a smart, simple way to mainline creamy frozen treats into your summer days.
Jump to RecipeOur little house in the canyon is one of my favorite places to be in the summer. We wake up to birds chirping in the morning, and fall asleep to the crickets at night. Deer and their fawns weave their way down the hillside to graze on grasses among the wildflowers. We enjoy the stars from early dusk until early dawn. The sun comes up late over the ridge, and bathes the house in glorious sunlight all day which does wonders for the plants in the garden, but really makes me wish that this little old house had air conditioning. Like, really.
The best news is that we aren’t far from the creek, so submerging my body and soul in the icy water on a daily basis isn’t out of the question. We close down the oven, retreating outdoors to eat most nights of the week and have a schedule for drawing the blinds during the day to preserve the coolness in pockets throughout the house. And, it’s the best excuse in the world for me to stock our freezer with frozen treats. Frequent pool dunks, staying playful, loading our plates and bellies with farm fresh veggies, luxuriating in an abundance of juicy fresh fruits, and eating ice cream every day are my kind of wellness measures (all pitta balancing!)
Because nearly all store-bought frozen goodies are overloaded with gums, I elect to make my own and at any given time, we typically have a couple of pints of homemade ice cream, frozen fruit pops, and other treats in the freezer waiting for all occasions to ice down our warm and happy bodies. These Sesame Crunch Frozen Yogurt Bars are my recent (and maybe all-time) favorites.
A great question. The gums I’m talking about are commonly found in gluten-free, vegan, and plant-based products, as well as all other packaged products out there from time to time. These gums are used as stabilizers and emulsifiers; basically, they help plant foods to have textures that they don’t have in nature and help to coagulate and make sticky, creamy foods with a longer shelf life. Nearly all gums are plant derivatives (meaning they’re derived from plant food sources, but would never be eaten alone without all of the other ingredients in the plant they were derived from) with the exception of xanthan gum which is actually the poop of a microorganism that lives on corn. The poop is harvested (I’m entirely serious here) and then used to make your gluten-free bread, vegan ice creams, and other foods stickier. Tasty, right?
Some common gums that you’ll notice if you run to the fridge and start reading labels are arabic gum, guar gum, gellan gum, locust bean gum, lecithin, carrageenan, and yes, xanthan gum.
I’m so proud of you for asking this question because there ARE side effects to eating these gums! Most often, you’ll notice some digestive distress, gas, bloating, and other times diahrrea. Because these gums act like gum in the digestive system, we don’t process them very well and they often gunk up our digestive tract, leaving behind residue and undigested material that starts to deteriorate the integrity of our digestive health and ultimately leaves toxins in the gut. Not awesome. Not at all.
Pretty easily, actually – you can read your labels, and not buy or eat products that contain them! And you can make your own snacks and foods with real, whole foods instead.
Of course, once you start reading labels you’ll see that these are in LOTS of the foods that we buy as “healthy” alternatives to standard packaged snacks and that is pretty discouraging. But, when it comes to ice cream, you can very easily, and very quickly make your own. These Sesame Crunch Frozen Yogurt Bars are a great start!
These treats are so ridiculously easy to make, and so delicious to have on hand that you’ll rarely miss having store-bought ice cream on hand. There is one small detail to keep in mind when making these babies and that’s in the assembly:
To make sure that your ice cream bar makes it into your mouth and not in your lap, you’re going to want to press the tongue depressor or popsicle stick firmly into the center of your yogurt mounds and make sure it gets covered completely by the yogurt and chocolate. Make sure that at least 1/3 to 1/2 of the stick is covered with ice cream and you should have a nice sturdy handle for your treats.
For more info on the ingredients I recommend using in this recipe check out the recipe notes section below!
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