Redefining Treats

1.23
We had an interesting experience in contrasts today. Our church holds Sunday evening services, and for summer we get a food truck to come to out as a little bonus for folks who attend late in the day. This evening's food truck was the folks from Lickety Split in New Holland - a great ice cream truck serving real hand-dipped ice cream treats. Well, since Jen is dairy-free (as a solution to her arthritis) and I'm basically dairy free for the health of it, we faced the challenge of our four kiddos whining and cajoling about wanting to get treats at the ice cream truck.


While we don't have any problem with an occasional dish of ice cream (or frozen Greek yogurt, more often) we had decided that tonight just wasn't the night for ice cream. At some point Jen and I agreed that it would be great to make fresh smoothies at home, though, and presented that to our kids as our answer to their aching for ice cream. It was well received, so we had a deal.

Someone else's tapas bar- a lot like ours...

Our Sunday nights after church are family time, and tonight was no exception. We've settled into this fun routine of what we call 'snacky supper' while watching food shows online. Snacky supper is something Jen and I have been doing for almost 20 years. It's our version of a tapas bar with an assortment of all kinds of good foods and everyone gets to pick and snack and enjoy whatever they like. Where we used to have a lot of interesting breads and cheeses, we've melded more into hummus, home made guacamole, salsa, interesting gluten-free crackers, 'gourmet' potato chips, and fresh veggies and fruits.

So tonight while we enjoyed Guy Fieri's 'Diners, Drive-ins and Dives' on Hulu, we also added fresh smoothies to our snacky supper mix. Jen has experimented with any number of smoothie recipes (which are a regular after-school snack for the kids... lucky kids...) and settled on a couple that are simple and delicious. Tonight's mix was one of those: about 3 cups of mixed frozen berries, two bananas, and a cup and a half of orange juice. Mmmmmm...

A second batch of smoothies was also a hit with frozen strawberries, a can of pineapple chunks (room temperature with the juice) and a banana. Another winner.

So those were our treats for tonight and we all really enjoyed them. Great sweets to go along with our fresh veggies, chips, crackers, hummus, guacamole and fresh fruit. I know it doesn't live up to the specialness of stopping at the ice cream truck and enjoying a cone of mint chocolate chip or rocky road, but the power pantry choices we made this evening were tasty, simple and good for you. Here's to a summer filled with those kinds of choices. I know there will be the occasional opportunity for summer indulgences that don't exactly fit into a power pantry, but with some perseverance, creativity and the willingness to say yes to a healthier choice, we'll all make it to Labor Day in great shape.

By the Way

We have an excellent smoothie resource: Pat Crocker's 'Smoothies Bible' Second Edition. It has all the variety you could possibly want in smoothie recipes, from sweet to savory to spicy.

We still have a tough time knowing what to do with frozen blueberries, though... what goes with blueberries?