Cooking corner: Summer treats

Helen Taylor Smith

guest columnist

With the great summer weather we are having this year, a cool, sweet treat is in order.

Keeping the cost, calories and sweet under control is important, too, and it’s easy with a Fat Free Smoothie flavored with your favorite frozen fruit.

Also, a soft serve-style Fat Free Ice Milk with your favorite fruit flavor is another delicious treat.

Select either frozen fruit pieces already prepared, or wash, dry and cut up pieces of fresh fruit and place them on a cookie sheet pan lined with wax paper. Keep the pieces separated.

Freeze until they’re very firm. Select bananas, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries or a mixture of your favorite fruits.

Store the frozen fruit in an airtight container, such as a Ziplock bag, until you’re ready to use it. Most fruits are already sweet enough, but the addition of 1 tablespoon of sweetener can be used when you make either the smoothie or the ice milk.

Fat free smoothie

A most satisfying drink made with fat-free milk. Or, for those dairy intolerant or vegetarian, choose soy or rice milk. Be sure to use frozen fruit only for best results.

Ingredients

2 cups fat-free milk, or soy or rice milk

1 or 2 cups frozen fruit pieces

Technique

Pour cold milk into a blender and add 1 cup of frozen fruit pieces. Pulse on high to combine the fruit and milk, then blend on high for one or two minutes.

If it’s too thick, add just enough milk to thin to a desired consistency. If it’s too thin, add more fruit pieces to get a desired thickness.

Pour into glasses and serve.

Any remaining mixture should be placed into a container, covered tightly and kept refrigerated.

Yield — Three 8-ounce servings

Fat free ice milk

Try this alternative to ice cream without the fat. For best results, use a 2 quart-capacity processor, or prepare it in two batches using a smaller processor.

This smooth and creamy dessert is best served immediately for best flavor texture.

Should there be any remaining mixture, place it in covered container and store it in freezer. The addition of frozen fruit pieces will give it more stability.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups fat-free milk, or soy or rice milk

1/3 cup fat-free plain yogurt or cultured soy

1 teaspoon vanilla

Technique

In a 2 quart glass mixing bowl, chill the milk in the freezer until it’s slushy throughout. Stir the mixture every 15 minutes to keep it from freezing solid, and continue freezing the mixture for 90 minutes to 2 hours, depending on your freezer. Set a timer so you won’t forget.

Chill the bowl and blade of your processor for even better results.

When milk is slushy throughout, scoop it into the processor and add yogurt and vanilla. Process on high until the mixture thickens, which will depend upon your processor but should take about three or four minutes.

Scoop into bowls and serve immediately.

To get the mixture even thicker, give it more stability and a fruit flavor, add 1 or 2 cups of frozen pieces of fruit.

Any remaining mixture should be placed in a container, covered and kept in the freezer.

Yield — 2 quarts

Cooking Corner columnist Helen Smith, the “Healthy Cook,” can be reached by e-mail at thecook@thehealthycook.com. This recipe is supplemental to and property of “Cooking Healthier with the Healthy Cook” by Helen Taylor Smith. Permission is granted for personal use only. No commercial use permitted without explicit written contract with the author.