My (current) favorite recipe

One of my new favorite summertime treats is Grapefruit Granita. I adapted this recipe from the Food Network's Dave Lieberman (from Good Deal with Dave Lieberman).

I was searching for a recipe for Italian Ice so that I could make my own without sugar. I don't care for synthetic sweeteners and want to phase out real sugar from my diet in favor of Stevia. I won't get into the politics of stevia right now, but I personally use it as a sweetener.

So anyway...under Dave Lieberman's ingredients, my alterations are listed in parentheses and bolded:

2 1/2 cups fresh pink or ruby grapefruit juice, at room temperature (2 1/2 cups fresh squeezed grapefruit juice - about 4-5 whole grapefruit)

1 cup boiling water

1/3 cup superfine sugar (1 teaspoon Stevia)

Mint Sprigs, for garnish

Combine juice, water and sugar in bowl and whisk until the sugar has dissolved. (Stevia is very fine, so 1 teaspoon dissolves rather quickly.) Pour liquid into a 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Freeze until hard, about 3-4 hours. (if I'm in a hurry, I use a metal muffin tin so there are smaller "pools" of juice to freeze, plus the metal helps it to freeze faster than my glass baking pans.) To serve, scrape with a fork, then spoon the scrapings into small chilled martini glasses or small glass bowls. Garnish with small sprigs of fresh mint.

It's pretty easy, it just takes some forethought. If you don't already have one, do yourself a favor and spring for a citrus juicer thingy. Even if it's one you have to twist the fruit on yourself, it's a heck of a lot easier than trying to juice a grapefruit without it and keeping the seeds out of the juice in the process! Mine is a very low-tech one that has the cone on top and a basin to catch the juice. I think it was just under $10. Well worth it!

It's crisp, cool, very refreshing, and very guilt-free!!!