“Spring has returned. The Earth is like a child that knows poems.”
Rainer Maria Rilke
Spring is was until here three days ago, and then something happened. Before we could really immerse ourselves into it, we had a summer attack – almost 40C in North India already. That means power cuts, DUST, HEAT and whining kids!Strawberry Frozen Yogurt cheered us up!I’ve been missing {as Mr PAB reminded me this morning} and it’s those dreaded holidays once again! Yes, the ‘not so terrible anymore‘ teen is done with her exams and is home {and hungry yet screaming diet}, and the ‘now threatening to be quite terrible‘ pre teen is on Spring break. Always hungry! “Et tu, Brute?”It’s a struggle to keep the rumbling tummies happy! The lad’s up at 5.30am and sets off cycling with his friends. Comes back in a couple of hours; HUNGRY! The teen emerges out of bed much later; hungry too! She whips up some mean pancakes these days in a matter of minutes, then sits back to indulge. He doesn’t enjoy pancakes but enjoys writing poetry. Was quite obliging this morning and wrote a ‘Spring‘ poem for me in a jiffy, and then gobbled up a couple of Double Chocolate Orange & Oat Energy Bars!In the midst of this, the pooch is now facing her first real hot Indian summer and flops down every now and then. HOT! Hungry too but then again, dogs are always hungry and she is no exception. I have offered Coco the entire range of dog food and she hates it! I now cook her meals as well … and much to my joy, she loves it!She is a real sweetheart and almost as charming as the lad, if not more. She now almost ‘sings for her supper‘ and licks her bowl clean in a matter of seconds {She gets veggies including eggplant, zucchini, beets, potato, carrots, spinach, cracked wheat, dal and eggs all cooked together}, and amazingly she loves it!She’s cute as cute can be. Always ready for a game of catch. Forever N A U G H T Y, and happy to pose for the camera too!Back to the fro yo! Summers here. It’s big time to cut back on calories and revert to low fat food. Fresh exciting zingy flavours are fun. Citrusy marinades, grilled chicken, light salads, fresh fruit, quesadillas, wraps, pasta salads all come to mind. For dessert, fruity frozen yogurts, sorbets, granitas and low fat ice creams really rock! And stuff like buttermilk panna cotta too!This Strawberry Frozen Yogurt was fun and I love the colours. Nothing to it. Just a good balance of flavours and fresh ingredients. I used homemade yogurt hung for 2 days in the fridge to get rid of excess whey and then whizzed in the Thermomix to produce the most sensational fro yo. You can use the same proportions in your ice cream maker. I use frozen strawberries mainly because I am inclined to buy too many boxes and hardly find the time to use the perishable fruit immediately. Besides, the Thermomix is most magical when it comes to ice creams and frozen desserts. Its like having an instant ice cream maker on hand as it blitzes the frozen berries into smooth sorbet, frozen yogurt or ice cream in minutes.
[print_this]Recipe: Strawberry Frozen Yogurt
Summary: Refreshing strawberry frozen yogurt which is great for the season. It’s low on calories and great on flavour. Looks very pretty too.
250gm hung yogurt {hung for 2-3 days in the fridge}
170gm vanilla sugar {adjust if required}
1 tbsp kirsch {optional}
Method:
Place all ingredients in the bowl of your Thermomix and process on Speed 10 for 1 minute at a time, stirring with the TM spatula as required. Repeat 3-4 times until well blended. Adjust sugar if required and blend for another 30 seconds.
Transfer to a freezer safe container. Serve immediately or freeze until required.
“Ice cream is exquisite, too bad it’s not illegal!”
Voltaire
This very unusual and ADDICTIVE Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream would be illegal if Voltaire had his way! It is beyond exquisite … silky, velvety, deep, sensuous and nothing like I’ve made or bought before. It calls your name as you read theBible of ice creams, The Perfect Scoop, a brilliant piece of work by Monsieur Lebovitz. His style of writing is charming, humourous and addictive as are his recipes. Bookmarking seems futile as I want to try each recipe, one tempting page after another!Coffee HAD to be my first pick for several reasons, primarily because it is my ‘favouritist’ flavour of all time. I am a HUGE coffee addict with a natural affinity to anything ‘coffee‘. Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream was also my first choice since the lovely lady who sent me the book from the UK, Jehanna @ The Cooking Doctor, included a bag of her favourite coffee in the precious parcel. The book itself had me singing, the coffee sent me into high pitched sopranos. Merci Jehanna!!Must be something in the air, the change of season, cooler weather around the corner, or then this coffee cupping session by the Indian baroness of coffee … filter coffee seems to be the only thing I want to use.My journey into the cup of coffee got more exciting all thanks to this hugely talented lady! It got even more exciting thanks to The Cooking Doctor!!
