I love summer. Who doesn't? On the various food blogs, summer definitely signals ice cream. Ice cream, or at least, frozen yogurt was an all-year thing for me, in the days before stomach problems, being on a first name basis with everyone at the gastroenterologist's office, and putting my allergist/ immunologist on the Winter Solstice Card list. After about a year of living off of mostly pureéd foods because I couldn't digest much else I find myself extremely sensitive to sugar and dairy even though these things weren't outlawed by the allergist and I have been eating like a non-elderly adult for a while. I wonder, how did I do that almost daily, how was I not close to 200 pounds and was doing this sort of thing what ultimately made my body rebel in a major way?
Now, I can count the number of times I've had traditional sugar and dairy ice cream or frozen yogurt on one hand in the past year (admittedly, I do make it to the second hand if I count the number of times I've had $4 golf-ball sized amounts of gourmet, local ingredient gelato worth every tiny flat spoon biteful). I usually have a weird sugar haze the next morning and feel slightly hung-over, but after lots of water and some exercise I usually feel back to normal. But after a great, Americana feeling July 4th, where I went to an old-fashioned ice cream parlor operating since the 1920s and got real, super creamy ice cream I think that my ice cream days are officially over. I woke up on July 5th, with a sore throat and so much sinus congestion that I felt spacey, drugged and like an episode of Vertigo was imminent. After extensive netti potting and 2 days full of eating mainly raw with garlic and onion heavy soups and salads, I feel somewhat human again. But, I won't be doing real ice cream again any time soon.
For anyone else that wants a healthier, gentler alternative to ice cream, here is one of the ways that I normally get my frozen treat fix. It's easy to whip up in less than 5 minutes and only requires a food processor or a blender. If you're anything like me, you will soon have some frozen fruit on standby in the freezer all year round. There is no ice cream maker, fancy equipment, sinus problems or sugar hangover involved!
SIMPLE SORBET
3/4 C. of your favorite frozen fruit (I usually do berries, cherries and a chunk or two of mango)
1 packet Stevia or sweetener of your choice (optional)**
1. Combine all ingredients in food processor, blender or vita-mix.
2. If your blending device of choice is having a hard time add a little bit more liquid.
3. Eat before it melts.
* Use non-dairy milk of your choice, water works in a pinch too.
**If you don't have stevia, use a small amount of your favorite natural sweetener if you want to make the fruit a tad sweeter.
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