With summer fruits in season, I just can’t help it! I have to buy the strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, grapes, kiwis, peaches, nectarines and the usual apples and bananas everytime I go to the supermarket. So it is not surprising when I misjudge how much fruit my family can eat in a week and end up finding ways to use them up before they become mush. Although I prefer fruits fresh, uncooked, eaten in its original raw state, at times, I do find cooking and freezing them a great way to deal with fruits which will otherwise look unappealing to be eaten.  

Here’s what I do with my fruits if I don’t think they are going to last much longer. 

• Freezing bananas with the peel on. Use these in smoothies in place of ice.
• Do the same with berries and grapes. Simply wash them, pat them dry with kitchen towels and place them into freezer bags, and freeze. Eat them frozen like fruit popsicles.
• For strawberries, it would be a good idea to wash them, remove the green bits and the hard stem before you freeze. USe these in smoothies.
• Cook apples in apple fritters. 

The fruits can keep for weeks this way!

This is my husband’s favourite - Chocolate Banana Smoothie. The first time we came across this smoothie was at The Red Lobster. So we tried making our own version of it. Although it didn’t taste exactly the same, it sure tasted good!

Ingredients:
1-2 frozen banana (depending on how thick you want the smoothie to be)
10 chocolate hershey kisses (refrigerated)
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp sugar or honey (optional)

Method:

1. Remove banana peel and break banana into 3 pieces and put in blender.
2. Add 5 cold hersheys and 1/4 cup milk into the blender.
3. Using the Ice crush function on the blender, pulse the mixture. Make sure you hold the blender tightly.
4. When chocolate starts to disintegrate, add the rest of the chocolate, rest of the milk and sugar. Continue pulsing the mixture until the the mixture resembles a smoothie.
5. Add more milk if the mixture is too thick or to the consistency of your choice.
6. Serve on a hot hot HOT summer day.

Tips

• If you want the smoothie to be more chocolatey, then use hersheys which are not cold.
• Using hard hersheys create the flecks and if you take your time to sip it, it’ll slowly melt in your smoothie.
• If you fear for the blades of your blender, then I recommend using hersheys which are not rock hard.