Better Than Ice Cream

Better Than Ice Cream

Healthy homemade frozen treats the whole family will love

Summer fun and beach activities especially, often go hand in hand with frozen treats, like ice cream and popsicles.

So in this little roundup post, I’d like to give you some healthier options, that are even better than the regular versions.

If you search the internet, you’ll find plenty of homemade ice cream recipes. I’ve tried quite a few, and in my humble opinion, I don’t think they’re worth the effort unless you have an ice cream maker.

It doesn’t seem to matter how many times you stir the mixture during the freezing process, you just don’t get a very good result without an ice cream maker.

So let me share some much simpler ideas with you here, guaranteed to be a hit with kids and adults alike.

A little bit of prep makes frozen treats easy

One of the easiest ways to make a healthy frozen treat is to simply blend up frozen fruit.

Bananas work very well as a base ingredient, then you can mix in other fruits like berries and mangos.

You can really use just about any fruit you like, as long as you follow a couple of basic common sense rules.

The most important thing you need to do is prepare the fruit before you freeze it – that means, peeling, hulling, removing stones, pips etc, washing and chopping it.

That might sound obvious, but the first time I froze a punnet of strawberries I forgot about hulling them.

It wasn’t a disaster, but I had to take extra time to partially defrost them so I could hull them and then they were good to go!

And believe it or not, I have heard stories of people freezing whole bananas in their skin.

I imagine you could probably peel and chop them after they’ve defrosted a bit, but it’s a lot easier done before the banana’s frozen.

Banana nice cream

You can buy frozen dessert makers from department store chains like Kmart, Big W and Target very cheaply – I used to have one that did a pretty good job.

You don’t really need one though, a powerful blender or food processor will do the job just as well.

As long as you keep a supply of frozen fruit in your freezer, you’ll always have a fast, healthy treat or dessert on hand.

I highly recommend experimenting with different fruit combinations for different flavours.

And you can add ingredients like yoghurt, honey, peanut butter or ricotta cheese for a creamier consistency.

Add some texture and crunch with chocolate chips, nuts, granola, sprinkles etc.

Start with this easy BANANA NICE CREAM recipe.

Make your own homemade fruity popsicles

The other great way to use frozen fruit is to make delicious fruit icy poles and popsicles. You can buy the moulds from department stores and kitchen shops.

Making your own means you don’t need to buy the commercial versions that are full of extra sugar, artificial flavours, colours and other additives.

The simplest way to make icy poles/popsicles is to squeeze a bag of fresh oranges, pour the juice into moulds, and freeze.

Experiment with fruit and fruit juice combinations you think you’ll like. You’ll also get some recipes with your moulds when you buy them.

Remember that most juices you buy will have added sugar. They may also contain preservatives, colours and/or be made from reconstituted powder.

It’s worth the effort of squeezing the juice yourself, to keep your icy poles and popsicles lower in sugar and generally healthier.

Try these MANGO ICE CREAM POPS. All you need is a couple of fresh mangos, some honey and cream.

Or you can easily swap out the mango for strawberries and make delicious strawberries and cream popsicles.

The Strawberries and Cream Popsicle recipe is in my DESSERTS & SNACKS RECIPE PACK.

Try these choc banana Paddle Pop style popsicles

If you’re an Aussie who loved Paddle Pops as a kid, then you’ve gotta try these CHOC BANANA POPSICLES!

For a frozen healthy breakfast treat …..

You have to try these MANGO CHIA BREKKIE POPS.

These are a twist on my 3-ingredient mango ice cream pops that you might like to try as a healthy breakfast option.

They’re especially delicious after a workout or a run on a hot & sweaty summer morning.

Or how about some delicious mango ice cream bars for dessert?

These MANGO ICE CREAM BARS are a healthier, homemade version of Mango Weiss Bars – yeah, yum right?

They’re really easy to make, just a layer of sweetened mango pulp topped with whipped cream and frozen.

They never last very long whenever I make a batch!

Visit the digital shop to buy the Healthy dessert & snacks recipe pack, and get this recipe plus 49 other desserts and snacks.

And finally …..

You’ll get the recipe for these mango raspberry coconut pops when you join the Wendy’s Way email community.

This is one of the delish recipes inside the free mini recipe sample pack that you’ll get when you sign up.

I hope this post has inspired you to make some of these yummy healthy frozen treat recipes.

My philosophy is that a healthy lifestyle is INclusive – there’s plenty of room for treats in a healthy eating plan.

If they’re not in your plan, you’re doing it wrong – sorry!

Don’t forget to pin this roundup for reference!