Psst! It’s me, incognito poolside.

Summertime! We are just wrapping up our first week of the kids being out of school. As much as we are happy to be done with the school year, easing into summer always takes transition time. The boys are on swim team for the first time and daily practice can be a challenge both for the swimmers and the chauffeurs. Finding balance at home between my heavy book deadlines and my desires to actually participate in the summer fun is also a challenge. I’m determined to dial down the overwhelm and find time for both productivity and play.

Now that there are hungry boys here all day, I need to be sure there’s some yummy and healthy stuff to munch on. Here are two sweet, cool and easy treats we love to have on hand.

What could be easier than frozen green grapes? Wash, freeze, eat. They’re like bite sized Italian Ices. We love them and they’re so much better than popsicles.

Another freezer favorite is what we call “banana cream”. Bananas ripen so fast in the summer heat and this snack is the perfect solution to the problem. All you need is a freezer and a food processor.

When the bananas are super ripe, peel, slice then freeze. Four to five hours is best, so if you prep them in the morning they’ll be ready for an afternoon snack! Throw the frozen bananas in the food processor and give them a nice long whirl. At first they’ll break up into little bits but at some point they’ll magically transform into something resembling soft serve ice cream. I like to add a 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter or even a few chocolate chips.

 

• I’ve found that not-quite-ripe bananas are not sweet enough. 
• If the bananas are frozen for a long time (overnight or longer) you might want to thaw them just a tiny bit before “creaming” them. 
• If you have leftover banana cream (as if!) you can refreeze it and it will have more of a hand-packed ice cream consistency.