Now that summer is over...

...it's time to get my butt back in shape! Too many margaritas, hot dogs, cookouts, and of course ice cream cones for me. Funny I was talking to a friend recently who said summer is her season to get in shape. You can be outdoors all the time, go for a quick run, do a triathalon (well not me!) and so much more than you can do any other time of the year. For me it's the opposite. Our weekends are so overbooked in the summer and we try to get in every ounce of sun with the kids that no time is left for me. So now I am kicking myself into gear and at bootcamp class at 6am three days a week. Problem though is...ice cream. Who knew that would be a problem!

So this week when I went to the grocery store I was strategic about my choices....portion control and sugar free. Seriously there are actually good options out there without having to suck on flavored ice!

I ended up bringing home two different options to see which I preferred and also know if I don't eat them my ice cream loving child will. Girl after my own heart! My strategy.... one option that was premium ice cream but in a small portion controlled size or go for quantity and choose a larger bar but one that is sugar free. My daughter and I had differing opinions of which would be our favorite. More on that later.

Here is is the ongoing question.....quality over quantity VS quantity over quality!? I always pick one way. And here is what I ended up bringing home....

Magnum Mini Classic
(1.85 oz bar - Box says serving size is 2 bars so I cut nutritional facts in half)

150 calories

10 gram fat

25 grams sugar

Klondike Krunch Sugar Free

(4 oz ice cream bar)

170 calories

10 gram fat

7 grams sugar 

Once again....drum roll please...my favorite hands down but doesn't mean I didn't like the other is the Magnum Mini. I take quality over quantity all day long on most things. The chocolate is thick and rich and totally satisfies my sweet tooth and the ice cream is super creamy. All I need is that little bit of something really good. On the other hand my daughter argued with me about Klondike being the better option. She loved the Krunch in the chocolate coating and for her the mini just seemed too small. She agreed the serving size is two. And what did she do...had another!

Dovebar Ice Cream Miniatures

A while back I posted about some treats from Dove. Dove was holding a contest and asked our readers to vote and in turn, we were able to offer some coupons for Dovebar Ice Cream Miniatures. 

I hadn't tried them when I wrote about them, but as I was writing about them, I started craving them. Can you crave something you have yet to try? Well, either way, I wanted them. Next time I was at the store, I bought them. And on the car ride home, I ate them. And I don't want to admit how many I ate. 

Instead, I'll tell you that I put the remaining in the chest freezer downstairs (it's a little less tempting) and I trek down there once in a while when I am having an ice cream/chocolate/sweet craving and take just one (ok, sometimes two) bring it upstairs and indulge in a 70 calorie (or 14o calorie) treat. It's perfect. Guilt free. And no Splenda or Sucralose or whatever-that-is yucky aftertaste which you get in a lot of lo-cal treats. Just a nice, healthy, feed-my-craving, size that happens to work out to 70 calories.

Funny, though Dove has a variety of packages of these treats, the picture above (which our PR friends sent) happens to actually the one I bought. 

The combo is perfect: a smooth vanilla ice cream enrobed in Dove milk chocolate (complete with the little inspirational sayings you usually find INSIDE a Dove chocolate wrapper, but this time on the outside of your mini ice cream wrapper). I know this description is pretty vague, but this is one of those things you really must enjoy for yourself. 

I haven't quite figured out how (or maybe I haven't paused long enough to check) which package holds the chocolate chip filled ones, but either way, the surprise is a nice one when you open the package and find chocolate ribbons dribbled across the top and you know you are going to have some mini chips in the ice cream of that particular bar. 

Anyway, it's 8:53AM as I write this post and I am tempted to go down and grab one from the freezer, but maybe I'll be good and wait at least until 9...

[Scoopalicious is celebrating National Ice Cream month with a Post-A-Day throughout the month of July!]

Yo! Cinnamon Fro Yo!

I guess that wasn't the most creative of names, but I am trying! I had this yogurt that I made my Donvier yogurt maker that was just not the right consistency so I thought to make it into frozen yogurt. Perfect idea. I didn't waste the yogurt and made a fairly healthy treat of cinnamon frozen yogurt (see right), that even my husband liked!

I used the recipe from Bruce Weinstein's The Ultimate Ice Cream Book for Vanilla Frozen Yogurt, but altered it a bit to my liking. My yogurt was a little sour (yogurt is more sour the longer you "cook" it and even with the added sugar and the two tablespoons of vanilla, this recipe was a little too sour for my liking. I added a teaspoon of cinnamon and voila! it was just to my liking! The other little change was I replaced the light cream with a mixture of 1/2 cup heavy cream and 1 cup skim milk. With the skim yogurt I had made, this recipe was pretty light and some what healthy, as far as ice cream goes -- and the texture was pretty creamy as well. Yes, I am of the belief (just like Tina) that ice cream is ice cream and one shouldn't cut corners on the fat or sweeteners, but in my case I had to use what I had in my house (it was late and I didn't feel like going to the store) so I experimented and I'd say it came out pretty well!

Bruce Weinstein (of the UltimateCook website) is one of my favorite ice cream book authors -- his book is full of diverse recipes and each recipe is followed by a plethora of variations. My husband loves peanut butter, so we are also a big fan of The Ultimate Peanut Butter Book.

On another note, I had little bit of a fun experiment last week. I wanted to draw ice cream at the studio last week. I bought an Haagan Daz Vanilla and Almonds Ice Cream Bar at the store next door but soon realized that I had to run out and that I wouldn't be able to draw the ice cream bar before I left. Luckily living recent weather has dumped a lot of snow in New England and I decided to bury the ice cream (box, wrapper and all) in the snow. When I came back four hours later I had about a half an hour of drawing time! (The drawing wasn't worth showing!) In addition to the snow freezer I made, I am sure the chocolate shell kept the ice cream a bit in tact too, because as soon as I cracked the shell, the ice cream was a soupy mess...Long story short, snow makes a good freezer in a pinch, though I am sure our ancestors figured this out well before I did!