I also picked this eggless ice cream recipe as it uses ingredients easily available here in India {condensed milk and low fat cream}. Heavens knows how hard we try and overcome the non availability of whipping cream here, a daily culinary battle of sorts for many of us!A recipe that says ‘low fat cream’ is music to my ears. No substituting for once, and perfect scoops guaranteed! {I made this just over a month ago, hence the ‘melting moments’ as the weather was still warm}. Now I’m Ready For Dessert!!
“There is no season when such pleasant and sunny spots may be lighted on, and produce so pleasant an effect on the feelings, as now in October”
Nathaniel Hawthorne
HAPPY OCTOBER! Seems meaningless to even ask how we got to October so quick. Bat an eyelid and the month is gone. I associate October with Pinktober, a month laced in PINK to signify ‘Breast Cancer Awareness‘. I’ve tried to post pink in October year after year, at least a couple of posts, so am excited to begin October 2011 in a rather PINK way with this delicious low fat Plum Frozen Yogurt.It’s a result of the dieting diva suddenly kicking straight back into dieting mode after lying low for a month! That gave me reason enough to reach out for the last of the late summer stone fruit I had frozen in the beginning of September. The colour that the fruit offer when combined with dairy makes my heart sing PINK!!
A fitting way to begin October, and a rather refreshing delicious one too. If you still have late summer fruit hanging around, grab them, stone them, slice the fruit and freeze them. This is where the thermomix kicks in. It loves making ice creams and frozen yogurt out of frozen fruit. Just a matter of minutes and this addictive pink treat was done.The addition of vanilla sugar and kirsch give it that special flavour. It’s a refreshing and beautifully coloured low fat frozen treat; a nice end to preserved excess fruit of summer. I added kirsch in there thanks to a tip from Monsieur Lebovitzs kirsch post to use it to enhance flavours when using stone fruit. Just a tbsp is enough to lend this fro yo a special flavour, and keep it from freezing rock hard.You can see that summer is leaving us as the frozen yogurt didn’t immediately disappear into puddles this time. We are experiencing cool and pleasant mornings and evenings; the days aren’t too bad either. I love this time of the year. Its comfortable and enjoyable. The garden is buzzing with butterflies, bees, dragonflies and the flower beds look happy. I just got the gardener to sow herb seeds and had him pot chrysanthemum cuttings. Yes, the weather is great, and the pooch is happy. Coco spends her days chasing butterflies in the garden all day long. She even got stung by a bee, the poor thing!
“…stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot oftener, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along.”
Robert J. Hastings {Tinyburg Tales}
This is one of those recipes lurking in my folder, adapted from a breathtakingly delicious looking post on Sips and Spoonfuls, devoured, yet for some reason it went ‘unblogged’! This eggless Roasted Peach & Plum Ice Cream made with condensed milk hit a nice chord after the Mango Fro Yo we got addicted to!
As we’ve bid adieu to stone fruit in our neck of the woods, I need to get this out for the lucky folk who are enjoying late summer stone fruit. I also enviously dream of the folk in the Southern Hemisphere who are now welcoming Spring and all the joys of berries & stone fruit! Condensed milk in ice cream is something very new for me, and had me pretty much intrigued as I read Sukaina’s post, devouring all her beautiful pictures. It was a post that sent me scurrying into the kitchen that same morningIn next to no time I had delicious aromas of stone fruit baking with vanilla wafting through the kitchen. It’s a heady way to begin a morning … for stone fruit lovers like me!It gets even more interesting if you are trying to take photographs and run helter skelter from a very inquisitive pooch, one who seems to enjoy every opportunity to ‘check out’ what’s on the menu! My days of ‘relaxed’ & ‘carefree’ photography are history, ones that I never cherished! Cut to now … I’m often glad to click a single frame without having to shoo Coco away! The hapless cocker gets nothing, not a crumb … and eventually snoozes! She is C.U.T.E. though, and even naughtier than before!!I absolutely love the depth of flavour that roasting fruit gets. Add a vanilla bean and it gets addictive. I had a bit of a struggle keeping the tiresome teen away from my beloved roasted fruit puree as she was looking at having a go at the bowl! Two spoonfuls and I literally shoved her out of my kitchen! Turned out to be quite a delicious, low cal ice cream. What’s not to love about the colours and glory of stone fruit!
Summary:I absolutely love the depth of flavour that roasting fruit get. Add a vanilla bean and it gets addictive. This turned out to be quite a delicious, low cal ice cream.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
6 peaches- halved, pitted
8 plums, halved pitted
1 vanilla pod, scraped
3 tbs brown sugar
200ml low fat cream
200gm hung yogurt, well drained
400 ml condensed milk
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Combine sugar and vanilla. Arrange the peaches & plums skin side down on a baking tray and sprinkle with the vanilla/ sugar mixture. Grill in the oven for 20 minutes or until the top of the peaches appear caramelized.
