Post-Bariatric Frozen Yogurt

After having weight loss surgery, it can be hard to fill the void of all of the tasty treats in which you used to indulge. There really is no replacement for ice cream, but this post-bariatric frozen yogurt is really delicious. Make some raspberry yogurt, throw in a few chocolate chips and you might even convince yourself you have some tasty black raspberry chocolate chip frozen yogurt!

I had my surgery about two and a half months ago, and it’s pretty safe to say that I haven’t had any major cravings for any of the really unhealthy foods that I used to eat all the time. Honestly. It’s hard to believe because I may have gone a whole month eating a donut a day…But I think once you’ve stopped eating the junk, you stop craving the junk.

I did feel pretty left out during a family outing not too long ago because we stopped for ice cream and my husband and kids got to indulge. While I wasn’t craving ice cream and I had no real desire to eat it, I really wished I could have had some – maybe just to feel like I was fitting in. Is there a post-bariatric surgery approved ice cream? Doubtful. Maybe a post-bariatric frozen yogurt instead?

Finding the Recipe

I tried to do some research on it, and I felt like the results were kind of limited. Maybe I’m just being too picky? I don’t know. At first I was looking for something that I could actually put into my ice cream machine. Then, I was afraid that if I made something to go in the machine, my husband (who has not had surgery) would think it was for him and devour the whole thing (it’s happened before!). So what to do?

I did find a recipe and decided to tweak it a bit. I’ve made this post-bariatric frozen yogurt three times now, and I’m mostly happy with the recipe. The first time I made it, I didn’t have any frozen berries. However, I did have frozen mango and frozen bananas. So I used the recipe with both of those fruits. It was tasty, but it was high in carbs because of all of the natural sugars in the fruits.

I did a little bit more research. Berries are naturally some of the lowest carb fruit out there, right? So I decided that I was going to make black raspberry frozen yogurt. But it’s pretty tough to find fresh OR frozen black raspberries. So I settled for a mixture of blackberries and raspberries. Verdict? Delicious. But with some caveats.

Lessons Learned

• When making anything with berries, if you don’t want to crunch on seeds, you need to put the yogurt through a sieve. It’s imperative.
• Putting the whole lot of yogurt into a container makes it difficult to get out a serving. I suppose you could weigh the mixture ahead of time so that you know 1 serving = x oz, but I like measuring ice cream by volume instead of weight. Sooo…..Muffin tins!
• But with Muffin Tins, I think it would be easier if you used a silicone liner. Just a thought. I haven’t tried it yet.
• Chocolate Chips in Raspberry Frozen Yogurt is delicious. But chopping up said chocolate chips might be even better!

How to Make Post-Bariatric Frozen Yogurt

Greek Yogurt, Frozen Raspberries (or fruit of your choice), Honey, Vanilla, and Lemon/Lime Juice. It’s really that simple. Start by putting your frozen fruit into the food processor and pulse it up a bit to break it up (top left). Add in all of the other ingredients (top right) and pulse until it is very smooth (bottom right). At this point, you can either pour the mixture directly into whatever dish you have (a loaf pan works well, or muffin tins – my personal favorite) or you could put the yogurt through a sieve like I did (bottom left). If your yogurt is made with berries, I highly recommend a sieve. I skipped using a sieve the first time I made this, and while I didn’t necessarily regret it, there were way too many seeds!

Once it is sieved (or not), transfer to your dish, cover, and freeze. When you’re ready to eat it, you may need to let it sit out a bit before eating, especially if it’s in one big container. I find that the yogurt has more of a consistency of Italian ice than ice cream, making it hard to scoop.

Variations

As I mentioned earlier, it’s totally cool to use any kind of fruit you want. I used a combination of banana and mango and it made a very tropical tasting treat. When making it this way, I use less honey because I feel like the fruit is sweeter anyway. You could also use strawberries. Or strawberry banana. Or mixed berries. Maybe pineapple with some coconut extract instead of vanilla extract? Or kiwi and lime juice. The possibilities are endless!

Post-Bariatric Frozen Yogurt

Camille

After having weight loss surgery, it can be hard to fill the void of all of the tasty treats in which you used to indulge. There really is no replacement for ice cream, but this post-bariatric frozen yogurt is really delicious. Make some raspberry yogurt, throw in a few chocolate chips and you might even convince yourself you have some tasty black raspberry chocolate chip frozen yogurt!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 mins

Freezing Time 2 hrs

Total Time 2 hrs 30 mins

Course Dessert

Servings 6

Calories 93 kcal

Equipment

• Food Processor
• Sieve

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup Greek Yogurt (I used Fage 0%, it's my favorite!)
• 4 cups frozen raspberries (16 oz)
• 2 Tbsp Honey
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp lemon or lime juice
• 6 Tbsp Chocolate Chips or other Add-Ins (Optional)

Instructions

 

• Add all of the berries into the food processor and pulse until all the berries are in small pieces (see note 1).
• Add in the yogurt, honey, vanilla, and juice and blend until a smooth puree
• Transfer all of the frozen yogurt into a sieve settled over a bowl. Push all of the yogurt through the sieve with a rubber spatula, scraping the underside of the sieve to move all of the yogurt into the bowl. Most of the seeds should stay separated from the rest of the mixture.
• If using chocolate chips or other add-ins, mix them into the yogurt mixture (see note 2).
• Transfer to your serving dishes and freeze for 2 hours. You want it frozen, but not so hard you can't scoop it (see note 3).

Notes

1. I find that pulsing the fruit before adding everything else in makes it easier for it all to come together.  Otherwise, I found that the fruit stays in big chunks.
2. When I made my raspberry frozen yogurt, I found it easiest to mix in the chocolate chips after I distributed the mixture into the muffin tins.  It makes it easier to ensure that each cup gets the same amount of add ins!
3. If this stays in the freezer for longer than 2 hours, it can become very difficult to scoop.  If that’s the case, you may need to leave it out to soften prior to scooping if you’re not using individual cups / muffin tins.
4.  Any kind of fruit can be used in place of the raspberries.  For sweeter fruits like banana, mango, pineapple, less honey can be used to offset the sweetness

Nutrition Facts:  Servings 6.0 * calories 93 * Total Fat 0 g * Saturated Fat 0 g * Monounsaturated Fat 0 g * Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g * Trans Fat 0 g * Cholesterol 3 mg * Sodium 30 mg * Potassium 195 mg * Total Carbohydrate 16 g * Dietary Fiber 2 g * Sugars 12 g * Protein 7 g

*All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered estimates. Actual nutritional content will vary with brands used, measuring methods, portion sizes, and more.*