The temperature has been steadily creeping up in London recently, and today it reached a sunny ☀ 29°C! I find it incredibly difficult to eat enough and hit my macros when it’s warm outside. I know my tactic ‘should’ be to eat higher fat/calorie food. However, this recipe isn’t that. It’s my summer comfort food – FROZEN 🍓 YOGURT (FroYo) – which is keto friendly if berries are on your list.
Berries on Keto
As a fruit lover (I went through a raw vegan phase once upon a time), the hardest thing for me to let go on this diet has been fruit. If this was a zero fruit lifestyle I don’t think I could have done it, so the fact that berries are allowed are a saving grace. I’m of the mentality – Measure it. If it fits in your macros, it’s OK! 👌 If I could, I think I could happily survive on berries.
Just for your information, according to Cronometer (which is the app I use to measure and monitor my nutrition), summer berries have the following Net Carbs:
- 1 cup strawberry halves: 8.7g
- 1 medium strawberry: 0.7g
- 1 cup blueberries: 17.8g
- 1 blueberry: 0.2g
- 1 cup blackberry: 6.2g
- 1 blackberry: 0.2g
- 1 cup raspberries: 6.7g
- 1 raspberry: 0.1g
As it’s summer and berries are very much in season in the UK, I intend on incorporating them in my diet until they’re not! (and then freezing enough to last me the winter 😏).
Meal prepping desserts
As a dessert addict, I think meal prepping applies as much to desserts as it does to breakfasts, lunches and dinners. Especially for someone with a sweet tooth like mine as you really need to watch your macros. The carbs can creep up on you on anything sweet. Meal prepping is an opportunity to control your portions.
I think this good weather called for some frozen yogurt prepping in a massive batch, so I made a large LOG of frozen berry cheesecake yogurt.
This made approximately 10 portions which I then cut up and froze and can de-frost and blend with some additional yogurt or nut milk as and when I desire!
Besides being a fabulous dessert or snack, I think this makes a great base for a breakfast. You could turn it into a strawberry cheesecake smoothie, or even a quick hearty breakkie bowl with a homemade keto ‘cereal’ made from nuts and seeds.
Hiding my fat (in my food)
As I’m always seeking ways to “hide” fat in my food without it overpowering the flavour of the food, this recipe has some avocado hidden in it which gives it some creaminess, but nothing else. Love it or hate it, you can’t taste or see it at all.
I wouldn’t say the cream cheese is “hidden” fat because it’s supposed to be a cheesecake FroYo after all, so you should get a hint of cream cheese, but in terms of fat content – you do get a significant amount of it from the cheese. If the amount of fat isn’t enough for you going by the macros below, I would just increase the amount of cream cheese rather than anything else.
Increasing the amount of avocado might make it overpowering, and increasing the amount of yogurt might affect the amount of carbs. But play around and use your judgement!
I blended it with some almond milk and sprinkled hemp seeds on top one day which boosted the protein and fat without affecting carbs *win win*!
Ingredients
1 log (10 servings)
You will need:
- 1 freezer friendly loaf tin
- Fresh or frozen strawberries: 2 cups
- Fresh or frozen blueberries: 0.5 cup
- Greek Yogurt: 1 cup
- Cream Cheese: 45g
- Avocado (ripe): 1 large / approximately 120g
- Vanilla Stevia (or other sweetener): 2-3 drops (adjust as required).
Method:
- Blend strawberries and greek yogurt in a food processor until well combined. (Note: If you intend on eating some of it immediately, use frozen strawberries).
- Add cream cheese, avocado, and vanilla stevia and continue processing for a few minutes until the FroYo mixture is a consistency you would like.
- Taste and adjust at this point as required.
- Prepare a loaf tin by lining it with parchment paper.
- Add blueberries to the bottom of the loaf tin.
- Pour the FroYo mixture into the loaf tin and freeze for 2-3 hours, stirring every 30 minutes if possible.
- Once the block of FroYo is solid, cut it into servings and re-freeze for future use!
- To defrost and devour just let it stand out for a bit, or to turn it into more of a soft FroYo, add a bit of yogurt or nut milk and blend.
Macros per serving
(1 log = 10 servings)
- Energy: 74.8 kcal
- Protein: 1.7g
- Net Carbs: 4.9g
- Fat: 5.7g
- VitaminA : 160.8 IU
- VitaminC: 19.9 mg
Managing epilepsy with a keto diet 