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| Soft Serve Fruit Co |
To me, summer means the sweet local corn, gazpacho, ceviche and the perfect glass of rose’. I realize my list omitted many people’s cool, creamy, summery favorite ice cream. After our frozen yogurt fuss of last summer, we’re not going to mention you know who but there are a few frozen Foodtrainers’ favorites I thought you should know about. They even won this salty tooth over.
Soft Serve Fruit Co
Brittany, our fabulous summer nutrition nerd (aka intern) talked to Chloe Epstein, one of the founders of Soft Serve Fruit Co, to learn more. Chloe said “ I was a big frozen yogurt fan but once I started to think about getting pregnant, my priorities changed. I became more concerned with ingredients rather than just calories.” Speaking of ingredients, Soft Serve Fruit Co has only three: fruit, filtered water and cane sugar. It’s dairy free, vegan, gluten free, kosher and really delicious. With a Union Square location some of the fruits are organic and others local. My favorite flavor was banana with pear as the runner-up. Toppings range from fresh fruit to gluten free cookies and warm natural peanut butter. The good news if you’re not in New York? Soft serve fruit company ships nation wide.
Cashewtopia
With my children away (I really think I have mentioned this in most posts since they left, as promised), my husband is a little cranky. Though he is somewhat cranky, unlike his wife, that his playmates kids aren’t around he is more annoyed over the lack of sweets in the house. As a good wife (and tired of his rummaging through the cabinets) I purchased Organic Nectar’s Cashewtopia in pistachio. I didn’t tell him this was dairy free, gluten free and made from cashews (for fear he’d get even more cranky). Instead, I scooped some into a ramekin and drizzled Newtree’s dark chocolate sauce on top. My husband’s reaction, “what’s with the tiny bowl?” Nice.
Smooze
I’ve written about Smooze before but feel no frozen dessert post is complete without mentioning these adorable and low calorie treats. Smooze is made with coconut milk. They come shelf-stable (good for travel treats) and can be frozen later. They are sort of like adult creamsicles with flavors such as passion fruit and mango.
Homemade Ideas
Earlier in the summer, we did a popsicle test kitchen. Those were a lot of fun. I’m also a huge fan of frozen organic red grapes, frozen banana slices and the banana soft serve recipes (link via Choosing Raw) circulating the blogosphere.
Full disclosure, I’m often satisfied with one spoonful of the real deal. I may have enjoyed a taste of salted caramel ice cream at ABC Kitchen today (they sent Lisa and I out dessert, knowing full well we’re nutritionists). As I said, I don’t really have a sweet tooth, ha.
What’s been your favorite frozen treat this summer? Your favorite summery food? Would you choose rose’ over sorbet?
These all sound absolutely delicious, thanks for the great ideas! I have to check out the Soft Serve Fruit Company soon; the space looks so cute!
If you tried to tell me you weren't into even just a bit of the "real deal" frozen stuff, I'd think you were crazy! 😉 Anyway, that cashew stuff sounds great! Where'd you buy it? This summer I've been into making my own ice cream with my ice cream maker. Recently I made an awesome peanut butter gelato with 2% milk, peanut butter, eggs and sugar. All natural, totally delicious. Thumbs up!
Lisa, the Soft Serve Fruit is tasty stuff (UWS, Union Square) let me know what you think. Sofia, it's not that I dislike frozen treats but a) have smoothie almost every morning and b) would take the salty first. Ice cream maker, uh oh I'm tempted.
L- frozen grapes are my fave. And, you can Judy it up by adding a drop or two of olive oil, a pinch of sea salt and some fresh rosemary.
I tried softservefruit co. and really like the pear flavor. but this treat did not taste "sinful" but rather refreshing, sort of like a frozen babyfood. the cream cheese whipped cream on the salted caramel sundae on the other hand……..
Lisa, I agree it lacks a little of the creaminess to be an ice creamy treat. The banana is probably the only indulgent-seeming flavor (though I didn't use toppings). Shari- yum I have tried oil before but made grapes a little slimy, I will give rosemary a try. I love mint on ice cold cherries.
