Recipes for watermelon lemonade and mango-grape-banana ice cream

While you can’t do much about the heat, you can offer your little ones a few cool and refreshing treats.

Start them off with a frosty glass of watermelon lemonade, a sweet and refreshing drink you can feel good about serving. It’s nothing more than watermelon, ice, lemon juice and a splash of honey blended until thick. And feel free to add frozen strawberries, raspberries or other fruit for an even thicker slushy-like drink.

Then move on to some ice cream so healthy I sometimes serve it to my son for breakfast. You do need a food processor to make this frozen fruit-based treat, but the result is similar to soft serve. And since it has no added sugar, I don’t feel guilty about letting my son add candy sprinkles to complete the ice-cream effect.

If you find the it too thick, simply add water, orange juice or lemon juice until you get the consistency you want.

Frozen grapes are a great treat on their own, too. To freeze, wash fresh grapes and then arrange in an even layer on a baking sheet or pan. Freeze until firm, then transfer to a bag or container for longer storage.

Both recipes also include a pinch of salt. While not essential, the salt goes a long way to heightening the natural sweetness of the fruits.

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Watermelon Lemonade

Start to finish: 5 minutes

1 l (4 cups) ice

1 l (4 cups) watermelon chunks

75 ml (1/3 cup) lemon juice

30 ml (2 tbsp) honey (sugar can be substituted)

Pinch salt

In a blender, combine all ingredients. Puree until smooth, about 1 minute. You may need to stop the blender and stir ingredients once to ensure everything blends evenly. Serve immediately. The drink will separate some as it sits. Either blend again or simply stir to combine.

Other frozen or fresh soft fruits – such as raspberries, strawberries, bananas, peaches or grapes (especially frozen grapes) – also can be added when blending. If so, you may need to increase the amount of lemon juice to balance the other flavours.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 80 calories; 0 calories from fat (0 per cent of total calories); 0 g fat (0 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 24 g carbohydrate; 1 g protein; 1 g fibre; 65 mg sodium.

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Mango-Grape-Banana Ice Cream

If you have frozen pop moulds, pour any leftovers into those and freeze for a great treat for later.

Start to finish: 10 minutes

1 bag (284 g/10 oz) frozen mango chunks

250 ml (1 cup) frozen red grapes

1 banana

Pinch salt

50 ml (1/4 cup) orange juice

Candy sprinkles (optional)

In a food processor, combine all ingredients. Process until very smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. You may need to stop and scrape the sides of the bowl once or twice to ensure all of the fruit is processed. Serve immediately.

Makes 3 servings.

Nutrition information per serving (values are rounded to the nearest whole number): 140 calories; 0 calories from fat (0 per cent of total calories); 0 g fat (0 g saturated; 0 g trans fats); 0 mg cholesterol; 36 g carbohydrate; 2 g protein; 4 g fibre; 80 mg sodium.