It’s August and it’s hot. For me, August weekends are traditionally days for sprinklers and popsicles, sparkling pools and chilled watermelon. In fact, life feels pretty close to perfect from the perspective of a shady chaise lounge in August; watching my children play and listening as their laughter echo’s the joy of summer. Ahhh, the sweet month of August.
This year, as the heat began to rise I began to question the frozen treats my kids love. Popsicles have always felt like the better option to me. Ice cream bar or popsicle? Slushie or popsicle? The popsicle always felt like the more wholesome choice. They’re made from fruit, right? But then I looked at the ingredients. I can honestly say that in my opinion, if I mixed sugar and water with a little food coloring and froze it, my kids would be better off than if I gave them a nationally recognized popsicle product. Truly. But then I started experimenting with other fresh options and realized there is a whole frozen world out there that takes only minutes to create and provides the same summer joy PLUS a fresh nutritious snack. Here’s the comparison:
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The Comparison: Popsicle Brand Orange – Cherry – Grape vs. Out of the Box Popsicles
(All ingredients followed by an * can be referenced at www.wikipedia.org by clicking on the ingredient)
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Popsicle Brand
Orange – Cherry – Grape
Ingredients:
- water
- pear juice (from concentrate)
- liquid sugar (sugar, water)
- high fructose corn syrup
- corn syrup
- grape juice (from concentrate)
- orange juice (from concentrate)
- cherry juice (from concentrate)
- vegetable juice (for color)
- citric acid
- malic acid
- guar gum
- natural flavor
- locust bean gum
- ascorbic acid
- annatto (for color)
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There are so many ways to make delicious frozen popsicles. If it can be made into a liquid, it can be made into a popsicle. After playing with a number of variations, I decided on three Out of the Box Popsicle recipes to share this week: Orange Creamsicle, Lemon-Lime & Blueberry and Watermelon.
*For suggestions on where to find popsicle molds, see Perfect Pantry Staples.
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Out of the Box FoodSM Orange Creamsicle
Serves: Varies depending on size of popsicle molds
Special Equipment: popsicle mold, popsicle sticks
Ingredients:
- 1 C fresh squeezed orange juice
- 1 C plain Greek yogurt
- 1-2 tbsp agave nectar (optional) see Perfect Pantry Staples
Directions:
- Whisk together all three ingredients. Pour into popsicle mold and freeze.
**Serve any leftover popsicle mix that won’t fit into your molds as a sweet smoothie treat!
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Out of the Box FoodSM Watermelon Popsicles
Serves: Varies depending on size of popsicle molds
Special Equipment: blender, popsicle mold, popsicle sticks
Ingredients:
- watermelon
Directions:
- Cut watermelon into slices and remove rind. Cut fruit into chunks.
- Blend chunks of watermelon in blender until pureed.
- Pour juice into popsicle mold and freeze.
**Serve any leftover watermelon juice as a sweet, thirst-quenching treat!
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Out of the Box FoodSM Lemon-Lime & Blueberry Popsicles
Serves: Varies depending on size of popsicle molds
Special Equipment: popsicle mold, popsicle sticks
Ingredients:
- 1/4 C fresh squeezed lemon juice (*try Meyer lemons for a sweeter variety)
- 1/4 C fresh squeezed lime juice
- 2 1/2 tbsp. agave nectar (see Perfect Pantry Staples)
- fresh blueberries
Directions:
- Place fresh blueberries into the popsicle molds.
- Whisk lemon juice, lime juice and agave nectar together.
- Pour juice mixture over the blueberries in the popsicle mold.
- Freeze.
**Serve any leftover lemon-limeade as a sweet, thirst-quenching treat!
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Additional Popsicle Ideas:
- Brew herbal tea. Add a bit of agave nectar to sweeten and freeze. Some kid friendly varieties to try: Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf’s Swedish Berries and Tazo Passion Tea (available at some markets and Starbucks)
- Freeze any unsweetened fruit juice/nectar
- Puree over-ripe bananas with a little water. Pour into popsicle mold and freeze.
- Layer your popsicles by using different juices for fun combinations. One to try:
- Berry – Lemon-lime – Peach. Pour Berry juice into popsicle mold up to 1/3 full. Freeze until just set (approximately 1 hour). Remove from freezer and add lemon-limeade (see above recipe) to 2/3 full. Sprinkle in a few fresh blueberries. Refreeze for another hour until just set. Remove from freezer and top off popsicles with peach juice. Freeze until solid (at least eight hours or over night)
Enjoy the sweet beginning of August! Until next week…
These are some of the best healthy popsicle recipes I have found. I love the layered ones and especially the idea of sprinkling blueberries in lime-aid — they look spectacular for serving to guests. What popsicle mold are you using? I haven’t seen that one online.
This is a Popsicle mold I got from Williams Sonoma many years ago…it’s a great one!
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Kim, I absolutely love your ideas…and your Popsicle molds. Would you be will to share the brand of Popsicle mold you use.
Thanks a bunch!
Wow – what a wealth of wonderful information here, Kim! Great blog and photos!
Thank you for the great feedback!