It is TRULY amazing how 9 hours of sleep and a sunny day can seriously do WONDERS for my mood. I feel like a new person today. The time change + monsoons were really starting to make me crazy but "spring" has arrived and with it, a very happy Kelly.
On such a happy day, it makes sense to talk about something that makes me happy: ice cream!
On Sunday, Eric and I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond to spend some gift cards. We needed a few things so we went for those first, but then I got to buy a fun "extra" :)
Yup, an ice cream maker!!!
I know what you are thinking, "like this girl needed any additional reason to eat more ice cream." True story.
But, that's why I decided my very first ice cream maker creation would be frozen yogurt. If I am going to eat dessert, I might as well get some protein, calcium and probiotics at the same time, right?
I had to freeze the bowl in the freezer over night so I attempted my creation last night when I was sure the bowl was frozen solid. Here are the ingredients for peach frozen yogurt.
Sugar, frozen peaches and vanilla yogurt. I halved the recipe since I did not know how it would come out so I used:
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/6 cup of sugar
1 cup (+ a few) of frozen peaches
First, I had to put the ingredients in the blender (and yes I was thinking about all the dishes that would need to be washed after this project) to get a peach yogurt "smoothie" and then I poured it into the ice cream maker.
Action shot:
After only about 10-15 minutes I had some soft serve frozen yogurt...
The verdict?
This was actually a lot better than I expected. I was a little nervous about the whole thing. I am not a huge fan of "tangy" frozen yogurt and I had been advised not to use nonfat yogurt (oops). My only issue with the taste was that it was actually way too sweet for me. In hindsight the sugar in the yogurt already (would have been different if I used plain) and the peaches probably would've been enough without adding anything else. Not only did it taste too sweet, but it was the only real negative "health" aspect of this dessert that was completely nonfat and provided all the nutritional aspects of yogurt and peaches :) So I will be trying this again with just yogurt and fruit and I think I will like it.
While we are on the subject of yogurt, I was reading this interesting article from Self Magazine about how to choose the right yogurt. It says that although Greek yogurt has more protein than regular yogurt, it has less calcium. They suggest switching between Greek and regular yogurt as the most healthy option. Oops. I have been a strictly Greek yogurt fanatic for the past year and just assumed that more protein = better all around. I guess this is just another example of why variety is the way to go when it comes to food, especially to get the most health benefits from your eats.
Have you ever made your own ice cream or frozen yogurt? Send delicious recipes my way!
Do you try to add variety to your foods or tend to stick to the same thing all the time?
Posts
So, I have always been a big regular yogurt person (much better vanillay taste, in my opinion), but all this talk about Greek yogurt and I decided to try the Trader Joe's Greek yogurt. Wellll, I've been alternating between the two (yay, variety!) and now not only do I find that I KIND OF like them EQUALLY now but I also FEEL better after the Greek one!
ReplyDeleteAlso, take into consideration what you need. If you get enough calcium anyways, stick with the Greek, you know?
I have the same ice cream maker! I love it, I stopped making ice cream because we were eating so much haha
ReplyDeleteI made ice cream in Chem class in high school using ice and plastic bags. It was good, but messy and your hands got cold. If it makes you feel better, I'm an addict too. :-)
ReplyDeleteah what a great recipe! I tried making ice cream once and It was super salty? not sure where I went wrong -- well, obviously on the salt -- nevertheless, It was a huge fail and yours looks much more successful than mine :)
ReplyDeleteYEAH!! Success!! This sounds so amazing. I have to try it, for sure.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny you mention that about yogurt, as I'm doing a post on how to choose the best yogurt, tomorrow! I do think there are some Greek yogurts with plenty of calcium. You just have to look hard, but it's a good point to make. Thanks for the tip.
HAve a great night!
oooh this is so fun!
ReplyDeleteAwesome!! Good for you making the healthier optiom first. It looks great - glad to hear it turned out well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip on yogurt. There is only ONE grocery store around here that carries the Greek stuff and I haven't gotten around to trying it yet. Once I do, I'll be sure to keep my regular yogurt in rotation too.
I'm JEALOUS! I want an ice cream maker! That frozen yogurt looks sooooo good!
ReplyDeleteNow I just really want an ice cream maker.
ReplyDeleteI'm someone who will find something I like and then eat it week after week and then get so sick of it that I can't eat it for months.
Who needs Arizona when you can make yogurt like that at home?
ReplyDeleteSounds yummy! :)
ReplyDeleteYum! We make ice cream every winter around Christmas or NYE. Except it takes longer than your took. I think. It's delicious, though, and not at all low cal, so it's definitely not something I could eat very often. Err, should eat very often.
ReplyDeletethe yogurt maker...wow, that's so cool, enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteThat ice cream maker appears to be one nifty gadget! I've never noticed Greek yogurt being low in calcium.. In fact, it always seems to have a good bit. I'd stick to Greek as long as you think you're getting enough calcium from other sources.
ReplyDeleteDarn it, you've made me want to go and look for ice cream makers! I love yoghurt and peaches ... now frozen yoghurt and peaches, yummy yummy
ReplyDeleteFun! I want an icecream maker, but right now, I have no room for another gadget! Looks delicious...and easy!
ReplyDeleteYou got your ice cream maker at the perfect time, just in time for warm weather! You are going to have so much fun creating things!
ReplyDeleteI try to mix things up in my diet, but I definitely get into ruts.
YUM! That looks fantastic!
ReplyDeleteI used to be a lot less experimental with food but blogging really opened my eyes to all the fabulous recipes and products there are out there!!
I got this same machine for my birthday and have experimented it a few times. I have tried the egg base recipies and the non-egg base recipies and both have come out great. The two most recent were a dark chocolate almond ice cream and a vanilla with peanut butter cups in it. I got a book with over 500 different frozen desert recipies (ice cream, yogurt, sherbert and others). So just let me know what you want to make and I can get you the recipe!
ReplyDeletewe have the exact same ice cream maker! it's totally jamie's toy...i don't touch it haha. he's got a couple good recipes up his sleeve (pumpkin pie ice cream, cookies n cream, mango and lychee were my faves) so i'll see if he has them saved somewhere :)
ReplyDeleteI got an ice cream maker for Christmas, and I'm pretty much obsessed! I've made strawberry, vanilla, cookies and cream, and mixed berry sherbet. All the recipes except cookies and cream are posted on my blog. I haven't tried making frozen yogurt yet though! Peach sounds delicious.
ReplyDelete