Monday, July 9, 2012

A Smoothie and Ice Cream with probiotics

Good Belly smoothie.
About a year ago, I tried the Good Belly challenge - drinking some Good Belly every day for 12 days. If you haven't heard of Good Belly, the deal is that it's got probiotics that make your tummy happy. And indeed it did make my tummy happy.

You can read about that on my previous post. Because now, I've got something more fun to talk about.

You see, Good Belly invited some bloggers to a little gathering at Shine in Boulder. We had appetizers from Shine and mocktails from Good Belly. (Did I mention that Good Belly is a local company? Yup, right in Boulder.)

And of course we learned stuff about Good Belly and probiotics.

The really interesting thing I learned (or maybe I just hadn't thought of it before) was that Good Belly doesn't have to be consumed as-is. We had mocktails at Shine that included plenty of extra ingredients. And we were told that you could mix whatever you liked with Good Belly.

Those little probiotic bacteria as so robust they survive the acids in your stomach, so ice and soda water aren't going to harm them. Even alcohol is fine (but you probably want to make the cocktails and drink soon, rather than making cocktails and letting them sit in a pitcher in your fridge for a long time.

And freezing is okay, too. The little probiotic critters shiver a bit, but they survive the cold.

So I decided to mix up a couple recipes using Good Belly.

For the smoothie, you can decide on how big a "scoop" of ice cream is. Add more ice cream and you'll have something with the consistency of a milkshake. Add less and cut back on the milk, you'll have something that's more like a smoothie.I opted for the smoothie.

The Good Belly Plus comes in a 4-pack of small containers, and includes vitamins along with the probiotics. If it's good for you, ice cream must make it better, right?

Good Belly Smoothie

1 Good Belly Plus pomegranate
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
1 cup milk

Put all the ingredients into your blender and blend until smooth.

Serve.

Too easy? Maybe. But it ought to get you thinking about other things you can do with Good Belly, right? I made ice cream, too.

Good Belly Dreamy Orange Ice Cream

1 cup Good Belly tropical orange
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-3 drops fiori di sicilia*

Combine the Good Belly and the sweetened condensed milk in a bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the heavy cream and whisk it in. Add the salt, vanilla extract and fiori di sicilia and - you guessed it - whisk in in.

Chill the mixture until it's thoroughly chilled - at least 4 hours, but overnight is great. When it is fully chilled give it a little whisk to loosen it up, then churn it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions.

Transfer to a storage container and freeze until firm.

*Fiori di sicilia is a flavoring - like an extract - that adds the flavors of citrus, vanilla, and some floral notes. It's strong, so just a few drops will do. If you don't have it, you can omit it.I got mine from King Arthur Flour.

Want to see some of the food at Shine?

Here's some olive tapenade with gluten free crackers: 


And some yam butter:


And some beet hummus. The little white round things are sprouted quinoa.


The beet hummus was my favorite. Or maybe the olive tapenade. But the beet hummus was unusual. I think I'll be making that some time soon. But of course with my own little twists.

Disclaimer: Good Belly was our host at Shine, and I received a swag bag with samples of Good Belly product as well as samples and/or coupons from some other local companies including MMLocal, Justin's, Cascadian Farm, Bulumu, Celestial Seasonings, Larabar, GaiamTV.com, Earth Balance, and MyChelle. (Yeah, it's good be be me.) I was not required to write about the event or the products.

This ice cream was featured on Tastespotting for their celebration of ICE CREAM DAY sponsored by Dreyers/Edys Slow Churned Ice Cream. It's right here. And check out my whole gallery here.
Yum