Put the straw in the coconut - or try ice cream

Coconut: You either love it like I do or hate it with a passion.

To make dinner seem a bit special, I cook jasmine or basmati rice in half coconut milk and half water. When I'm making coconut cake from scratch, I substitute coconut milk for the milk called for in a butter cake recipe.

When I crack open a box or tin of chilled coconut milk, I can almost imagine I'm at the ocean, even without the waves. It brings back the memory of drinking right out of a fresh young coconut sold by street vendors at Puerto Vallarta's beach in Mexico.

Not to be confused with coconut water or juice, coconut milk is thick and white, extracted from an older (but still fresh) coconut. Recently, I embraced a product found in the supermarket's refrigerated dairy section, unsweetened coconut milk in a half-gallon size. Many nutritionists contend that coconut's 65 percent medium chain fatty acids are a healthful fat, not readily stored in the body but used as energy instead.

Whatever. I am not here to argue this question one way or another. I'm just saying that coconut tastes like summer.

My newest concoction is a smoothie that can morph into a kind of no-sweat faux soft "ice cream." I just throw frozen blueberries or raspberries into the blender along with some thick Greek yogurt and that unsweetened coconut milk and whir it into an instant cold confection that is not too sweet. I usually prefer it that way, but if the berries are tart, you might want to add a little agave syrup or sugar. (When I do this, I use organic.) Or, use sweetened coconut milk, if you prefer.

Lately, I have picked my own berries and frozen them so I can make this treat, but you also can buy frozen berries. Or, peel bananas, cut into chunks and freeze them to use.

If you don't remember to freeze berries, you won't get soft "ice cream" - but you will get a delicious smoothie instead.