Fruits and Flavors of summer

Summer is here with its beautiful, colourful and delicious fruits.
Just looking at all the different coloured berries, watermelons, peaches, apricots makes you want to take them home and have them for an after dinner guilt free desert or for a heart healthy breakfast or just as a snack with yogurt or cottage cheese. Summer fruits are a very good source of Vitamin C, they are free of fat and cholesterol. They are also a great source of dietary fibre and manganese.
Strawberry picking is a favourite summer pastime in Europe and North America, were families venture into the fields and gather baskets and bags full of red berries.
While living in Canada one of our favourite summer outings was taking Sarah and Sharif berry picking.Children love to sit in between the bushes, picking fruits, eating them, they take pride in this kind of activity. It's also very good for the kids, they learn were our fruits and vegetables come from and taking part in picking them, taking them home to be cooked and eaten is an interesting venture for kids.
There are many summer recipes that you can choose from using lots of different summer fruits. A great desert is ice cream with strawberries. If you have little children you can make ice cream and turn it into an afternoon activity. It's easy and fun. Get them to help you make this ultimate summer delight that highlights the season's favourite berry. Recipe will follow.
Or make the famous Pavlova and cover it with whipped cream and summer berries, drizzle the berries with homemade raspberry sauce or chocolate sauce :)
Lots of simple yet scrumptious deserts to choose from, but let's start with the easy strawberry ice cream recipe with raspberry sauce.

STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM:
600g fresh strawberries
1/2 lemon
100g sugar
300 ml cream

Wash and hull the strawberries and put in a bowl.Mash with a potato masher.
Squeeze the lemon juice into the strawberries and mix.
Stir in the sugar.
Stir in the cream.
Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze. Stir vigorously every 20 to 30minutes. Freeze ice cream for 5 hours.
Transfer the ice cream to the refrigerator for about 20 minutes before serving to make scooping easier.
Serve ice cream by itself or make the raspberry sauce and drizzle on top for an even more delectable and enjoyable desert.

For different variations of the ice cream recipe, substitute blueberries, blackberries or raspberries instead of strawberries. To make mixed berries ice cream, add a 600g combination of your favourite berries.
You can also sandwich a scoop of ice cream between 2 homemade ginger or chocolate chip cookies for a great homemade ice cream sandwich.

RASPBERRY SAUCE:
Using a food processor, puree 1 pint fresh raspberries or packaged thawed frozen raspberries. Stir in 2 tablespoons sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon juice and a pinch of salt.

Drizzle sauce over ice cream and enjoy a superb summer homemade desert.
Bone Appetite.