By BETTY SMITH
Press special writer
TAHLEQUAH DAILY PRESS
July 09, 2008 09:38 am
—
The temperature hasn’t hit 100 degrees yet, but it certainly felt like it Monday, with the highest temperatures recorded to date in 2008.
So it’s appropriate that July is National Ice Cream Month.
If you haven’t indulged so far, it’s time to take out that cool half-gallon from the freezer and dip up a cone, dish or sundae.
And if you’re particularly ambitious, you might want to make your own, although few people use the old hand-cranked freezer today when electric ones are available.
And there are all sorts of ice cream freezers available for use in the freezer section of your fridge, if you don’t want to mess with the ice and salt.
“Ice cream is my all-time favorite food, but if you are not careful you can get way too many calories and fat, if not eaten in moderation,” said Michelle Goss, clinical dietitian for Cherokee Nation Three Rivers Health Center.
Goss suggests these trips to enjoy ice cream without increasing your waist size:
• Rather than using a soup or cereal bowl, serve ice cream in a custard bowl. It’ll look full but contain less calories.
• Stick with vanilla or chocolate ice cream to avoid added candy, nuts, etc. You can add some fresh blueberries or strawberries to vanilla ice cream for better nutrition, as well as more flavor.
• Try low-fat or no sugar added ice creams. You can’t tell much difference.
“Blue Bell ice cream is my favorite. They have a no sugar added vanilla ice cream that is good and has more calcium than other brands,” Goss said.
She likes to go out for a soft-serve cone instead of keeping a carton of ice cream at home, where the temptation is easier to succumb to.
“My favorite ice cream is chocolate almond,” said Heather Winn, extension educator for the Cherokee County Oklahoma State University Extension Service.
But since her younger son is allergic to nuts, she no longer keeps it around. But she said there are plenty of ways to enjoy ice cream and incorporate it into a healthy diet.
“Ice cream is a great way to get one of your three dairy servings a day. In the summertime, it really hits the spot,” she said.
“Obviously, the low fat, low sugar or sugar free is better.”
Winn and her family enjoyed ice cream this weekend, truly an all-American dessert.
“We made some plain old-fashioned vanilla ice cream for the fourth of July,” she said. They crushed up Oreo cookies and used Hershey kissables as toppings.
Culinologist John Kennedy creates desserts and offers advice for Blue Bunny Ice Cream.
To keep ice cream fresh, he recommends buying it in an elliptical container like the Blue Bunny 56-ounce package. This package form makes scooping ice cream easier.
“An elliptical container is designed to perfectly fit in your freezer and you no longer have to worry about getting ice cream on your knuckles when scooping out of the container,” Kennedy said. He also offered these tips on ice cream storage and use:
• Always store ice cream in the main section of the freezer, not the door, to avoid regular disruption in temperature from opening and closing the door.
• When preparing ice cream treats, chill the plates and refreeze the ice cream between recipe steps.
• To make scooping easier, use a pitcher with water to dip the ice cream scoop. Temper ice cream before serving. Leave the ice cream in a 0 degree freezer or let it stand on the counter top for five minutes.
• If you break a cone when dipping ice cream, crush the cone and use it as a topping.
Root beer floats
“Try this old time favorite,” Goss said. “These root beer floats trim 200 calories, 9 grams of fat, 5.5 grams of saturated fat and 21 grams of carbohydrate off traditional root beer floats.”
16 ounces diet root beer
1 cup Blue Bell no sugar added low fat ice cream, country vanilla flavor
Scoop 1/2 cup ice cream into glass and pour 8 ounces of root beer over ice cream. An 8-ounce serving contains 100 calories, 3 grams total fat, 15 grams carbohydrate and 45 percent of daily calcium.
Source: Michelle Goss.
Chocolate fondue
Involve kids in a chocolate fondue party. Cut ice cream sandwiches into 1-inch cubes and arrange on a small plate. Place in freezer until ready to use.
Melt bittersweet chocolate slowly over a double boiler, in a microwave or a fondue pot, making sure not to boil. Once chocolate is melted, assemble ice cream sandwiches, marshmallows, nuts and wafers or crackers and serve immediately with forks or skewers.
Source: Blue Bunny Ice Cream.
Ice cream truffles
Use ice cream to make truffles. The key is to work with super cold (frozen) utensils and serve immediately.
Scoop 12 small balls of ice cream and place one halved walnut in the middle of each truffle as you’re scooping. Place truffles in a pre-chilled (frozen) parchment-lined sheet pan. Insert one toothpick into each truffle. Return sheet pan to freezer.
Melt chocolate over a double boiler or in the microwave, making sure to melt slowly and not overheat. Remove truffles from freezer and dip into melted chocolate, then coat with chopped walnuts. Place back on sheet pan and remove toothpicks once chocolate has set.
Transfer truffles to chilled serving bowl to minimize melting and serve immediately.
Source: Blue Bunny Ice Cream.
Homemade vanilla ice cream
2 quarts half and half
6 eggs
6 cups sugar
1 cup flour
Vanilla extract
Milk
2 10-pound packages crushed party ice
1 box rock salt
Mix sugar and flour well by hand. Put under mixer on medium power. Add eggs. Then slowly pour half of half and half in at a time, then the second half. Mix about 2 minutes. Add five capfuls of vanilla extract, or to desired taste. Pour in ice cream freezer and top off with milk. Add lid and churning paddle. Carefully put in ice cream barrel and insert motor, turn on motor and add ice around sides, then use rock salt to freeze. Note: Read directions of ice cream maker before use.
Source: Cooks.com.
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