Summer Favorite ...Strawberry Chocolate Chip Blizzard

This summer favorite at our house ..was developed when we found this great tasting treat while living in the midwest. If you are familiar with Springfield, Mo ..then you would be familiar with "Andy's" ..the most wonderful Ice Cream ever !!! It's a soft serve Custard Ice Cream that is out of this world. Intead of making Blizzards as that name had already been adopted by dairy queen ..their blended treats are called "Concretes" ..and let me tell you ..they are out of this world Good. So Good in fact ..that we have some family that lives in Tyler, TX and Andy's started franchising and some precious soul opened one their ..so we directed our family their and now they are hooked too !

Well Andy's is delicious ..but a few of those tasty, heavenly concretes a week and your pocket book is a bit lighter ..So we came up with an alternative for the concrete and the blizzard that can be made right at home.

The Concrete that was a family favorite from Andy's at our house ..is called the "Wood P. Snow Monster," Nope don't know the story behind the name...But it is made from Vanilla Custard ..Fresh Strawberries and Dipping chocolate ...Yummo !P.S. don't forget to click on the picts to get a larger view.

O.k. so the above pict is how I start making our concretes all by hand no electrical devices involved. First ..I would love to have custard ..but in this house we like to watch our waists a little ..so we use ....

Haagen Dazs Low Fat Frozen Yogurt ..This yogurt tastes great ..Has a wonderful vanilla flavor ..is low fat ..low salt ..and low cholesterol as well.

Next ...I use Frozen Strawberries ..we love the big bag that Costco Sells ..they have a Great Flavor and the frozen strawberry has that great flavor and a nice crunch in the blizzard. Also we use the Zeroll Ice cream Scoop. Every year it seems like we break our scoop ..they make them so cheap nowadays and in a 2 piece construction so that after a few washes and digging in the ice cream ..they split ..So we invested in this Zeroll ..it costs $17.00 at Williams Sonoma ..or you can buy them online. It's a one piece consturction and it has a fluid element .that heats the end of the scoop which is in the handle and is activated when your hand is on the handle... so you can scoop your hard ice cream with ease. Let me tell you it's well worth the investment and works like a dream !

O.k. Next ..on the list ..are Chocolate Chips... Of course my favorite are Ghiradelli ... either Semi-Sweet or the Baking Chips work. Put a handfull in the bottom of a microwaveable mixing cup and heat in the microwave for about a minute to a minute and 30 seconds ..stirring once inbetween to get the chocoloate melted. Stir up the melted chocolate well.

Add a scoop of the ice cream in the bottom of your glass ..and add a small teaspoonfull of the melted chocolate on top....then take your teasoon and start mixing the chocolate into the ice cream ..it will get a bit melty at first ..but as you add more ice cream and chocolate it will thicken up. The chocolate hardens up once it's mixed in and leaves small chips and large chunks and it is so good and crunchy !!!

Next add some more ice cream the chopped up strawberries and another teaspoon of the melted chocolate..and mix in by hand again. Keep doing this alternating ....until your glass is full .

And here is what you will get ..a most heavenly..delicious ...Summer Treat !

O.k. this is my quickie dessert ....Hot Summer Treat ..that tastes better than what you get out (except for Andy's) and really saves the pocketbook !

Oh and leave out the strawberries for just a chocolate chipper ..or add in some of your favorites ..nuts ...caramel..etc...get creative with your favorite flavors.

Alrighty have a Most Beautiful Summer and Enjoy !!

Your Kindred Friend ...Sara