Berry Good Ice Cream

I can't think of a fresher taste on Earth than the sweet pop of a ripe strawberry picked right from the vine.

It's the tail end of strawberry season, and this is my morning's bounty... $3 for as much as I could fit into that pint.  The grocery store can't beat that deal, and Dole's strawberries don't even taste nearly as good.  They are purely heavenly.

Unfortunately, I had a strawberry shortcake "incident" a few years back that has left me still barely able to stomach this simple dessert, so I've had to think a little bit outside of the box.  One year I made strawberry muffins.  But this year... I had a better idea....

Can you guess it? I promise this isn't a grisly crime scene.  That's just strawberry juice.












Here's another hint:

BTW... sweet photo collage, right?

You guessed it! Our ice cream maker completed her maiden voyage with a strawberry anisette chip frozen yogurt. 

My doctor specifically told me to eat yogurt every day for calcium, so this dessert is good for me.


I combined two recipes into this one:

2 C plain yogurt
1 C low fat milk
1 1/2 C strawberries, mostly pureed, some chopped. (Approximate amount. We winged it.)
1/2 Special Dark Hershey bar, chopped
1 can sweetened condensed milk, fat free
3 tsp vanilla extract
1 T liqueur (we used a moonshine anisette- get creative)
juice from 1/2 lemon

A "strawberry shortcake" I can really get used to!  I read online that adding a little alcohol helps keep it creamier rather than icy in the freezer (it doesn't freeze up all the way).  Somebody had a bit of a heavy hand with the anisette, giving our ice cream a very grown up flavor, but it was that much more decadent.  Below you'll find the two recipes that I combined to make mine.

Sweet dreams!


D


Frozen yogurt recipes:

Two Peas and Their Pod
All Recipes

July 4th and Berry Season!

Hello! Hope you had a great July 4th!

We did.  Look at that cake!  Erin's strawberry-blueberry flag cake is now a tradition.  Especially eaten in Washington Park during the fireworks.

It's the tail end of strawberry season, with overlap of the next crop: raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries.

Sadly, I didn't see any berries at the farmers market this week, but I have been running into them pretty much everywhere else.

As yummy as they are straight from the crate, I've been experimenting anyway.  Mostly with the strawberries, since I don't really like them a lot by themselves (thanks to an unfortunate strike of the stomach flu immediately after strawberry shortcake about 4 years ago).

So... I made muffins!

They were very pretty, and made a lovely breakfast.  I just followed my basic muffin recipe but added 1 cup of fresh diced strawberries. (And left out the whole wheat flour to keep them light.)

I still had a bunch left over, so I sliced the really ripe ones and put them over my pancakes with some Hay maple syrup.  This was my best idea yet.  Pretty super.

I mean, that's restaurant quality.

That gave me the idea for my leftover blueberries.

As I was making the pancakes, I let the blueberries cook down in a sauce pan with some water, honey, and a little butter.

(Also notice the superb scrambled eggs complimenting my pancakes.  That's what I call team work.)

Berry season is quick... enjoy them!

Strawberries!

It's strawberry season!! It's actually been strawberry season for a while now; this is the end, sadly.  And I haven't even gone picking yet..

However, I got myself some local strawberries at the Honest Weight Co-Op today, and they're delicious.  There's something about fresh strawberries (like the real ones, not the supermarket ones).  They're tiny and weird-shaped, and bursting with sweetness. My goal is still to pick some berries before the season ends, around July 4th.  If you're interested in getting out there yourself (or if not this time around, then for one of the other fruit seasons), check out this website discovered by my friend, Andrea: Albany Kid.  It's pretty neat.  This should lead you right to the Pick-Your-Own-Fruit article and website, but be sure to explore the rest of the site: it has lots of information about fun, kid-friendly things to do around our area.  And get out there and pick some fruit while the pickin's good!

P.S. Right now in the co-op.. local strawberries, cherries, rhubarb, squash, and portobellos (from PA).