Remove the skin from the peaches as soon as it is cool enough to do so. Puree the peaches and any juices in the baking tray in a blender. {I left the skin on}
{Thermomix: Puree at Speed 10 for 1 minute. Freeze the puree in ice trays or silicon trays}
In a separate bowl combine, the cream, milk, condensed milk and peach/plum puree. Adjust sugar if required. Adding peach extract, peach liqueur or a teeny bit of kirsch will enhance the flavours. Churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.
{Thermomix: Place frozen puree cubes and cream and condensed milk in TM bowl and process on Speed 10, 1 minute at a time, scraping as required, until smooth. Place in freezer safe bowl and freeze until ready to serve.}
“My advice to you is not to inquire why or whither, but just enjoy your ice cream while it’s on your plate. That’s my philosophy.”
Thornton Wilder
They don’t call the MANGO the king of fruits for nothing! We are well & truly into mango season here in North India, and this luscious, juicy fruit is keeping us happy! To keep in tune with the dieting divas low fat diet, this turned out to be a perfect fit … a Mango Frozen Yogurt which tasted every bit like an ice-cream, rich, smooth & divine, but was sans the cream!Maybe it was the magic of the Thermomix, or maybe this contraption I bought from Sydney recently. Whatever it was, maybe just good proportions, but this was a winner, a perfect fit for July, the National Ice Cream Month.While in Sydney last month, I couldn’t help a quick dash to Victoria’s Basement, a store I love to spend time at. Every nook & cranny is packed with tasteful and exciting things, be it kitchenware, cookware, ceramics, bakeware, small handy gadgets. I got just an hour in the store, and it was like a mad dash. I raced through the store at top speed, grabbing whatever I thought was on my list {and loads that wasn’t}.
One such buy was this Cuisipro – Greek Yoghurt/Yoghurt Cheese Maker. The cheese lover in me looked at it longingly for a precious 10 minutes, then put it back because it was for $20 and I thought it might not be worth it. Mr PAB literally forced me to take it, and that was my best buy this visit. {Disclaimer: I have not been paid to write about the product or the shop. I just love both and thought this worth sharing}.It’s just an innovative little box with a uniquely designed stainless steel strainer that fits within. You ladle your yogurt into it, shut it and leave it in the fridge overnight {or 3 days as in my case} … and voilà! Like magic I got this beautiful very think hung yogurt that I could cut into cubes too.One look at it and I knew there was mango fro yo in the very near future! I had planned on making mango ice cream {with the MacTweets Ice Cream Dreams theme in mind}, but eventually fatless my ice cream was going to be! {I made my hung yogurt with homemade fat free yogurt}.Turned out GREAT! I blitzed frozen diced mango & chilled hung yogurt in the Thermomix which is pure magic for stuff like this. The blades are S T R O N G and result in a mean puree! In the freezer for 3 hours and I was serving pretty yellow scoops! NICE!! I attempted making some pistachio macarons as well, but the high heat and humidity here had other plans … and my feet failed. Not sure if I’ll have time to try baking macarons again this month as our little pooch {Coco} is turning out to be quite a full time job. Look at her. She is the cutest but naughtiest little thing, and currently races around the house like a little rabbit!
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?
If you do, you are most welcome to join us. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally post the round-up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!
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Recipe: Mango Frozen Yogurt
Summary: A low fat, cream free mango frozen yogurt that celebrates the king of fruits in India. Smooth, refreshing and sweet, this is a great way to indulge guilt free.
650gms mango, diced, {frozen as I made mine in the Thermomix}
250gms hung yogurt {homemade with 2% fat, hung in fridge for 3 days},
100gms powdered sugar
2 tbsps honey
Method:
I made mine in my Thermomix.
Place all ingredients in TM bowl, and run at Speed 10 for about 3 minutes, scraping the sides if required, until smooth and crystal free.
Transfer to freezer safe bowl. Serve immediately or store in freezer.
If making in ice cream maker, chill both mangoes and hung yogurt well, and process all ingredients till smooth and well blended. Adjust sugar if need be. Turn into ice cream maker and make as per manufacturers instructions.
Makes approximately 1 litre.
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Before I go, I’d like to tell you that Chef Jeff is raffling off some free copies of his new e-bookDinner Revolution, and has offered a few copies for readers of PAB. Do head across to Dinner Revolution and enter his raffle to win a book he says will revolutionize how you cook dinner!The e-book has over 200 healthy and mouthwatering dinner recipes, which have less than 10 ingredients and take less than 30 minutes to prepare. An amazing variety of recipes including vegetarian and simple side dishes …
Caribbean Chicken Quesadilla
Lasagna Roll-Ups
Vegetarian Pad Thai
Shrimp Coconut Curry
Firecracker Shrimp Salad
Southwest Turkey Burgers
Moroccan Carrots
Thai Cucumber Salad
Hamburger Stroganoff
Blackened Red Snapper Soft Tacos
