Friday, June 1, 2012

Homemade Strawberry Creamsicles


You know it is summer when after being outside all day, your kids take a playing break to sit and enjoy a popsicle!  It’s too bad most of the popsicles you can buy in the store are loaded with sugars, artificial flavors and modified chemicals.  The secret all the popsicle makers don’t want you to know is that making your own popsicles is so easy and fast that you won’t ever want to buy popsicles again!
These literally took me less than 10 minutes to whip up.  My strawberry creamsicles only have 2 ingredients!
 First we start out with beautiful red strawberries.  The great thing about this recipe is that you can use strawberries that might be on their way out.  If they are too mushy to eat, use them to make these popsicles!
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Rinse well, and cut the greens off.
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Blend.  I didn’t add water or juice, or anything.  I love my Blendtec for that reason.  It really does blend anything.  If your blender isn’t quite as powerful, you could add a little water/juice if you want.  I have seen some recipes that just mash their strawberries, but my girls are weary of ‘chunks’ and so I wanted these popsicles to be smooth.
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The second ingredient:  Greek Yogurt.  I used a honey flavored yogurt, but you can use any flavor you want.  The strawberries blend into a beautiful puree which you can add right to your popsicle molds.  I borrowed my neighbors ‘Zoku’ which was amazing!  You place the base of it in your freezer before hand, and then it only takes 5-7 minutes to  make a popsicle!  I also have the regular molds and used those as well. 
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Spoon some of the puree into the bottom of the mold, and then alternate with yogurt and puree until the mold is full.
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Put the handle in and freeze!  These took around 2 hours to be solid enough to eat.
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Voila!  You could blend the yogurt with the strawberries, but I liked the swirled look.  My 3 year old said it was the best popsicle she had ever eaten.  Really.  Word for word.  I was curious and a bit nervous to see how my girls would react because they aren’t super sweet.  I was pleasantly surprised that they licked them down to the stick!
I felt good knowing they were getting a fruit serving as well as protein, fiber and calcium!  Store bought popsicles are basically sugar and water and won’t keep you full for 5 minutes.  These creamsicles however definitely have substance and are actually a balanced snack.
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I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!  If you are looking for more healthy snack ideas for your kids, visit our meal planning site!

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