August 2021 and it's not exactly my idea of a summer's day...I'm wearing a jumper and socks and I'm tempted to turn the heating on, what's that all about!?!?
But I'm undeterred and still cracking out summer style meals even though it feels like soup and casserole type of weather! So, to remind myself that it is technically still summer here in the UK, I've got a stash of the easiest healthy ice cream bars/lollies/choc-ices (call them what you will) in the freezer. With a coating of chocolate for a Magnum style ice cream bar these are around 110 calories and 6g protein. You can leave them 'naked' and just have them on their own without a chocolate coating, in which case it's a 40 calorie snack...you're welcome!!
I've added a protein powder to the mix to balance out the sugars from the fruit and chocolate; you don't have to add it but I like to include protein as much as possible as it helps to keep blood sugar balanced but you don't have to, the recipe works just as well without it.
I may have gone slightly overboard with the chocolate and you can decide how much you want to add as long as it's a good quality high cocoa percentage - minimum 70% (the white chocolate is an exception and I only used it here to jazz them up as I was serving them for dessert at a family party). But remember, the more chocolate the more sugar you'll be adding and there is plenty of natural sugar in these already.
So here you go for the easiest faff-free ice-cream bars.
You will need:
mini lolly moulds - I have 8 in total and these quantities fill them all up nicely. If you want to do something slightly more grown-up you could line a loaf tin and use that instead, cut it into slices and drizzle with chocolate.
Baking tray lined with parchment for decorating
Ingredients
1 large ripe banana
125g strawberries
4 tbsp pulsin whey protein powder (use an unflavoured plant based powder if preferred)
50g 0% Greek yogurt (to make them plant based, switch to a coconut or soy yogurt - just remember that this may affect the calorie count)
150g dark chcolate (70% minimum)
freeze dried berries for decoration (optional)
Method
Except for the dark chocolate, put all the ingredients into a high speed blender and whizz until smooth.
Pour into the moulds or lined loaf tin and freeze for 6 hours or overnight.
Melt the chocolate in a tall glass and take each lolly, dip into the chocolate - give it a twist to drain off the excess and place on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle on a few freeze dried berries and then place back in the freezer until ready to eat!