Fruitilicious Hot Summer Edition

As here in the UK we've recently had some very hot days, I have decided to do something that will help cope with this hellish temperatures and share it with you all.

Therefore I present to you a Hot Summer Fruitilicious Trio - very fruity skewers, lemonade rich in vitamin C and strawberrylicious ice creams! All that is a must during hot summer(s)!

In order to create the BIG THREE (I know all of you This is Us binge watchers are smiling right now), I have used below ingredients, however it's all up to you what fruits you would love to have.

FRUITY SKEWERS

• banana (1/2)
• orange (1/2)
• blueberries (a handful of them)
• raspberries (also a handful)
• kiwi fruit (1/2)
• white grapes (just a few of them)
• purple grapes (just a few)
• skewers (depends on how many you would like to create)

CITRUS LEMONADE

• orange (1/2)
• lemon (1/2)
• lime (1/2)
• ice cubes (few cubes, in my version there were 8)
• stevia liquid (in my version just 4 drops)
• water

STRAWBERRYLICIOUS ICE CREAMS

• strawberries (about 80g)
• raspberries (about 20g)
• lemon (just a few drops)
• sugar (in my case white and 2 tbsp)
• blender
• ice cream folds

As mentioned earlier, I have used various fruits: banana, orange, blueberries, raspberries, kiwi fruit, white grapes, purple grapes. I have set them up so that they would represent a rainbow on each skewer.

The line up for me was:

RED/PINK: raspberries or purple grapes (you can also use strawberries or watermelon)

ORANGE: oranges (you can also use cantaloupe melon, apricots, nectarines)

YELLOW: banana (you can also use peach, pineapple, golden kiwi, lemon)

GREEN: kiwi fruits or white grapes (you can also use avocado, honeydew melon, lime, green apples)

BLUE: blueberries (you can also use blackberries, plums, raisins, black currant)

Before you do anything further, please remember to clean your fruits. I would recommend warm water with a bit of vinegar for strawberries and raspberries, this will ensure that you don't have any bacteria on them, or any unpleasant guests. Also hot water (and a toothbrush) for oranges, lemons and limes as citruses are mostly cover with some sort of wax.

After I have cleaned my fruits, I've peeled bananas, oranges and kiwi and have cut them into smaller pieces. Remember not to cut them too small as they may break but also not too big. I have also cut grapes into halves. Raspberries and blueberries have stayed the same as they were already small enough.

I have sprayed a bit of lemon juice over bananas as they tend to get brownish very fast. Lemon juice has slowed down the process.

After everything was cut, I've started creating skewers according to the colour pattern I have listed above: raspberries or purple grapes, orange, banana, kiwi or white grapes and blueberries.

All fruits that were unused because I've run out of skewers, I have put in a bowl and created a mini version of a fruit salad. Nothing has gone to waste and I had a very healthy snack! Win-win situation ;)

Lemonade is something that I always make when the temperature is so high that you don't want to drink coffee or tea. And you don't always want to drink just plain water so I try to add fruits to make it more fun. I sometimes use strawberries and raspberries however my favourite is the original lemonade which is a citrus lemonade.

In order to do that I used: orange, lemon and lime as I like those flavours. Even though they are all citruses, each has a slightly different taste and all together create a perfect blend of tasty juice of vitamin C.

I've cut each citrus into smaller slices and I've taken all seeds away as they tent to be only an obstruction in enjoying a lemonade.

I've also used a hand mortar to squeeze a bit of that juice before I've poured water into the jug.

After that I have just added water and ice cubes. The number of ice cubes depends solely on you - whether you want an ice cold lemonade or just cold-ish.

I also like to add a bit of stevia liquid in my lemonade to give it a bit of sweetness. I found that normal sugar doesn't really dissolve that well in cold water that's why I have bought myself a liquid version and it's wonderful.

This time I've added only 4 drops as I didn't want to have my lemonade too sweet. Four drops for that big jug had little impact so it was perfect for me. However if you like your lemonade more on a sweet side - add a bit more. Maybe 8 drops?

The last step of my Hot Summer Fruitilicious Trio's proposal are ice creams. Is it summer if you don't have ice creams? I like my ice cream sweet but not too sweet so I always struggle with ice creams from stores. They tend to have only sugar and just a bit of a fruit flavour. That's why I like to make my own.

I have bought ice cream fold from IKEA about 3 years ago and it was a jackpot!

To make those delicious ice creams I have used strawberries and a bit of raspberries in order to highlight the strawberries. Raspberries give you a bit of sour taste which is perfect combination with a sweet taste from their cousins. I have however added a few drops of lemon juice to add more of that sour flavour. And I've added a bit of sugar as well.

As with skewers, I have washed all fruits and I've removed calyx from strawberries. I know you can eat that if you want to, however I'm not a fan of that.

I've put both strawberries and raspberries into my mixing container. I've added lemon juice and 2 tbsp of white sugar.

After that I've closed the lid and mixed everything together until it was liquid. I don't mind having bits of fruits in my ice creams so I've only mixed it for 5-8 seconds. If you prefer to have it more liquidish, mix it for a bit longer.

After I've finished mixing, I have checked if the flavour is what I was hoping for. Luckily for me it was. However if you find that yours is not, you can always add more fruits or sugar or lemon juice, close the lid and mix it up again for 1-2 seconds so that everything is well blended.

Once everything was ready, I've transferred that liquid into folds.

Please note, you don't have to have an ice cream fold. You can always use normal lunch box and take your ice creams like from an ice cream store: by using a scoop or just a regular spoon.

If you however have those folds, don't overflow them. Remember that plastic stick will go inside that fold so there should be a bit of space left for it. Otherwise your strawberry mix can pour out of it.

Once done, I've popped ice creams into the freezer and I've left them in there over night. You can also leave them for few hours, should be fine although there is a risk of them breaking in half.

And that's it! All ready to eat!

Enjoy! <3