I Scream, You Scream . . . Easy Ice Cream Sorbet

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Chopping, pulverizing, pureeing and crushing . . . sometimes working in the kitchen requires heavy-duty equipment and power tools. Certainly squashing, pummeling and mashing the next meal are not techniques recommended for many dishes, yet they can attract your little (and big) helpers—especially those who like heavy-duty power equipment. My teenage son still loves to use the coffee grinder, the food processor, and the blender—and since he’s quite good managing regular power tools like drills, jigsaws and grinders, he’s my biggest helper when we go the power route in the kitchen.

Just like food fights and making mud pies—pulverizing, crushing and squashing food is FUN. It’s not that often that we encourage kids to crush, smash and blenderize—but that is exactly how to make this delicious fruit-based ice cream.

And summer is definitely ice cream season. Whether you head to a local shop for the cool sweet stuff on a steamy evening or just grab a half-gallon at the grocery store, ice cream is a popular cool-down dessert. Indeed, Americans consume about 6 gallons of ice cream per person—that’s about 19,200 calories annually, according to a recent CNN/Money article.

If you’re looking for a cool, healthy dessert, plus some fun kitchen pulverizing, this fruit-based sorbet is the way to go. Plus, it’s a spectacular way to use fruit that’s getting too ripe or bananas that are past their prime.

And if your house is like mine, it seems like there’s always an apple, peach or banana that is bruised or starting to spoil. And yet those bruised and battered leftovers are exactly what you need to make this treat.

Anytime you have fruit that is slightly old or bruised or with a bad spot: Peel it and chop into 1-inch chunks and place it in a freezer container or ziploc—I like to keep a bag on the top shelf so it’s easy to find. Just add to it whenever you find fruit past it’s prime, and before long you’ll have a bag (or two) ready and waiting to make this easy ice cream.

Try peaches, nectarines, bananas, strawberries or even watermelon. And with fruits that are mild flavored, like apples and watermelon, you can add them to stronger flavors, like strawberries or blueberries, for a combo taste sensation. And if you want to forgo the milk, try a light fruit juice, such as white grape, for an icy treat similar to Italian ice.

Forget those complicated recipes that involve freezing, scraping with a fork and freezing again. Here’s an easy sorbet your kids will love to smash, whiz and pulverize. And you’ll feel great knowing it’s a nutritious, fruit-based dessert!

Serves/Makes: 4

• 2 cups peaches, peeled, cut into 1-inch chunks, and frozen
• 1/3 cup milk