Cuisinart Yogurt & Ice Cream Maker- Healthy Desserts

All my life I’ve stood by the fact that I don’t have a sweet tooth the way many people I know do. That doesn’t mean however, that I don’t love desserts. What it does mean is that I don’t crave the mass produced ice creams, cakes and other confections that are available in markets around the world. I’m also not a fan of most bakeries and dessert eateries that specialize in cakes, cupcakes, ice cream and the like that are filled to the brim with sugar, sugar and more sugar.

What I do love are desserts that use basic, high quality, pronounceable ingredients with an appropriate amount of sweetness instead of a diabetic inducing avalanche that obliterates the taste of everything else.

When we start making intelligent decisions about what we’re eating, life really does change. That’s no cliché or understatement. Life changes because our bodies and health change. When I first got my hands on Cuisinart’s Ice Cream Maker, I thought I wouldn’t be using it often because I definitely didn’t want to start getting addicted to ice cream and pack on unneeded pounds.

After testing the first few recipes though and witnessing the shift in my overall outlook on sweets, I realized how powerful a kitchen appliance this Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker is. One of the reasons I rarely ate ice cream previously was due to the long list of chemical additives and preservatives in store-bought versions. Back in my grandmother’s day, she made ice cream with the most basic of ingredients- organic cream, milk, vanilla beans and sugar. I didn’t like the way store-bought ice cream and even those from specialty ice cream stores made me feel afterwards- like a glutton with a nauseating brick sitting in the pit of my stomach, not because I had eaten too much ice cream but because there was simply too much sugar and harmful chemicals.

With the Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker, I got back to basics- the same ingredients my grandmother and mother used to use. For various flavors, I added fresh organic fruits and for the more decadent flavors, I tossed in home baked cookies (Chocolate Chip Cookie flavor, Chocolate Crumble). I would have a small cup of these fabulous home-made ice cream and be satiated and giddy like a five year old, all without the stomach ache, without skin issues cropping up from reactions to the plethora of chemicals. Just good old fashioned, homemade ice cream. Did I pack on any extra pounds? Not a one, without changing anything else in my routine.

But the huge change came when I created recipes for Fruity Sorbets and Frozen Yogurt desserts. One of my all time favorite desserts now if my Very Berry Frozen Yogurt Pops which uses Greek Yogurt, non-fat milk, fresh organic berries and honey. That’s it. It tastes better than the frozen yogurts at those trendy shops and is full of the antioxidants and vitamins our bodies crave. Another favorite is Chocolate Ice Cream with Wine Salt.

After two months of eating these homemade desserts, I noticed that when I was out to dinner with friends, I was no longer tempted by restaurant desserts in the least bit. My body was not addicted to artificial flavors and a mountain of sugar. In fact, my palate repelled those uber rich cakes. Life has gotten sweeter with less sugar and more flavor, thanks in large part to my beloved Cuisinart Ice Cream Maker. At under US $90, there’s little excuse for not adding this nifty gadget to your kitchen.

As a side note, when you make these homemade cold treats for guests, you’ll also make people think you should be crowned the winner of all those reality food competitions. Homemade frozen desserts are apparently so rare nowadays that people think you’re some kind of genius. No need to tell them how easy it was with the Cuisinart.

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