Fresh Popsicles, July 4 and Chocolate Berry Yumminess

Happy July 4th! We walked in a parade this morning and enjoyed some fresh watermelon at a family-fun celebration. Tonight was a feast with some friends and some fireworks. For dessert, I brought homemade fresh popsicles. The rocket and star popsicle molds seemed perfect for the July 4 popsicles! By the way, I LOVE the new pop molds I bought. The ability to take only one popsicle out at a time is just incredible (and they are food safe!).

Red, White, and Blue Popsicles (makes 12)

Fresh or frozen blueberries

Lemonade (I used a 12-oz frozen lemonade, made with 3 cups of water instead of 4)

2 bananas

1/2 cup vanilla rice milk

1 package frozen (or fresh) organic strawberries

 

EDITED 7/4 — changed order to blue, white, and red (opposite of picture) to let the lemonade (with the blueberries) better fill the layer 

This is a 3-stage process to get those red, white, and blue colors to really pop (no pun intended). In the bottom 1/3 of the popsicle mold, drop a few whole blueberries, then pour lemonade around them to fill the layer. The lemonade is clear, so the whole blueberries really show off their blue color. (If you blend them, they turn a red-purple color– not so blue). Freeze lightly. Next, blend the two bananas with the rice milk and add to the popsicle molds, filling the next 1/3. Again, freeze softly. (Note: I was worried about freezing the popsicle stick in place, so I didn’t put it in until the final layer was added.) For the final layer, blend the strawberries with about 1 cup of lemonade (add more or less lemonade to taste, depending on how sweet or tart you want your red portion). Fill the remainder of the mold, then place in stick (if the other layers are a little hard, run the stick in hot water). Freeze overnight. 

The combination of tart and sweet was remarkably tasty. The layers worked really well together. Next time, I’ll try to play with a more creamy version, such as yogurt. But my friend wanted tart, so I worked with lemonade.

A couple of days ago, I made these chocolate-berry popsicles, recipe found at The Green Baby Guide — she modified a vegan recipe she found. Very delicious! I highly recommend that you add the fresh strawberry slices — SO good.

Chocolate-Strawberry Popsicles

Toss the following ingredients (*except the strawberries) in a blender, puree, pour into molds, and freeze. 

• 12 ounces of firm silken tofu (make sure it’s silken tofu made especially for desserts)
• 1/2 cup maple syrup or brown sugar (I used maple syrup)
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup rice milk, coconut milk, or cow’s milk (I used rice milk) 
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch sea salt
• 4 strawberries, washed, stemmed, dried and sliced into quarters *(put these in molds and pour chocolate mix to surround berries before freezing)

I plan to experiment with more along this line — doesn’t a chocolate-raspberry combo sound incredible?