Bananas Foster Sundae

Some traditions are not meant to be tampered with. For example, the same huge group of friends and family from our church have gone camping together over the week of the 4th of July for my entire life. The past 20 plus years of that has been in the exact same campsites at the same campground. It crossed my mind more than once last week how unique it is that since Hubby and I grew up together, we also share this wonderful childhood tradition, and thus means we have spent those weeks camping together since we were little. I went flying over my handlebars of my bike on the trails in the woods behind the campground when I was 10, and was knocked unconscious and carried to my family's pop-up camper to rest after having my chin bandaged up. This year, 20 years later, Hubby and I had our pop-up in the exact same campsite as my family did all those years ago, but this time my parents stayed with us. It's just funny sometimes how much things change, but how much they also stay the same. There's something so reassuring about the regularity of traditions.

There's one part of our camping ritual that is not subject to change, and that is the nightly trip to the ice cream shop. Imagine our dismay when we arrived to find that our usual spot had gone out of business last month! It was the talk of the campground, and rightfully so. It didn't take too much research to find an alternate destination for our ice cream needs, and I wasn't disappointed. The ice cream shop we ended our evenings at last week was adorable, and packed with a variety of ice cream flavors most of us had never even tried. Fortunately they were gracious with their samples. :) The very first night I tried an "employee creation" sundae that was part of a contest, and it was called Bananas Foster: Kemps' brand Cinnamini Churro ice cream topped with sliced fresh bananas, caramel sauce, whipped cream, and a cherry...Divine. I had it every night last week and by the end of the week, it was winning the contest. Needless to say, I needed to re-create it at home as soon as possible.

If you can't get your hands on a carton of Kemps' Cinnamini Churro ice cream, then do not fear, you can make your own version at home by flavoring up vanilla ice cream (either store-bought or homemade).  I was not able to find a carton of that insanely tasty cinnamon-packed goodness, so I used store-bought vanilla ice cream and mixed in a good bit of cinnamon (Penzey's Vietnamese Extra Fancy Cinnamon is my favorite), as well as a couple of crumbled churros. Topped with a sliced banana and some caramel sauce, it tasted exactly like the Bananas Foster Sundae at the ice cream shop near the campground. Success!