A Bowl of Sunshine on a Rainy Day

I’m grumpy. Spring is nowhere to be seen and I almost got blown away when I stepped outside this morning. I then proceeded to spend the day in a small room with seven other people who seemed intent on making meaningless chit-chat so as to prolong our miserable stay there. It was certainly an exercise in patience on my part. The only entertainment I got out of the day was observing what the others chose to eat for lunch. I felt like I was in some sort of weird behavioural science experiment where I was the only sane one. I brought my lunch from home and it consisted of leftover lasagna that I made last night, (and was the BEST pasta I have ever made in my life, I got all the way down to ‘1’ on my pasta roller while making the noodles!), a yogurt, a banana, an apple and a bottle of water. Only one other person brought a lunch, if you can call it that. He unpacked a can of diet coke, a twinkie, a pudding cup and a fruit by the foot. Another person bought a sandwich out of the vending machine that had no expiry date or ‘made on’ date, which I found highly suspicious. Three people bought frozen, microwaveable meals from the vending machine which most likely had no more taste than the cardboard they were packaged in. Two people consumed pop and cigarettes and the last person left so I wasn’t able to analyze his lunch. I watched them eat like I would watch a train wreck. It was disgusting and awful but fascinating at the same time and I couldn’t look away. How do people live like this? I wanted to cook for them and show them what they were missing. Getting paid for this would be ideal…

Upon returning home I wanted something sweet and delicious to take the bitter edge off. Despite the frigid weather there’s always room for frozen delights on my plate. So I scooped myself a bowl of homemade pineapple frozen yogurt, topped with fresh pineapple and tried to imagine myself somewhere warm and tropical. While in dreamland I decided that this wonderful fro-yo would be perfect for a new blogging event which is being co-hosted by the lovely Ilva of Lucillian Delights and Joanna of Joanna’s Food called The Heart of the Matter which focuses on creating heart healthy foods. The theme for the second edition, (I shamefully missed the first one) is puddings, or desserts for the North Americans. And although I ate my Pineapple Fro-Yo before dinner, it would still make an excellent dessert.

Pineapple Frozen Yogurt (Adapted from Baking Bites)

2 egg whites

2/3 cup sugar (ground in the blender to a powder, or use confectioners sugar)

250 grams 1% plain yogurt

250 grams non-fat mango-passionfruit yogurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup pureed fresh pineapple

Combine yogurts and vanilla and whisk until it is smooth.

Beat egg whites until frothy, add sugar gradually and continue beating at medium-high speed until you have soft peaks. Mixture will be gooey, kind of like marshmallow.

Fold yogurt into egg whites in 4 additions, making sure it is well incorporated. Fold in pineapple and pour mixture into your ice cream maker. Freeze as directed and store in an airtight container in the freezer if you are not going to eat it right away.

If your pineapple is nice and sweet, you could cut back on the sugar.

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HOTM + Heart of the Matter + Frozen Yogurt + Pineapple