We probably all had a childhood dream of eating ice cream for breakfast everyday. Unfortunately, parents are uncool so that never happened. But now we're adults and we can eat anything we want, whenever we want, without our parents telling us otherwise.
This past week I finally got to live out my childhood dream of eating ice cream for breakfast everyday. However, this wasn't your typical calorie-filled and fat-laden Ben & Jerry's. No, I instead enjoyed Brio, an ice cream that's actually healthy for you, as it contains 35% fewer calories and 50% less fat than the average ice cream brands.
It also contains 5 grams of protein per serving, Omega-3, 6, and 9's, and several vitamins and minerals. Good enough for breakfast, right? Here are eight different ways I made Brio ice cream into a healthy and satisfying breakfast.
1. Strawberry Banana Smoothie Bowl
Strawberry and banana are one of my favorite fruit combinations. You can never go wrong with a strawberry banana smoothie, am I right? Turn it into a smoothie bowl with some Brio ice cream and you've got yourself a winner. For this recipe, I used the strawberry Brio ice cream, along with one banana and some almond milk.
The consistency was very creamy because of the ice cream, and cold, which was fine by me with the North Carolina humidity I have to deal with on a daily basis. It tasted almost like a regular strawberry banana smoothie, with only a hint of a protein powder-like taste from the ice cream. But I'm definitely not complaining about a little extra protein to my breakfast.
Despite the ice cream being the base, I still felt super healthy eating this, and the fact that the cup of Brio I used was only 135 calories helped too. I'm telling you, this ice cream is a blessing.
2. Caramelized Apples
It's fall, which means apple picking season is in full swing. A great way to use them is by making caramelized apples, which can be a super quick and easy breakfast during busy fall exam days. Just melt butter in a pan, then stir in brown sugar until it melts. Add in peeled and sliced apples (any type works), cover, and let cook until apples are softened. Topped with Brio caramel vanilla ice cream, this breakfast was the bomb dot com.
3. Raspberry Mocha Overnight Oats
This was perhaps my most experimental (and somewhat risky) breakfast. I melted down a 1/2 cup of Brio dark chocolate ice cream, mixed it with a 1/2 cup hot coffee, and added both to a mason jar filled with a cup of old fashioned oats. I then topped it off with about a 1/2 cup of frozen raspberries, then mixed everything together. Melting the ice cream to use as the liquid base for these overnights oats made me somewhat uncertain, but I figured it was worth a try.
After a night of wondering whether or not I did something seriously stupid (and wasted a precious cup of ice cream), the next morning I preceded to heat my oats up in the microwave for two minutes. The result was actually quite delicious. The chocolate ice cream cooked with the oats to produce a chocolate cake-like flavor, and the raspberries gave a much needed burst of freshness in every bite. Proof that ice cream definitely fits in with breakfast.
4. Green Smoothie
Though I love spinach, I've yet to try to make a green smoothie at home myself, as I figured I'd probably do something wrong to screw it up and be left drinking something that tasted like straight salad. However, I had a ton of spinach in my fridge, and figured that anything would taste great mixed with ice cream.
So into a blender I threw a cup of tropical mango Brio ice cream (my favorite flavor of the bunch), a banana, about a cup of spinach, and some frozen raspberries. The resulting smoothie was green, but tasted almost nothing like spinach. Instead, it was more like sipping on a tropical frozen drink that, because of its green color, also led me to feel super healthy. It's a win win.
5. White Nectarine Parfait
Parfaits are my typical go-to breakfast, so this one was an easy substitute for me. I replaced my usual vanilla greek yogurt with the vanilla caramel Brio ice cream flavor, and layered it with chopped white nectarines, granola, and almonds. The vanilla caramel ice cream was super sweet and delicious, making for a great and much needed contrast to my plain go-to vanilla. It also paired well with the tartness of the nectarines, which are now in season. I promise this one will make your tastebuds very happy.
6. Waffles
According to Leslie Knope, waffles are one of the most important things in life, and so we should all be incorporating them into our diets as often as we can. They're made even better when topped with Brio vanilla ice cream, bananas, and a river (or lake, honestly) of maple syrup. To make these waffles, I used gluten-free Birch Benders pancake mix, and they went perfectly with the ice cream. Best. Breakfast. Ever.
7. Tropical Açaí Bowl
Obviously, the only thing that would make this super fruit-filled bowl even better is ice cream. For this one, I blended açaí powder with the tropical mango Brio ice cream, a banana, and frozen berries. I then topped it off with granola, cinnamon, and some agave nectar. This bowl was magically delicious (100 times better than a bowl of Lucky Charms). The consistency was super creamy and all the fruits blended together perfectly to create a yummy flavor. With this bowl as you're breakfast, I'm sure you'll be ready for anything.
8. "Frappuccino"
As a previous Starbucks employee, I can say that this is not anywhere near what an actual Frappuccino is made out of, but we're just gonna go with it anyway. I blended the café latte ice cream with some cold coffee, and topped it with whipped cream. Although it tasted more like a milkshake, and was about as thick as one, it had a subtle, but good coffee taste, and contained enough caffeine to get me going in the morning.
To locate your local Brio retailer click here.
Disclaimer: I received these ice cream samples free of charge, but all recipes and opinions are my own.