Overnight Oat Parfait with Banana Soft-Serve Ice Cream (& RIP to my Food Processor)

Today is a sad day.

I retired my food processor.

It was older than me, Cuisinart Robot Coupe circa 1970s. A hand-me-down from my parents, to my brother and finally to me. You see, I had to wait for my brother to get married and receive a fancy brand new one. My kitchen changed completely once I finally grabbed hold of it, though. Homemade energy bars galore. Turned out I was the one laughing (until now), since this old processor was the best. It was a work-horse. Easy to clean. Loved more than the newer models. I learned a lot with it, such as:

1. Chop your bananas before you freeze them.

That was how I broke off both clips on the side of the bowl. Huge chunks of frozen bananas jumped around the bowl and snapped it off, literally.

Have no fear, that was nothing I couldn’t solve by holding it in place myself.

2. Do not overflow your food processor with fluids.

This was courtesy of Rob’s lesson. The overflowing liquid can make its way inside your food processor and get it to stop working.

Thank goodness my Dad knows how to open up a food processor and clean up the insides.

3. Cook your chickpeas.

This is another lesson from Rob. Processing soaked chickpeas (but not yet cooked chickpeas) broke his food processor (he only had it for a week) but this beast plowed through it.

4. Don’t give away extra bowls for your circa 1970s food processor.

Lesson courtesy of my Mom. Right before I had my first crack in my bowl, my Mom told me she had just given away/thrown out the extra food processor bowl she had been holding onto for the last 4 decades. 😉

5. Crazy glue only works temporarily.

The final straw for my food processor was when the little tip broke off. My Dad crazy glued it back in place, at my insistence. He was worried the whole thing would be glued shut. I proved him wrong. It still stuck together and moved! The problem, though: it snapped off again (while making The Great Vegetable Bolognese Sauce).

While I can manually stick that teeny piece back in its place, instead I decided to retire my food processor. *sigh* It is for my own safety.

I still remember the first time I tried the amazing 1-ingredient banana ice cream. Gena titled her post: “Banana Soft Serve: This Post Will Change Your Life”. And it was miraculous. However, without a food processor, it cannot be done. Something about the air whipping/melting the banana into a creamy soft pudding.  As much as I love my Vitamix, blenders can’t do it. Creamy smooth smoothies, yes, but simple ice cream? No.

Super simple, I rarely make it more complicated than a frozen banana. I have paired it with raw banana maca pancakes and stewed vanilla-scented peaches and blueberries. For a chocolatey treat, adding chocolate protein powder is a great recovery snack.

For its ultimate farewell, I teamed the banana soft-serve with another oldie-but goodie: overnight oats with chia seeds. I’ve shared versions with chocolate & cherries, avocado and gingerbread pumpkin, but this one was a classic vanilla-cinnamon combination.

Combined together, it is a glorious breakfast. And if it wasn’t so much of a fuss to clean the food processor, I’d gladly eat this every day.

I feel kind of bad since it is the bowl that needs replacing and not the motor unit. Sadly, Cuisinart does not sell replacement bowls any longer. I think my Mom tracked down a seller in San Francisco. The commute might kill the value.

What do you think? Time to give it the farewell party? How old is your food processor?

This is my submission to this month’s Breakfast Club for fruit.

Overnight Oat Parfait with Banana Soft-Serve Ice Cream

1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tbsp chia seeds
3/4 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla

1 just ripe banana, chopped into small pieces, frozen

1. Mix together rolled oats, chia seeds, milk, cinnamon and vanilla overnight. Two nights is alright, too, if you make a double batch.

2. In the morning, take the frozen banana, and whip until smooth in food processor (this may take 3-4 minutes, and test the ability of your food processor). Just let it run until the banana becomes creamy smooth, scraping down the sides as necessary.

3. Layer overnight mixture with 1/2 whipped banana, for the camera, otherwise just mix and enjoy!

Serves 1.