The ice cream solution

“Ice cream is exquisite, too bad it isn’t illegal.” Voltaire

The "peaches and cream" smoothie

Ahhhh, here we are. Summer…. barbeques, warm sunny days, (most of the time) swimming in the river, visitors on the couch, and gardening. This weather evokes within me the deep desire to eat…ICE CREAM!  There’s a problem here that we all know, ice cream is not exactly a health food. In fact it is one of the prime artery clogging; make your rear end wide, foods available today. Most vanilla ice creams, with a 10% butter fat have 160 calories and 9 grams of fat per a ½ cup serving. You know that wouldn’t be so bad if that is all you ate, but I have yet to meet anybody who eats a ½ cup of ice cream at a time! Even worst than that is premium ice creams, such as Ben and Jerry’s or Häagen-Dazs that have at least a 14% butter fat. That means that if you eat one scoop of a premium ice cream in a chocolate dipped waffle cone the calories would be 820 with 30 grams of saturated fat. That’s like eating a full one pound rack of ribs. Do you like Cold Stone ice cream?  I know I do. Do you know eating one of their regular Mud Pie Mojos is like eating the equivalent of two Pizza Hut’s Personal Pan Pepperoni Pizzas (1,180 calories and 26 grams of saturated fat)? Crazy!

Now that I have destroyed your opinion on that seemingly innocent scoop of ice cream, I have some good news. Ice cream companies are now making some low-fat, lower calorie options for their consumers.  Dreyer’s grand light, which won numerous taste tests, has 100 calories and 4 grams of fat per ½ cup for their vanilla flavor.  That’s a bit better.  But I have an even better idea to satisfy the ice cream headache….smoothies. Our family has been indulging in smoothies every since we were won over by them in Hawai`i.  They are low fat, loaded with fruit, nutrients and delicious! Sometimes when I am par taking in a smoothie I feel almost guilty they are so good. Smoothies are also easy to make and the recipes are only limited by your imagination.

Tips for good smoothies

~Crushed ice is better to use but not mandatory.

~Freeze all you fruit you use. This makes for a more “ice cream” texture. I freeze any fruit that is on the edge of going bad. Bananas really work great this way.

~Vanilla soymilk or yogurt adds a great creamy texture to the smoothie.

~If your fruit isn’t that sweet add a tablespoon of honey or maple syrup for maximum yum!

I have been collecting smoothie recipes for many years.  Jud and Suzy formerly of Mother Nature’s had a smoothie bar for a while that still makes me drool. They were kind enough to teach me how to make their smoothies. The first two are from them and the rest are based on their model.

Pink Panther

Fill your glass ½ way with ice

Bring liquid to ¾ mark with low fat vanilla soymilk or milk

Dump into blender

Begin to blend

Add one frozen chopped banana

Add ½ to ¾ cup of frozen strawberries

Blend until smooth.

(Replace any kind of berries for the strawberries for the Wild Berry Ride Smoothie.)

This next smoothie is like having cantaloupe with vanilla ice cream in it! Yum

Melon Mojo

Fill your glass ½ way with ice

Top ice with peach nectar or apple juice

Bring liquid to ¾ mark with low fat vanilla soymilk or milk

Dump into blender

Begin to blend

Add ½ or ¾ cup of frozen melon, cantaloupe or honeydew

Add 1 teaspoon of lime juice and ½ teaspoon of zest

Blend until smooth.

(For the Peaches and Cream Smoothie replace melon with frozen peaches and add a dash of vanilla extract in place of lime.)

And here are some naughty ones that are really nice!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Madness!

Fill your glass ½ way with ice

Bring liquid to ¾ mark with low fat chocolate soymilk or milk

Add 1-2 squirts of reduced calorie chocolate syrup (such as Hershey’s)

Dump into blender

Begin to blend

Add 1 tablespoon of peanut butter

Add one frozen chopped banana

Add one tablespoon of wheat germ

Blend until smooth

Banana Cream Pie Smoothie

Fill your glass ½ way with ice

Bring liquid to ¾ mark with low fat vanilla soymilk or milk

Dump into blender

Begin to blend

Add one frozen chopped banana

Add ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract

Blend until smooth

Add ½ sheet of low fat graham crackers, broken into pieces, at the last minute

Sprinkle with some graham cracker crumbs for beauty.

Coconut Chai smoothie

1 frozen chopped banana
2 cups chilled chai-infused low fat soy milk (prepare chai tea using soy milk instead of water)
1/2 cup light coconut milk, frozen
1/2 cup shredded  unsweetened coconut
2 coconut macaroons (optional)

1/2 cup maple syrup
Ice

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Top with toasted coconut.

So get out there, enjoy the rest of the summer and indulge without all those ice cream calories!  Cheers!