Mango-Papaya-Coconut Sherbet

Hello hello again!

I'm in such a good mood right now! It's about 3:00 in Honolulu, and I just feel like my day's been started off right, and it's going in a good direction! It was a rainy one today, so we hit up the 24 Hour Fitness gym in the morning! I had a REALLY AMAZING short and sweet 1/2 hr run on the treadmill, and I was glad to see that I haven't spiralled tooooo far downhill in fitness as far as running goes. After that I finished off with a pilates and yoga fusion class. My arms...ouch!

We decided to grab some lunch so we went to the Ala Moana market place food court, and I spotted this salad bar. Well, it was a salad bar to a Steak&Fish Place but a salad bar nonetheless. You don't know how excited I get when I see salad bars. So many wonderful veggies (I've been eating them like crazy!) and little add-ons like chickpeas, corn kernels, seeds, yum! Now, I usually pay for salad at the bar by weight, and it just adds on and on and I end up paying over $10 for a small salad. This place, I paid around $4.50 for a "small container" first and then they just gave it to me to put whatever I wanted on it. Wait, are you kidding me!? No salad by the weight?! Whatever can fit inside this small container for $4.50!? Seriously just made my day. I wish I'd gotten a large because the container was overflowing and I was seriously going crazy with it.

Oops I'm rambling. About the recipe! I had originally wanted to make a chocolate brownie ice cream, but Honolulu is FULL of these HUGE juicy mangos and papayas, so I decided to make a tropical sherbet! The method I used doesn't require an ice cream maker, but if you have one, use it by all means! Also, the original recipe called for cream but I substituted it with some evaporated milk. You can even get a can of non-fat evaporated milk too, it'll save you the calories! So try it! Squeeze every drop out of summer before school starts!

Mango-Papaya-Coconut Sherbet makes approx. 4 cups

• 2 cups mango, cubed (about 1 HUGE mango or 2 small ones)
• 1 cup papaya, cubed
• 1/2 cup sugar
  
• 1 cup evaporated milk
• 1 cup ice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 1 tbsp coconut milk powder (optional, you can sub 1 tsp coconut extract if you have it)

Puree the mango, papaya, and sugar in a blender until smooth. Add remaining ingredients in blender and puree until smooth. Pour into a deep freezer-safe container and put it in the freezer for 45 mins.

1. After 45 mins, give it a stir/mash to break up any ice crystals that may have formed.
2. For the next 2 hours, at each 30 min interval, take out the container and mash the sherbet to break up ice crystals. Set a timer so you don't forget!
3. Freeze over night! Scoop and enjoy the next day!

Notes: You can substitute the papaya for strawberries or even bananas! Either would compliment the mango nicely!