Low Fat, Low Sugar Strawberry Shake & Ice Cream Soda

When I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, a few years ago, my heart completely sank. I thought for sure that I would never enjoy many of my favorite dishes and treats and that I would live forevermore on a bland diet. Being Hispanic and growing up with rich and flavorful foods, I thought for sure I would never last and break down on my new diet.

However, I have managed to incorporate some of my traditional cooking with my diabetic diet and have learned to enjoy old favorites in a different way. So many new sugar free and low sugar products are also being introduced all the time and of good quality. So I’ve learn to alternate a few things here and there, but the end result on some of my creations are very good. Here are a couple of recipes for some of my all time favorite drinks. I just love strawberries!

Low fat, low sugar Strawberry Shake

Ingredients

½ cup fresh strawberries

½ cup or three small scoops of Dreyer's, ½ fat, no sugar added, vanilla ice cream.

2- 4 packets of Stevia or Splenda  

½ cup of low fat or non fat milk

Balsamic Vinegar

Slice up the strawberries and place them in a bowl. Add the packets of sugar to them and sprinkle it all around the strawberries, then add a few drops of balsamic vinegar. Mix the berries thoroughly and place them in the fridge overnight. This sugar will create a sweet syrup for the strawberries and that helps to make the shake richer in flavor.

Add the ½ cup or three scoops of ice cream, strawberries, syrup and milk in the blender and allow it to blend for one minute and thirty seconds. Once completely blended you can add a couple of sliced strawberries to your shake.

Low fat, low sugar Strawberry Ice Cream Soda

Ingredients

I cup strawberries

4-8 packets of Stevia or Splenda  

½ cup Dreyer's ½ fat, no sugar added vanilla ice cream

½ cup seltzer water

Repeat the steps of preparing the strawberries that were listed for the shake. Once the strawberries are prepared, then in a tall glass add one scoop of the vanilla ice cream. Afterwards add some of the strawberries and syrup. Now add the seltzer water and slowly mixed in the ingredients till they foam up.

Add another scoop of ice cream and repeat the process until all of the ingredients are used and create a rich foamy texture. Add a couple of sliced strawberries to this drink as well.

With the ½ cup of strawberries, you get about 5 grams of sugar and 10 grams of carbs. With the Dreyer's ice cream, you get another 5 grams of sugar and about 10 grams of carbs as well. So overall you get 10 grams of sugar and 20 grams of carbs compared to a regular shake that is well over thirty grams of sugar and carbohydrates each.

Stevia is a natural food sweetener that won’t raise your blood sugar levels and is healthy for you. You can find it in your health food stores, but if you can’t, Splenda is a good alternative