It's funny bc we went for ice cream the other night (kiddie cup of vanilla yogurt with a few cookie dough pieces) and I was thinking…wouldn't it be great if they had a place that served dairy-free, organic frozen treats based around fruit? Looks like that soft serve place stole my idea lol
I need to try that cashewtopia….wow!
I'm more of a savory person, too. But i do love ice cream. Got an ice cream maker a few years ago and it is awesome! Now I can make ice creams or fro yo and control the ingredients (organic, low sugar, etc). And it's much more cost effective than buying a good quality pint.
But if you don't have a maker, you can make fruit sorbet really easily in your food processor. Here's my Strawberry Basil Sorbet, if you're interested: http://fullbellysisters.blogspot.com/2011/05/strawberry-basil-sorbet-no-ice-cream.html
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haha… my husband always complains about the "small bowl" I serve him. He's happy with about 5 scoops of ice cream. Love frozen bananas!!
I am intrigued by cashew ice cream. I have never heard of such a thing but as a cashew lover I may need to look into this further…
The truth is that in general I am not a fan of cold desserts like ice cream. I need sugar in a chewable form for me to properly enjoy it!
Yum, great options, Will be on the look out for Smooze and Soft Serve Fruit Co. I try to go for fruit first anyway; on really hot days I find watermelon/ peaches etc. way more refreshing than fro yo. Frozen grapes are good but they always give me brain freeze ha! I've been digging the DIY popsicles since your last post, but I agree with you, a teeny bit of the real thing can totally satisfy — in which case, il laboratorio del gelato, yes please.
Yes on the rose over sorbet! Heehee. What can I say? These all look pretty delicious to my Sweeeeet Tooth. I am really loving watermelon for a summer treat. That and the rose…or chardonnay, or Moet;)
PS. I swear I am not a lush.
Cameo, you are a healthy lush. Carolyn, a little bit of the real shebang is often perfect. You should try the others though.
yum nice summer treats theres a great frozen yogurt place nr me and can load it with fresh fruits
i definitely have been wanting to try some Cashewtopia for some time now! it's good to know that it's yummy stuff! pistachio flavor would be dynamite!
I feel guilty, I had a Banana milkshake today. It was wonderful because it tasted like my childhood in Israel. I love your suggestions…I just wanted to come clean :).
I have a HUGE sweet tooth. I find that I can tame it with "special" fruit. If I have berries, cherries, melon or any tropical fruit, then I'm good. But if all I have are apples, bananas and oranges – as much as I love them – I don't feel like I've had dessert. I've been loving banana soft serve for years now…it's amazing!
My favorite gelato shop just opened up down the street. I love treating myself to some every once in a while. My favorite flavors are sea salt caramel and strawberries & champagne (made with real champagne and nice and bubbly). I am also a fan of frozen grapes!
All your options sound great Lauren! I'd especially like to try the cashewtopia. As you know I recently bought an ice cream maker, and I HIGHLY recommend one :-). I'm going to whip something up again this weekend. In the meantime, I've been enjoying Talenti gelato, especially the Dulce de Leche and the Salted Caramel. Yum!
Salty, sweet Alysa- isn't that the best? EA yes we know you love the ice cream maker. Dulce de Leche is the best (we did our honeymoon a million years ago in Argentina, I've been hooked since). And Stephanie, love the term special fruit, can I steal it? ha.
The smooze sounds delicious and I certainly want to try the cashewtopia. I love these cool sweet treats on the hot summer days.
I love the short ingredient list of the Soft Serve Fruit. And pear sounds amazing!
I love banana soft serve but I have a crappy food processor so it doesn't turn out as creamy as I like. One day!!! 🙂
Yes, to choosing rose' over sorbet… well any good glass of wine would do! I need to try out Chashewtopia, it sounds amazing.
Oops. I missed this post! Can I tell you I was not a fan of Soft Serve Fruit company. I found it to be too sweet, and I tried a couple of flavors including banana. Cashewtopia interests me a great deal!
Yum! I love anything frozen in the summertime. I am definitely a fan of those self-serve frozen yogurt shops, but try to limit to once a month 🙂 I love the fruits of summer, sometimes those are the best for a sweet treat. My friend just gave me a ton of peaches from her tree 🙂