Cool.

My strawberries are coming on, and I've picked them twice. They're smaller this year because I didn't really take care of them until too late in the season last year, when this year's buds were already starting to form. Small ... but tasty.

 
I ate the first handful (above) myself, but the second, larger picking was cut up and served over slices of peach pound cake.

Still, I've still been buying strawberries at the grocery store. Lots of them. Too many, in fact. They're just so enticing, sitting there in the produce section, begging me to take them home.

And they've been on sale.

But this turned out to be a good thing. I finally decided to try out the ice cream maker I bought last year. It's one that you freeze, so it doesn't require salt. I always thought that was a waste of money (and disposing of the brine isn't good for either the septic tank or the lawn). I made room for it in my very crowded upright freezer. Had to pack a bag of peas inside it to fit it in, but I figured that would only help the process along.

I had seen a recipe for frozen strawberry yogurt that seemed simple enough. Of course, I forgot to bookmark or copy it. But this one from Taste of Home was pretty close. I adapted it, using vanilla yogurt and leaving out the extract.

Strawberry Frozen Yogurt

2 cups (16 oz) fat-free vanilla yogurt

2 cups pureed fresh strawberries (about 1 pound)

1 can (14 oz) fat-free sweetened condensed milk

1 cup fat-free milk

First of all, read the directions on your freezer if you are using it for the first time! I'm glad I did, because it said to prepare the mixture before getting the cylinder out of the freezer.

I pureed a full pound of berries plus a few from an open container. I ended up with extra puree. It didn't go to waste, though -- I added frozen pineapple and banana and had myself a smoothie while waiting for the freezer to do its thing.

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl (they come to more than six cups in total volume).

Fill cylinder of ice cream freezer two-thirds full or according to manufacturer's directions; freeze as directed.

The freezing begins! Three(ish) cups in the cylinder, three(ish) cups left over.

I set the cylinder on a braided hot pad to insulate it from the metal surface. I wonder if wrapping it in a towel might be a good idea to help keep it colder.

Refrigerate remaining mixture until ready to freeze.

Allow to ripen in ice cream freezer or firm up in refrigerator freezer for 2-4 hours before serving.

Remove from the freezer 30-45 minutes before serving.

The original recipe says it makes 1-1/2 quarts, but I got 2 quarts out of it.

My 1-quart freezer took half the mixture, about 3 cups, for a 4-cup cylinder. It produced just about a full freezer after the increase in volume. I packed up 3 cups in a plastic container and decided the remaining cup was for quality control.

It passed with flying colors.

Hmmm. I've also been buying way too many blueberries ...