Kid & Teeth Friendly :)

Summer has arrived in Sydney and with it comes the festive season and the temptations of sweet and cool treats. It’s easy to reach for the more visible and tempting options like ice creams and ice blocks. But while the occasional indulgence in such things is probably OK, a summer filled with sticky, sugary, sweets is not a great idea. It's not great for a kid's overall health and it's certainly not very good for anyone’s diet.

Knowing all of this is one thing and putting it into practice without having to deal with a lot of moaning and groaning is quite another. There are however plenty of healthier, and yet still scrumptious, treats that are kinder to our teeth. Here's a quick look at just five of our favorites.

‘One Ingredient’ Banana Ice Cream

One of the ideal replacements for sticky sweets is fruit. Did you know you can make creamy banana ice cream with just a single ingredient? It's actually very easy. Chop semi ripe bananas into largish chunks and then freeze them solid (which will take about two hours) Next, pop them all in a blender, blend until smooth and, without the need for any added sugar at all you can serve an 'ice cream' treat that's surprisingly close to the 'real thing'.

Frozen Grapes

An old fave! Turning to the freezer again, if you freeze some juicy fresh grapes after a couple of hours you'll have chilly - but pretty healthy - balls of cooling natural sweetness that make a great alternative to sugar packed, sticky boiled sweets. Freeze both green and red grapes and they'll look pretty cool in the bowl when you serve them up.

Strawberry Yoghurt Bites

And this one is our new fave. While getting your daily helping of both fruits and dairy you also get the pleasure of this rich, creamy and cool treat.Frozen yoghurt strawberry bites can be easily prepared in just a few seconds. Pop some vanilla yoghurt in to brownie trays, place a whole strawberry in to each mould and freeze!

Frozen Greek Yogurt Buttons

This one's easy too. Blend together a pot of plain Greek yogurt with a handful of the fresh fruit of your choice until nice and creamy. Drop spoon sized dollops of the mixture onto a lined baking tray and freeze. To make things even more fun for the kids add a few drops of food colouring into the mixture as well, for a tasty rainbow coloured treat.

Pineapple Cooler

This one can be either a nice slushy-style drink for the kids or add a little vodka to make it a nice cocktail. Not only is it creamy and delicious but it’s a huge immune boost which is packed full of vitamin C.

Blend the following to make this cool summer treat: