Ice cream for breakfast!

When my daughter was five, she went to transitional kindergarten one day and told her teacher she had ice cream for breakfast. I was friends with her teacher, so when I saw her later in the day, she said, “Your daughter said the funniest thing this morning! She said she had ice cream for breakfast!” Busted! I looked at my friend and said, “Well, she did!” She laughed out loud, and then I explained, “Ice cream has nutritional value, right? Calcium? Vitamin D? Protein?Vitamin A?” Honestly, my child had asked for ice cream that morning, and I saw absolutely nothing wrong with it. It has more nutritional value than a muffin or bagel, right?

At our house, breakfast has always been a free-for-all. On weekends, I love to cook breakfast, but the family doesn’t always want it. When my daughter was too young to drive, she and her friends would gather around the table for breakfast on weekends, but now that she can drive, they usually meet somewhere…a bagel shop, iHop, Waffle House. But when she was a little girl? Ice cream for breakfast was never turned down!

Who knew there was an actual day on the calendar dedicated to having ice cream for breakfast? As people say now…how old were you when you found that out? I was today old! Even though my daughter is a teen who no longer wants to do crafts with me, I sometimes peruse craft sites, and today, I was looking up Valentine’s Day crafts when something about Ice Cream For Breakfast Day caught my eye.

As it turns out, the first Saturday in February is officially Ice Cream for Breakfast Day. That means this Saturday, February 1, is the big day this year! I could splurge and eat a big bowl of ice cream in celebration of the momentous occasion, or I can find some recipes that will still give me the ice cream without all the calories! So I did what I do…I turned to Hungry Girl and found some ice cream-based recipes that look delicious. And I’m sharing them with you!

Chilla in Vanilla Milkshake. Some folks have protein shakes for breakfast, but I’m not one of them. But this Saturday, I could opt for this delicious shake! I love a vanilla shake more than just about any treat, and at just 155 calories per serving, this one looks absolutely perfect to me! You can see the recipe here. The maraschino cherry is optional, but it’s a definite YES for me!

Brownie-Bottomed Ice Cream Cake. When I was growing up, I loved a good ice cream cake. They were special treats at my house, because you couldn’t find them just anywhere. All my northern friends tell me they always had Carvel cakes, but we didn’t have those in Alabama. It wasn’t till I was ten years old that I actually had a Baskin Robbins Ice Cream cake, and it was love at first bite. I could likely eat the whole thing. Now, though, I simply can’t do that, so this Brownie-Bottomed Ice Cream Cake from Hungry Girl is the bomb! See the recipe here. Coming in at under 200 calories per serving, it is delicious…so delicious I might even have two servings! And it’s easy to make!

Banana Split Pie. OK, this one looks delicious, and it has nutritional value (bananas?!?!)! And who doesn’t love (ice cream) pie for breakfast?!?! With a meager 123 calories per serving, why wouldn’t you make this for breakfast this Saturday? But you’ll need to remember to make it Friday night, because it does need to freeze for four hours. My husband would pledge his undying love to me if I served this to him for breakfast…oh wait, he has already done that. But you get the point. See the recipe at Hungry Girl here.

Big Beautiful Baked Alaska. It’s big. It’s beautiful. And it has just 182 calories per serving. Did I mention it’s beautiful? Heck, Hungry Girl even tells you how to make homemade meringue in this recipe! You go, Hungry Girl! And nothing will say “good morning” quite like a Big Beautiful Baked Alaska! If I had all the ingredients, I would make it tonight! But alas, it’s not Ice Cream for Dinner day, so I’ll have to wait till Saturday’s Ice Cream for Breakfast Day celebration. See the recipe here.
Hungry Girl’s Magically Peach-tastic Peach Swappuccino. Not gonna lie, folks. I think my teenage daughter would go absolutely nuts over this…and I might too! Hungry Girl came up with this recipe as an answer to the Starbucks Crystal Ball Frappuccino that was  all the rage, and this one has half the sugar! You can see it in the lovely Hungry Girl glass below…it’s gorgeous! I mean, the drink is gorgeous…and the glass is too! Maybe I’ll get my hands on one of those glasses one day! This particular recipe actually contains no ice cream, but your teen would think you were “the bomb” if you served this up on Ice Cream for Breakfast Day! See the recipe here.

You still have time to pick up the ingredients for any or all of the above treats for Ice Cream for Breakfast Day this Saturday! Don’t tell your kids…wake them up with one of these fabulous surprises!

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*All photos courtesy of Hungry-girl.com.*