Ice cream season has started at home with some really easy and healthy homemade recipes that you can make for adults and little ones alike.
I love watching the impatience on my little girls’ faces as they wait for the ice lolly to be ready to eat, and it reminds me so much of that same feeling that I had when I waited for the ones my mum used to make. Imagine their happiness when I offer them an ice lolly as a snack. They see them as real treats, and I am delighted.
An ice cream can be a super healthy snack if it is made with nutritional ingredients and, especially, if it is sweetened with natural sweeteners with a very low glycaemic index, something which, if you are a parent, you will appreciate when you see that a sweet snack does not alter or upset your little ones. For adults, an ice lolly is a very appetising way of eating fruit in the summer and of having a healthy treat.
Preparing these ice creams is the easiest thing in the world, and I love experimenting and having fun with my daughters, trying out different flavours. The ones I am showing you today are the easiest ones, the ones that go down best at home and contain 100% fruit: strawberry, lemon and mango. It is really important that the fruit is ripe so that it is bursting with flavour. I only sweeten the strawberry and lemon ones because mango is a very sweet fruit. I sweeten it with xylitol or stevia, which as I explained in this post are much healthier alternatives to sugar.
I vary the quantity of ingredients according to the moulds I want to fill, and the flavour I want to obtain. If you decide to try it, you’ll see that it is easy to do without measuring.
T-Shirt from The Animals Observatory
R E C I P E S
Strawberry ice lolly
I blend the strawberries in the blender. Once I have a homogeneous mixture, I add xylitol or stevia to taste, I pour it into the ice cream moulds and place it in the freezer for at least 5 hours.
Mango ice lolly
I blend two de-stoned mangoes in a blender and, when I have a smoothie consistency, I pour the liquid into the moulds and place them in the freezer, for at least 5 hours. You will see that this ice cream has a more dense texture.
Lemon ice lolly
Ideally, juice the whole lemon with its skin in a cold-press juicer. If you do this, use organic lemons and wash them with water and vinegar to kill off bacteria. If you decide to do it the conventional way, you can express the lemons to obtain their juice and pulp.
To reduce the acidity, I add water to taste and xylitol or stevia to sweeten. I fill the moulds and place them in the freezer for at least 5 hours.
As you can see, these recipes don’t hold many secrets, and it’s very easy to enjoy this time in the kitchen, and all the more so if you do it with your kids. I’m thinking about more recipes to come: kefir or yoghurt with pure cocoa, and kefir or yoghurt with mixed berries…mmm! I’ll keep you posted.
I would love if together we all make a list of these summer ice creams to collect and share them in another post soon. Tell me your ideas! I look forward to hearing from you!
V
