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Quick & EasyBy Beverly Barbour
Desserts you drinkWhen the heat is on nothing is as soothing as a cold drink. Making your own smoothie, or frozen cappuccino, citrus shake, or whatever glides sweetly down the throat is a cool thing to do on a hot day. If you have friends to share the icy treat with you it is even more fun. Once you've started down the cold drink trail it will lead you to inventing your own combinations of fruits and flavors which are sinfully good, but not so sinfully caloric and not as expensive as buying commercial beverages. These are a far cry from the ice cream sodas and shakes that we (me anyway) grew up on. Speaking of sodas leads me right back to New York City where many years ago the cold drink of choice was actually made with raw eggs! Now that we know better they make the same drink Chocolate Egg Cream with no eggs whatsoever but they did not change the name. The current version is really amazingly refreshing and comparatively low-cal. Many recipes call for ice cubes and as they come in various sizes and shapes these days you will have to experiment a bit with the number to use. If your refrigerator door gives you crushed ice at the push of a button you are lucky. Crushed ice is much easier to measure but yields more ice per cup than cubes. Common sense called for here; it isn't a big deal. New York Chocolate Egg Cream Another version of this fizzy chocolate milk drink could probably be made by simply combining club soda and chocolate milk in a tall glass. You can, of course, turn either version into an ice cream soda by adding a scoop of ice cream or frozen yogurt or sherbet or sorbet. Makes one long drink. 1/2 cup chilled whole milk
Pour milk into a glass and place a long handled spoon (such as an iced tea spoon) in the glass. Pour seltzer water into the class to reach 1 to 2 inches below the rim. A snow white foam will develop. Pour the syrup into center of the white foam and then stir in syrup and remove spoon through center of the foam. Coffee Lovers' Frozen Cappuccino Cool off with a cold espresso blended with frozen yogurt. The hot news for coffee lovers is that you can make this with non-fat frozen yogurt. Make the coffee ahead if you are having guests. If you don't have espresso roast coffee any other dark-roast coffee will do the job. The yield depends upon size of cups but about 4 servings. 1/3 cup finely ground espresso-roast coffee
Put the ground espresso roast coffee in a paper-lined coffee filter set over a mug. (It is better not to use a glass as the boiling water may crack it.) Pour 1 cup of very hot water into the filter and let it drip through. Chill until cool, about 20 minutes. In a blender, whirl coffee, 3/4 cup nonfat frozen yogurt, ice cubes and sugar until smoothly pureed. Pour into glasses or small cups. Buttermilk Citrus Shakes Buttermilk does more than give tangy flavor to this refreshing shake--it actually makes it low in fat. Ginger snaps make a snappy topping but chocolate cookies would be fine, too. This makes 4 cups. 1/4 cup granulated sugar
Garnish: 4 teaspoons crushed gingersnaps
Combine sugar and water in a small bowl; stir until sugar is dissolved. Place this and remaining ingredients, except the ice, in a blender and whirl until well blended. Slowly add ice so that cubes don't lock the blades. Garnish: Sprinkle each serving with 1 teaspoon crushed cookies, 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest and arrange a lemon slice on the rim of each glass. Iced Coffee, Mexican Style Orange peel, cinnamon and yogurt make a delicious way to lower the heat on a hot day. The recipe makes 4 1/2 cups. 1 cup nonfat milk
In a blender whirl milk, chocolate, honey, orange peel and cinnamon until the chocolate is finely ground. Add the frozen yogurt and ice cubes; whirl until smoothly pureed, the chocolate will form streaks. Pour into glasses. Fruity Smoothie Cut pieces of fruit in about 1-inch squares and freeze for use in smoothies. Place the pieces slightly apart on cookie sheets and freeze until firm. This takes 1 to 2 hours. You can then store any of the fruits that you don't use in plastic bags for future reference. Makes 3 1/2 cups. 1 1/2 cups apple juice
In a blender, whirl all of the ingredients and pour into glasses. Decorate each glass with a fresh strawberry or a sprig of mint. Colorful Lemon-Berry Shake It's the buttermilk and lemon that lend tang to this drink. You could use commercially frozen berries (unsweetened) as an ingredient in the 4 Fruit Smoothie, or freeze fresh berries to keep on hand. Makes 3 1/2 cups. 3 cups frozen blueberries, strawberries, raspberries or blackberries
Whirl in a blender the frozen berries, buttermilk, sugar, lemon peel and lemon juice. When smoothly pureed pour into glasses, garnish with a slice of lemon and serve. "Cool it!" Could become a very popular rallying cry at your house.
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