someone he knows. He enjoys that, and so do I.
My Dad has a story to tell about many of the people we see at the nursing home. One of my favorite stories is about Ms. Lottie Russell. She is 106 years old and has the first room on the left in the corridor where Mom’s room is.
Dad says that when he was in school, Ms. Lottie worked at the soda counter at the drugstore. At lunchtime, he and his friends would walk to the drug store from school and buy Coke floats.
The coke was 5 cents, and the ice cream was 5 cents. I love hearing these stories—it’s like getting a look into the past. Ms. Lottie wheels herself up and down the hall in her wheelchair. Pretty good for 106.
Some stories are sad, some are heartwarming, and some are just out-and-out gossip. I shouldn’t say this, but…..I love gossip.
Mom’s health is good. Some of her words make us laugh, and we make her laugh because we are all a little crazy. She gets her share when I make the famous banana cake, peanut butter cookies, or anything sweet. We usually try to visit Mom in the mornings and at Supper time.
You might have noticed the garden photos. We froze purple hull peas, and picked lots of okra, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, etc. My sister is the canner. She canned pickles and beets—no canning for me.
I planted a crop of Sunflowers! My dad said I had a perfect stand. High praise indeed. My sister sent the photo to me while I was visiting my daughter in San Francisco. I’m glad she did because when I finally got to see them, heavy rain blew them over and beaten down.
On one of the Arkansas trips I bought this metal cabinet at an auction. The company my brother worked at for 40 years was closing its doors, and I found a few goodies. The cabinet cost $50, but that was a pretty good deal. I’m hoping to get it to Tennessee in a couple of weeks.
I also bought the sheetrock cart at the auction. I’m not sure what I’ll do with it, but for $5, it was too good a buy to pass up. I mean….it’s metal….and rusty…what else can you ask for.
A photo of one of the many banana cakes I’ve made this year. I’m not a food blogger or photographer, so this is as good as it gets.
Click here for Banana Cake post and recipe.
That’s the news from Arkansas. Have you guys made ice cream at home? What is your favorite flavor? If you want to read the Arkansas/Alzheimer’s series from the beginning, start by clicking here. Getting Personal, Stepping Out Of My Comfort Zone.
This article was originally posted on Petticoat Junktion in September 2017.
Author: Kathy Owen
Kathy Owen is the founder of the home decor blog Petticoat Junktion where she shares tutorials on painting furniture and upcycling thrifty finds into unique home décor. Her DIY projects have been featured on the Home Depot Blog, Plaid Crafts, Behr Designer Series, and in numerous magazines.
Thank you for brightening my day Linda 🙂
I miss those days too. When my grandparents were living we would get together and have 3 or 4, maybe more, ice cream freezers going at once. All different flavors!
I remember growing up with homemade ice cream. I do miss those days. I think at one point we had a manual, but I seem to remember a really old electric one. I don’t know what happened to it. But I remember the beater inside the aluminum canister and licking the ice cream off of it! I liked plain vanilla. I don’t think mom ever got more adventurous than that. Maybe peach, since we have fresh peaches around here sometime in the summer. I’d rather have homemade vanilla ice cream than anything you can buy at a store.
love getting your emails, thanks for brightening my day
Thanks for sharing the story Carol. Too Funny! I bet they all had innocent looking faces too.
I love purple hull peas – I grew them and froze them for a number of years but back issues have not let me have a garden these past 2 years and I miss it – tomatoes more than anything. Funny story about the peas – I spent a couple of hours shelling the peas and had about 4-5 cups in a tupperware bowl on my harvest table, which is where we do anything and everything. I got up to run to the bathroom before getting the peas ready for the freezer. Did I mention we had 5-6 dogs at the time? After being gone maybe 3 or 4 minutes, I returned to the kitchen to find bowl on the floor and not a single pea was to be found. We have one sweet dog who does have a history of counter surfing but…peas…really? I am sure she was the one who knocked the bowl to the floor, after helping herself first and then maybe her siblings helped her to get rid of any evidence. Of course, I was very sorry to have lost all of those peas but it only took a second to say to her, couldn’t you have done this BEFORE I spent all of that time shelling them?
ah thanks Maria, Maybe you should pull out that ice cream bucket.
