Berry Good For The 4th July Or Wimbledon!

Can there by anything more tantalising and scrumptious than a strawberry? I think it signifies summer is here and that all the seasonal special events around it are about to happen. Surely there can’t be another fruit that says ‘festive 4th July holiday food’ nor a berry that doesn’t say ‘here’s a winning serve’ for Wimbledon. Both start next week so it’s time to look to these berry-good fruits for some inspirational food.

Rather than fight the temptation I would rather work around it – so I will have strawberries, but not with sugar and lashings of cream. Instead I am planning to serve these stuffed ones for treats, a dessert and as part of a celebratory meal buffet table spread.

There are some options for you here and I have taken out the question marks by saying they all work well. I have used plain low-fat cream cheese alone as the filling (just sweetened and flavoured a tad with vanilla and some sugar-free sweetener); used a high protein cream or soft cheese (like the Eatlean one which I found at Morrisons but can be found elsewhere and there are other types); and used a low-fat cream cheese and added some protein powder). My favourite has been to add the protein powder but I think subliminally that is because I know it has boosted the protein so it becomes more ‘angelic’ in my eyes. The gold-standard of course would be to use the protein cheese and the protein powder and I don’t see why not. In doing so the macros of the recipe change substantially but since the cheeses and the protein powder differ appreciably it isn’t possible to give hard and fast figures. I have given some typical ones instead at the end of the recipe. Just choose the one that suits you best.

These are stuffed berries that are best served within about 2 hours of making but will keep a little longer if needs must …  The filling can of course can be made ahead and chilled in the refrigerator for stuffing just before required.

 

BERRY GOOD PROTEIN STUFFED STRAWBERRIES

Ingredients

METRIC/US

175 g/¾ cup low-fat cream cheese or protein cream/soft cheese (I used Philadelphia Lightest Cream Cheese and Eatlean Protein Cheese – see intro)

granulated sweetener or sugar-free syrup to sweeten to taste (optional – my berries were very sweet so not required)

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 x 40 g measure or scoop bariatric-friendly protein powder ( optional – vanilla flavour is a good choice – I used Protein World Slender Blend)

12 large strawberries

12 blueberries

 

Method

1.  Beat the cheese with the sweetener or sugar-free syrup if used to combine. Add the vanilla extract and protein powder if used and beat until smooth.
2.  Place in a piping bag if liked for piping into the strawberries or use a spoon later.
3.  Hull the strawberries and remove the stalks and any core. I like to cut into the tops with a knife to enable the berry to be opened out (like a flower) to hold the cheese mixture.
4.  Pipe or spoon the prepared berry mixture into the strawberries and top each with a blueberry. Chill for up to 2 hours before serving.

 

MAKES 12

WLS PORTION: 1-2

MACROS SHOW: Plain low-fat cream cheese/ Plain low-fat cheese with Protein Powder/Protein Cream Cheese/Protein Cream Cheese and Protein Powder

CALORIES PER BERRY: 23.2/67.6/30.2/74.6

PROTEIN PER BERRY: 1.9/10.6/2.7/11.5 g

CARBOHYDRATE PER BERRY: 2.9/3.7/2.7/3.4 g

FAT PER BERRY: 0.4/1.1/0.9/1.6 g