Healthy popsicles???

[aliall]

My kids love popsicles, but I don't feel that great about buying the corn syrup/ /food dye/ plastic wrapped options at the store.

Any ideas for what we can make to get through the summer?

I bought a can of 100% apple juice and we are going to freeze that in some little cups or ice cube trays, but want to see if anyone else has any options that I am over looking. We don't normally buy juice really, so it seems weird to do it...

I made all of our home grown strawberries into jam, but in hindsight, freezing a few for frozen treats would have been a good idea.

[Alyantavid]

We blend up any fruit and freeze it into popsicles. My kids love them.

[syd'smom]

We take left over smoothie (fruit and yogurt) and pour it into popsicle molds.

[Raene]

We make smoothies into popsicles and we go a step farther by doing GREEN smoothies. Take spinach, kale, collards, etc, and then mix in blender with fruit (much more fruit than greens so it's sweet).

Makes a really pretty green color (call them Shrek or Monster Pops and kids will dig them!).

[HydeParkB]

I use plain juice. Right now we've got Strawberry Kiwi Juicy Juice popsicles.

I also use yogurt and blended fruit that is on hand - strawberries, bananas, whatever. If it's not sweet enough, I add some honey. You could add some of that jam to yogurt and freeze.

[mamadelbosque]

I just use whatever juice I have sitting around in my $2 popsicle molds from the grocery store. Grape juice, apple cider, WIC juice, whatever. Not super great, to be sure, but way better than store bought!!!!

[Owen'nZoe]

My kids just had homemade yogurt pops for breakfast. I just mixed plain yogurt, berries and a little sweetener together and put it in molds. They loved it. We usually just use leftover smoothies, like others have mentioned.

[LianneM]

I make smoothies to freeze into popsicles. Lately I've been doing green smoothies with lots of frozen blueberries so they are purple (I'll have to use that monster pop idea though, thanks!) Add yogurt, frozen fruit, a banana, and it's a super healthy snack my kid can eat any time of day

[Thalia]

Lately I've been making popsicles for DD out of homemade organic whole-milk yogurt and whatever fruit I have on hand. Just pour it into a popsicle mold and freeze. She loves them, especially when she's teething.

[FairyRae]

This was recently discussed in the traditional foods forum--maybe some of these ideas will be helpful!

http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...light=popsicle

And an older thread: http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...light=popsicle

HTH! :

[aliall]

Thanks everyone for the ideas!

[Storm Bride]

My kids love frozen smoothies. Their favourite is cantaloupe, orange juice, plain yogurt and a bit of honey. I use about 2c cantaloupe, 1.25c yogurt, .5c orange juice. Sometimes, I throw in a bit of banana. My teenager says it tastes like a creamsicle.

[LaLaLaLa]

I take any fruit my kids insisted on buying at the store but then refuse to eat at home, and puree that. Once poured into popsicle molds, the despised fruit becomes irresistible! Just today my kids slurped down a concoction of blackberries, oranges, watermelon, and probably some strawberries in there, too. All the fruit they turned up their noses at last week. Kids are weird.