60 yrs and up

AnnPT77

@springlering62, I'm lazy (though I do have some popsicle molds around here someplace). But I'm also lucky: There's a woman - married to the artisan baker whose soft pretzel sticks I'm addicted to - who makes fruit ice pops and sells them at the farmers market. Most market days she has maybe 8 different flavors, and they vary. They're mostly fruit, fruit juice, sometimes even veggies, maybe a little honey, and interesting combinations. I buy one every time I see her. Recent ones include a mango strawberry, mango lemonade, but she also makes a cucumber mojito that I really love (cucumber, lime, mint, I think maybe a tiny bit of salt?). Yum.

We also have a guy who sells fruit, nut, coconut milk based ice pops and pints. These are a bit more caloric, still something I can fit in, and delicious. Some of them sound frighteningly "good for you", but you have to believe me that they're a hit on taste/texture alone, the included nutritious ingredients are just a happy bonus. He has a web site, so I screen grabbed some info. Believe it or not, that turmeric/ginger pop is amazing, one of my favorites.

Source: https://www.davepops.com/

springlering62

pectin. 🤨

Hadn’t thought of that for homemade ice cream…..

I prepped a sorbet mix for tomorrow : Orange juice, pineapple, coconut milk powder, and a few maraschino cherries. My husband is obsessed with southern style “ambrosia” at the holidays, and a quick finger lick test indicates this may be a winner as far as he’s concerned.

Your popsicle guy’s flavors sounds very much like our popsicle guy, who is now an entire company. Many similar flavors.

AnnPT77

Oh, I forgot, @springlering62, there was another popsicle lady before this one. The previous one was more adventurous in using herbs/spices in her pops. That's also fertile territory to explore. Thyme and melon is a great combo, for example. Fresh ginger and almost any fruit. Etc.

springlering62

I’m super proud of myself. I gave up all sugar free products after a dietician visit on January 7 pointed out to me I was having waaaaay too many servings per day.

I needed to use up some cottage cheese and Greek yogurt, which ended up being on the high end of calories for homemade ice cream. So instead of sugar, I put 1/4 serving of sugar free simple syrup in it, along with a large splash of vanilla extract and a vanilla bean scrape.

It turned out wildly thick and decadent. We made root beer floats with some diet Barqs Mr S had in the fridge.

First time I’ve had sugar free products (other than my daily B12 tablet) in over six months.

I can’t saythat coming off it really did anything for inflammation or arthritis, which is why I went cold turkey in the first place, but I honestly didn’t think I could do it. i love my sweets too too much. It was scary going without.

Been doing a lot of sorbets instead of ice cream. Haven’t been able to find a happy way to sweeten ice cream without resorting to sugar, and with a diabetic in the household, I try to avoid that route.

If I buy a small bag of sugar (no longer buy the 5 pound!) , it literally lasts at least a couple years now. Ditto for salt. I’ve only bought one canister of Morton’s since we moved here ten years ago, and there’s still enough left for a few more months.

I have my small stash of truffle salt, but even feeling like I gorge on it when he’s not looking, a tiny jar lasts two or three years.

I’ve discovered sweetening a lot of foods with apple sauce, and, of course, my beloved all purpose sweet fruit balsamics.

The ice cream has been too tangy with Greek yogurt. I need to go back to making homemade skyr. All the creaminess, very little of the tart. But after setting the oven on fire making yogurt, and still -weeks and weeks later- cleaning up fire extinguisher scum off shelves and floor, I find myself strangely reluctant. 😂😇

AnnPT77

@springlering62 , I think it would still cause issues for your guy, but maybe for you: A thing I've done in the past was to keep a can of frozen apple juice concentrate in the freezer to use as a sweetener. If our food products we make at home had labels, that would count as an added sugar, though. Other natural caloric sweeteners would include date sugar - just dry chopped-fine dates, basically - but that might look funny in ice cream unless well blended . . . though I guess vanilla bean ice cream has black specks and we're OK with that.

alteredsteve175

alteredsteve175

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48683691#Comment_48683691

I'm in that "difficult things going on in their lives" group. I've enjoyed MFP greatly, and it was instrumental in helping me lose some weight. I still log food fairly regularly, but I don't stop by these groups often.

I've told people over the years that the community was the best feature of MFP. The elimination of the newsfeed affected the daily interaction and camaraderie. It hasn't been the same since, and that is when my participation started to wane.

You laugh, you cry, you pick yourself up and soldier on. It's good to see some of you keeping this group active. Thank you.