Our kids love popsicles, and so do we! What we don’t love is the added sugar and artificial flavors and coloring that most store bought popsicles contain. Even before we had kids, Mr. AJ and I started thinking about different ways to recreate some of our favorite childhood treats in a healthy way. Living in Texas, popsicles are a must on our list of summer treats. We wanted to make sure that our future kiddos could enjoy this yummy treat too, so we decided that it was about time to start making our own.
Our popsicle recipe started out simple with just two kinds of frozen fruits mixed in a blender with water, but it has evolved quite a bit as our tastes have changed throughout the years. We now have numerous recipes depending on our mood, fruit availability, and the season. The perk of making our own treats is that we can change our recipes to fit our tastes at the time. It’s fantastic and delicious.
Before we started experimenting with recipes though, we researched and shopped around for popsicle molds. Popsicle molds are fairly easy to find, but we had a few requirements for ours that took a little bit of extra research on our part. We wanted our molds to look fun (these are popsicles after all), they had to be durable, easy to fill, and easy to wash. We finally found them after a bit of searching, and we continue to use the same ones now that we have kids. These are the ones we like and continue to recommend:
Now that our youngest is two, we’re actually buying a second set to add to our original.
Once you have your molds, you can start creating your own recipes. You can also try our two favorite recipes below to get started. After trying a few different recipes, we noticed that our favorites were not only a yummy treat, but also a healthy snack for our kids and for us. Now, at our house, any extra smoothie is a new round of amazing popsicles waiting to happen. We love smoothies, and we always make extra to restock our popsicles.
You may have guessed that our favorite summer smoothie recipe doubles as our favorite summer popsicle recipe. If so, you are right. It’s pretty simple to make, and it’s a healthy treat that we’ll happily give to our kids (and enjoy ourselves!).
Easy Healthy Summer Popsicles
Ingredients:
1 fresh banana (ripe)
1C – frozen strawberries
1C – frozen mango
2-3T – sunflower seeds (optional) (feel free to substitute any seeds or nuts you have on hand)
1C – almond milk
Filtered water (enough to submerse the rest of the ingredients by ~1″ in the blender pitcher)
Instructions
Add sunflower seeds, banana, strawberries, and mango to the blender pitcher (in that order). Add almond milk, and add enough water to completely submerge all ingredients to ~1″ below the surface.* Blend, beginning at a low speed, gradually increasing to high speed. Blend until smooth, ~30s-1min.
*We own a Vitamix blender, which we will write about another time. If you do not have a high speed blender, you may need to increase the ratio of liquids in your smoothie. You may also consider blending the sunflower seeds and some of the water before adding the rest of the ingredients.
________
For an extra special treat on a hot summer day, we like to make our chocolate banana milkshake popsicles. These popsicles are simple to make and delicious. The kids love it, and it’s a much healthier, not to mention more delicious, chocolate popsicle than what you can find in stores.
Chocolate Banana Milkshake Popsicles
Ingredients:
1-2 – bananas
1-2C – almond milk
1C – ice
1/3C – dark chocolate chips
Add bananas, almond milk, chocolate chips, and ice to the blender. Gradually increase speed to high. Turn off when thoroughly blended, careful not to over-blend.
________
We hope you enjoy these recipes and that it gives you some motivation to start making your own healthy popsicles at home. Let us know how you like them, and feel free to share your own recipe creations in the comments below!
What We Learned This Week 