Adapted from my monthly column on www.thefamilygroove.com
Oh, how I love the hot lazy days of summer where we can just kick back and enjoy being outdoors! And, when the hot weather hits, there is nothing more refreshing than popsicles!
Peruse the shelves of the grocery store, though, and you will be hard-pressed to find ones that are not laden with sugar and food colorings! So bad were the popsicles served at my childrens’ camps that even heavy duty detergents and bleach could not get the stains out of their shirts and their hands were stained for days! Do we really want to be putting that into our children’s bodies? I don’t think so!
Luckily, popsicles are the easiest treats to make and children love to participate making them with you! All you need is a set of molds (William-Sonoma has some adorable shooting star ones) and some juice, fruit, yogurt or even chocolate soy milk. Following are some of my favorite recipes but experiment with the fruits or other ingredients that your children like best!
If you just are not up for making them, there is also a brand at Whole Foods and other health food stores called Fruitfull (my daughter and I are completely addicted to the Coconut and I eventually requested that our children’s camp serve these as an option!) Coconut Bliss also carries chocolate and coconut popsicles made from coconut and sweetened with agave nectar. In a pinch, these are both good choices but it is always better and more fun to make your own!
The ones featured are my Strawberry & Cream ones that my son and I made. When it is a hot summer day, my children literally ask to have one for breakfast and think that they are getting such as treat while I know they are having a healthy start to their day!
Strawberry and Cream Popsicles
1 box frozen strawberries
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk or 1 cup yogurt (vanilla Stoneyfield, Fage, Brown Cow or So Delicious Coconut yogurt)
Combine the ingredients and blend until smooth but a few chunks of the strawberries are left. We used vanilla almond milk with a dollop of the So Delicious Coconut yogurt for the ones above but if you want to keep it simple and use just the strawberries and whatever yogurt you have on hand, do that as well! Pour in the molds and freeze.
Banana Cream Popsicles
6 bananas
1 cup yogurt (Stoneyfield, Brown Cow, Fage or So Delicious Vanilla Coconut Yogurt are my favorites)
Mix the ingredients in a blender or by hand and then pour into molds. Freeze and enjoy!
Watermelon Electrolyte Lemonade Popsicles
Watermelon- cubed or chunked (approximately 4 cups)
1-2 cups Newman’s Own (or other healthy, low-sugar lemonade)
1 squeeze of agave nectar
1 dash of sea salt
Combine the ingredients and blend in a blender. Be sure to put aside a few chunks or simply mash up to add to the mixture to give it text ure. Pour the mixture into the molds and freeze. These are so refreshing and delicious and are great after a workout or hot day at the beach!
Peach-Mango Cream Popsicles
2 peaches (cut up and frozen)
1 ripe mango
1 cup yogurt (see above for recommendations)
Combine ingredients in a blender until smooth. It is nice to leave a few peach slices aside to mash and add to the mixture. Pour into molds & serve.
Chocolate-Banana Popsicles
Chocolate almond milk (or soy milk, rice or hemp milk)
Frozen banana
Unsweetened grated coconut (or the meat from a young Thai coconut)
Combine the above ingredients and blend. Pour in molds, freeze & enjoy! These are decadent!!!
With the swine flu panic in high gear and being a
mother to two young children, I am as stressed as the
rest of you about how to keep my children healthy and
disease-free this winter. So, how can you reduce the risk for developing the swine flu or avoid those annoying runny noses and hacking coughs that you just can’t seem to get rid of?
If you are training for your next marathon, or even just trying to enhance your running speed or stamina, add more dark, leafy greens to your diet!
Yes, I said “greens,” not “protein” as you might have expected! Protein is certainly an important part of a runner’s diet with respect to building, repairing and maintaining muscle. But, so often, when I look at a client’s diet log, I see that they are loading up way too much on carbohydrates and protein, but leafy green vegetables are sorely overlooked!
We’ve got to admit, we here at GirlieGirl Army eat more cooked foods than we’d like. Why? Because the one time we went raw, we’d never been thinner, felt better, or had more of a fabulous bounty of energy. And we can now thank Katharine Pennington for giving us a kick in the tuchus to get back on board with our sprouts;
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