Cool Treats for summer

It is mid June and summer is in full force. Over 90 degrees and lots of humidity almost daily calls for lots of cooling. While it is wonderful to just jump into a pool to get an instant cool for the whole body it is not always possible. Drinking lots of cool or cold beverages, mostly water or unsweetened beverages, helps too.

Summer is the perfect time to enjoy some cool and sweet treats. There are some very easy ways to keep the calories and sugar content of these treats low. You can make your own frozen yogurt, ice cream or fruit popsicles. It is a time to use up some of the frozen fruit you may have in the freezer. An easy recipe to make a frozen treat is to blend a frozen banana and a handful of frozen strawberries in the food processor, scoop and serve! It is the easiest banana-strawberry “ice cream” you will ever make. It tastes great too! I put away all my ripe bananas (once their skin begins to darken) in the freezer. So there’s always a supply of frozen bananas. You can change the flavor by swapping the frozen strawberries for frozen peaches, mango or even mixed berries.

When you want to just reach into the freezer for a treat, there are a lot of options too these days. One of my personal favorites is the “Outshine” bars. You can go for the variety pack which has smaller fruit bars or the yogurt bars (with yummy flavors like mango, peach, strawberry, blueberry and strawberry-banana). The smaller fruit bars have only 35 calories and the yogurt bars have 90. Either way, it is way better than the pint of ice cream.

Another “best bite” according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is “Yasso” Frozen Greek Yogurt bars.They offer a whopping 15 flavors. As long as the main ingredients of these frozen treats are fruits and veggies (yes, there are fruit and veggie bars) you are making the right choice. Try “Whole Foods 365”  or “Ruby Rockets“. “Outshine” even offers some Fruit and Tea flavors.

Don’t let the added sugars and saturated fat get in the way of enjoying cool and refreshing treats this summer. Make it yourself or try one of the many available in the freezer of your grocery store.