Thanks for sharing your memories Bonnie, I forgot about sticking our fingers in the hole to unclog it! We did the same.
Thank you Cindy! You have a great weekend too!
Thank you Gracie, You guys are my friends 🙂 Peach ice cream sounds yummy!
Such a beautiful post, Kathy! It is like we are all friends here and we stop by for sweet tea and your banana cake! Glad to learn that your parents are doing well and that your Dad is feeling better.
Can`t wait to see how you transform the sheet rock cart. I also remember my aunt making peach ice cream in a hand-crank ice cream maker. That ice cream will always be my favorite.
Glad to hear your mom is happy and well taken care of and your dad is getting better. It sounds like they are both loved dearly.
And I literally laughed out loud when I read you “aren’t a food blogger”! Me either but I do love me some cake. We can’t all be good at everything. 😉
Hope you have a great weekend.
Kathy, thank you for sharing this post. I’m so glad that you are getting some time with your dad. I know you treasure that time with him and that he treasures having time with you. Having homemade ice cream as a kid was a special treat. My mom would put the ingredients together and my dad would turn the handle. My little sister and I used to take turns sitting on top of the freezer and poking one finger in the hole to make sure that the salt water was draining out. Those memories are very special!
Love your story’s. I have made ice cream before but it has been years and your a great blogger.
Nothing better than fresh purple hull peas from an Arkansas garden!!
Hello from Arkansas!! My mom also has Alzheimer’s and is in a nursing home. It is such a sad disease. Makes me happy that your mom has so many visitors and loves your sweets. I also have a pea sheller and IC maker. I remember hand cranking an old one sitting on the back of my daddy’s truck so the salt water would run off the tailgate onto the ground.
I’m from the south so I have seen a pea sheller before and it saves lots of time when shelling peas. Still have to pick thru peas for trash, etc. Anyway glad your family is doing well and I love to hear stories like yours. I also remember the hand crank ice creamer maker. Lots of people get a turn at cranking it and it just tastes better I think when you have to put in some work into it. Things were definitely done at a slower pace years ago and I wish they could stay that way. I guess that’s why I love calling North Carolina home.
What a nice family! Your dad looks great, and I can see the family resemblance in your photo. I’m glad that your mom is content in her new environment and well-taken care of. It’s terrific that you can visit as often as you do. I make ice cream too, usually from the fruit in our garden…lots of funny flavors 🙂 I also have a daughter in SF and enjoy thrifting with her when I’m in the area. The selections are much different than in the rural area where I live. What do you do when you’re in SF?
Hi Sandra, I’m not sure what to do with the cart. It definitely needs a good cleaning. There is a lot of dust and also a coating of grease in areas. Stay tuned!
Good Morning Becky, I’m so glad you enjoyed the family story. That pea sheller is a life saver. It sure comes in handy when shelling bushels and bushels of peas. We didn’t have it when I was growing up. That was a later purchase. My grandparents and aunts and uncles all chipped in to buy it. Like everything on the farm it has been maintained and repaired through the years. My Dad also worked. He is retired from International Paper Company where he worked shift work. He would go to his job then come home and work the farm. Happy to hear you love rust too. The hubby doesn’t look at me like I’m crazy anymore 🙂
Good Morning Kathy,
You have a great family, where everyone is evolved nd helps. It’s takes us back to a simpler time.
Your daddy looks good, he’s strong, like my Mom She is ready to turn 91 soon. That generation was
Strong. My parents never gardeNed except for maybe one or two tomatoes plants. We tried making
Ice cream when I was little I can’t remember what it was like, it’s got to be fantastic.
Thank you for sharing your stories with us. Waiting to see what you’ll do with the old rusty dry wall
Hauler!!
Have a great day
You’ve started my day off with happy stories…thank you for sharing your family with us. I’ve never seen a pea sheller..didn’t know they existed. My daddy had garden (we didn’t live in the country) that he tended every afternoon AFTER he’d worked all day as a carpenter! I can remember trying to help shell peels when I was little. Mom canned everything that was “cannable” from that garden.
I had to laugh at your $5 bargain that you just had to get b/c of the rust! I’m like that too…whether I need it or not, I just can’t pass on a bargain like that. How lucky can you get!! 🙂
I can hear the ice cream churning..