Home-made Strawberry Milkshake

Well after weeks of complaining that summer was never coming, it hit with a vengeance in the last week! The last few days at work were sweltering. Air con is not really a feature of British primary schools, so I mostly survived by drinking iced water constantly. Now school's finished and I have total freedom to keep cool in whatever way works  (lolling in front of the fan indoors, or laying out in the breezy garden have been my favourite methods so far), including making lovely summery drinks when the mood takes me. One drink I made, which really got me feeling like summer, was a home-made strawberry milkshake.

The heat got me thinking of milkshakes. I like a milkshake now and then. It feels like a summery treat. I'm quite particular about them though. The milkshake has to be thick and it has to have real flavours. I absolutely hate the fake flavoured milkshakes that you get in the fast-food chains. I love strawberry but synthetic strawberry flavour is revolting. The only thing worse probably, is synthetic banana flavour! The only places that I have been able to get milkshakes with real fruit recently, have been diner type restaurants, or ice-cream parlours, usually independent ones. There isn't really one on every corner, and they tend to be fairly pricey for what you get!

The ideal solution is to make your own at home. Very easy with a blender or a hand blender to whizz them up with. Pack them with whatever fruit you like and have the comfort of knowing exactly what's in it, especially if you are serving it up to your children! There's no need for any additional sugar, in my opinion, as ice cream has enough, plus the fruit has plenty of natural sugar.

When a cold drink craving hit this week, I went for a strawberry milkshake, as strawberries are in season, and really sweet and delicious right now. It took no time at all to whip up and it was minutes before I was lounging in the garden with my summery treat. Try a strawberry milkshake on the next hot day and bring childhood memories flooding back!

If you are following a calorie controlled programme like My Fitness Pal, there are around 90 calories in a large milkshake (using skimmed milk and Walls light vanilla ice cream).

Make Strawberry Milkshake

Ingredients
(makes 3 large strawberry milkshakes, as shown in pic, or 4-5 smaller ones)

150g strawberries
6 scoops of light vanilla ice cream
100ml milk

Method

1. Hull the strawberries and cut into halves, leaving enough whole ones for a garnish on each glass.
2. Put strawberries in the blender with the ice cream and the milk.
3. Blend until smooth.
4. Add more milk if the milkshake is too thick.
5.Pour into the glasses.
6. Slice into the garnish strawberries 3/4 of the way so they can fan out, and slide them onto the edge of the glass.
7. Slice any spare strawberries and gently lay on the top of the milkshake.


Enjoy!