Cold Desserts With A Healthy Kick

It got really hot where we live, and it got hot fast.

Around here it was about 20 degrees F above average for the last several days.

We sometimes get weather like this in July and August, but in May, it’s just weird.  At least it’s not tornados.

However, it inspired me to look for some new, cold desserts.   I asked on our Facebook page and our friends & fans came through for us!

Yummy!

The winning dessert was the first one that came through – it is simple, sounds yummy and I had all the ingredients in my house already!  I’m going to share all the suggestions with you, but all the photos are from us making the winning, yummiest one!

Frozen organic banana slices and natural peanut butter

Aldo suggested:

4 or 5 bananas peeled cut into chunks and frozen. Into food processor along with a half or whole cup of peanut butter. Blend til creamy and either eat or freeze until its more like an ice cream consistency. Fold in other bits you’d like after initial blend.

This rocked.  I knew I was the only one who’d eat it, so I did it with just one banana.  I always throw overripe bananas in the freezer to bake with later, so I grabbed one already in there.  Jon cut it into chunks, then scraped the peel off with a fork.  It was a lot easier than it sounds.  However, in the interest of doing this in the future, I may peel and cut up some bananas before freezing the next time I have extra.

I made it using attachments for my stick blender, but it was a little hard on the equipment.  Next time I’ll get out the blender and make a large batch.  Freshly made it had the wonderful consistency of soft-serve ice cream and was delicious.  I froze it, but I wasn’t crazy about the hard texture – I’m a soft ice cream kind of girl.  I left it out on the counter for a while, and rather than melting like regular ice cream, it came back to that super-awesome soft serve texture!

Nicki suggested Chia Seed Pudding.  I’ve never heard of chia seeds before and they sound interesting.  Apparently they absorb water and become gelatinous and make good puddings.  Let me know if you’ve ever tried this!

Mariana also introduced me to a new product “quark”.  I learned that it is a lot like heavy cream.  The Internet says that it is German and Mariana says that any Russian store will have it, and possibly Whole Foods.  This one is definitely something to make for a party:

Get some quark, couple of containers, mix with about 1/2-1 pint of heavy cream whipped stiff. Sugar, or whatever sweetener you prefer, vanilla SUGAR if you can find any, or vanilla extract if not, mix with all kinds of fresh fruits and/or berries. I like using a can of mixed fruit and all the aging apples bananas whatnots I may have in the house in chunks. I like mine on a sweeter side, there is a torturously delicious battle between the dairy sourness of the quark, the decadent whipped cream, and sweet fruit. Chill. Try not to eat it all in one sitting.

Randi, a research scientist at the New England Aquarium who writes about studying coral reefs for their blog,  has a suggestion that may inspire me to buy some watermelon soon:

This is healthy, but delicious I swear! Cut up cubes of watermelon and strawberry — toss together with sprigs of lemon thyme, or ALTERNATIVELY mint, and add a thin coat of sugar to the mix!! Sweet summer goodness. It’s best when you let it all marinate for a few hours (chilled) prior to serving.

Overall, it was a great question to ask on Facebook and I’m thrilled by the answers, I hope you will be to!  Please let us know what your favorite cold dessert is and feel free to leave a link to it!

Happy Greening,

Alicia