Tuesday 13 August 2013

Frozen Treats during Austerity August


On my shopping list was ice cream, we needed some to go with all the fruit crumbles that are in the freezer.  But then I thought well that's not very austere or in the spirit of using things up for Austerity August, and it's not that healthy if we are having so many juices in our bid to get ourselves nice and fit for the hard work of the next few months, so what can I make instead.
 
Yes, it's in a Carte D'Or tub but I can assure you this is very yummy homemade icecream and it took minutes to make. 
 
 
For some reason I always tend to buy four or five bananas when in fact I could probably get away with two or three a week, we don't eat them that often.  Sometimes Lovely Hubby will get a taste for them and suddenly start having one every day and I start buying more, and then as men do, he changes his habits without informing me and I end up with bananas on the worktop going brown and spotty. 
 
Well not one to waste them I started to make choc ices out of them, see the pictures below.  But I thought to myself if they make such good choc ices they are bound to make good icecream.
 
 
So before I went away last week I simply popped the bananas into the freezer, in their skins.   Next time though I will make it even easier and slice them up and freeze them peeled, they freeze so quickly they don't get chance to turn black.  When they were solid I put them in the food processor and gave it a quick whizz, a strong fork would work just as easily though.  Then I added a swirl of toffee sauce that was lurking in the cupboard, but it would be brilliant with chocolate chips or berries if you had them.  Then I scraped the mixture into the icecream tub and popped it all back in the freezer.
 
It's not soft scoop, but you can get it out of the tub very easily, and it tastes divine, and not that bananary (sorry most definitely NOT a word).  It just tastes like a densely flavoured richly textured icecream.
 
Result!!
 

Of course if you have some chocolate that needs using up, you can make Banana Choc Ices which I have been doing with lurking spotty bananas up to now.
 
 
Simply melt the chocolate, either in a dish over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave, but do keep an eye on it, it melts very quickly, then dunk your bananas in the chocolate and lay on some greaseproof paper on a tray in the freezer until they are frozen.
 
  Once frozen pop your choc ices into a bag or box and they keep for ages (if you let them).
 
 
Not the prettiest things in the world, but most definitely very tasty, and half a banana is a good sized portion for one person.  They are very filling unlike normal icecream choc ices which simply melt in your mouth leaving nothing but calories that travel straight to your waistline, at least with these you are getting the goodness of the banana.
 
 
Of course also lurking ready to give us tasty treats throughout Austerity August are our second batch of 'Smoothie' Ice Lollies ....
 

... and possibly the easiest ice cold treat in the world - frozen grapes.
 
I simply wash my grapes when I first buy a bunch and all the loose ones that fall off the bunch are dried on a tea towel and then thrown into an open tub in the freezer.
 
When you need something cold and juicy to cool you down between jobs there is nothing more easy or delicious than grabbing a couple of frozen grapes to bite into.
 
Let's just hope for some more warmth and sunshine to help us enjoy our ice cold treats for a while to come.
 
Sue xx
 


 
 




17 comments:

  1. I would never think of freezing bananas or grapes so thanks for the idea !

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  2. i take frozen fruit out of the freezer and mix it with natural yoghurt, then blitz it with the hand blender stick and I have frozen fruit yoghurt

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    1. Sounds delicious, I'll be giving that a go for sure, we have lots of our own berries in the freezer and some EasyYo yogurt to make up. I'm determined to use up everything that we have in store over the next couple of months.

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  3. I have 3 bananas in the kitchen, they are off to the freezer and will get a swirl of cherry plum puree soon, very soon, just in time for pudding I think.

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    1. Cherry Plum puree ....... you'll have Lovely Hubby dashing round, he loves anything with cherries in, and I hate them with a vengeance so he gets them very rarely .... poor man!!

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  4. Hi Sue,

    I hang my head in shame. I had a real 'thing' about overripe bananas. So when I got home from Scotland and saw a bunch of 5 or 6 in the fruit bowl I chucked them in the bin (I NEVER normally throw food away!).

    Since then a friend has told me I should have frozen them and now you give me more great ideas!

    I will never do it again. I often grab a banana at school, so if gets overripe I'm sticking it in the freezer.

    Sft x

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    1. Ooooh .... slapped handys for you!!

      Did you know that the blacker a banana gets the better it actually is for you. Although it would be sickly sweet to eat (for me anyway), by freezing them and making icecream you would be able to get all the goodness in a totally tasty way.

      You'll remember this now won't you, never again will a banana lie vanquished in your bin :-)

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  5. I started to read this post this morning and it made me leap up to get making because I had already decided to freeze some yogurt today. Inspired by Frugaldom's post yesterday, I cooked some frozen raspberries in the microwave for 2 mins, mushed them up, mixed it into yogurt, added a bit of sugar and it's slowly freezing. I hope it's ready for tonight because every time I take it out to break up the ice crystals, I feel like eating the lot; it's fabulous!

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    1. Sounds delicious, but I always forget to go back and stir the ice as it's forming, I must try setting my timer next time I do that and carry it everywhere with me, then I won't end up with a solid brick of fruit.

      At least with banana icecream I can just leave it to it's own devices.

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  6. I do the yogurt and frozen fruit thingy, it make a right racket in the food processor but tastes yummy, my favourite is frozen mango. I have bananas in the bowl needing using so might just give this a go. Thank you x

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  7. I know exactly what you mean about one's man changing his banana eating habits! It's the "Murphy's Law of Bananadom." When you have plenty of them, nobody eats them, then when there are none left, somebody wants one!
    In your directions you said you freeze the sliced bananas "unpeeled." Then do you peel each slice before whizzing it? Certainly, you don't put the peels in, too? Sorry for being dense. Is there a reason why you don't just peel them, then slice them, then freeze the slices for later use??

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    1. Sorry that was completely my fault it should have read 'peeled' NOT 'unpeeled' and I've changed it now.

      I popped the first few bananas in the freezer with their skins still on thinking it would be easy to peel them even when frozen - it wasn't!! I had to peel them with a knife, no hardship really but it did mean I lost a tiny bit of banana with the peeling.

      So now to make ice cream I freeze them peeled, obviously if I'm making choc ices they are smothered in chocolate.

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  8. These are great recipe ideas. I normally throw blackened-bananas into a muffin mix, but now I have something new to try :)

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  9. Fabulous ideas! I like the idea with the banana ice cream. As I`m on a self imposed healthy eating regime myself I`d appreciate that type of ice cream.

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  10. Mmm, some great ideas here. I shall definitely do the banana choc ices, the boys would love them I think.

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  11. I freeze pieces of fruit in 1 cup containers, whatever I have that needs to be used. Almost always half bananas. Berries are good and so is pineapple and cherries and grapes. Not crazy about frozen watermelon though. I keep a bunch of containers in work fridge and home so have cold snack anytime. I only let them thaw a tiny bit, just enough to get a spoonful of fruit.

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