Quick and Easy Snacks for Kids!

Summer is approaching fast and soon our precious little angels will be home all day everyday and hungrier than ever!   We need to be prepared with quick and healthy snacks that will allow our kids to feel satified in the heat and make us moms happy!  Think homemade popsicles.  Note the ingredients in a typical popcicle that is purchased at the store… 

Ingredients:

Orange Pop: water, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, orange juice (from concentrate), contains 1 percent or less of each of the following: malic acid, citric acid, guar gum, natural flavor, locust bean gum, annatto (for color). 

Cherry Pop: water, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, sugar, contains 1 percent or less of each of the following: cherry juice (from concentrate), malic acid, citric acid, guar gum, vegetable juice (for color), natural flavor, locust bean gum, red 40. 

Grape Pop: water, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup,grape juice (from concentrate), sugar, contains 1 percent or less of each of the following: malic acid, citric acid, guar gum, locust bean gum, natural flavor. 

I know as a child I ate many popsicle and if my mom had only known how not nutritious they were I would not have been allowed to eat so many!  Lets face it all the kids want is something really cold and sweet to suck on because it is fun.  If you can make a variety of yogurt pops, chocolate pops and plain fruit pops at home you will be getting in the nutrients while making the kids happy.  The main ingreident in store bought popscicles is SUGAR in different forms.  Take a look at one of my many recipes.

Strawberry Dreamcicle

1 (healthy) vanilla yogurt (use So delicous coconut yogurt if dairy intolerant)

1 cup strawberries washed and tops trimmed

½ cup water

Directions: Blend all together and place in molds.  Put in freezer until frozen.

Trick: When getting out of molds run hot water on the bottom of the popscicle mold or place in a glass of hot water for a few seconds to easily get the popscicle out..  Takes a little practice using the molds but it is well worth it.

Bunch of Berries

2 cups of berries of choices: raspberries, blueberries, blackberries… combination of all

1 cup Vanilla Coconut Milk

Directions: Blend all together and place in molds.  Put in freezer until frozen.

****You may need to adjust amounts depending on the size of your popsicle molds.  I know how many cups my molds will hold and I add ingredients and then water to get it where I need to be.  It is hard to mess up a popscicle!  J  It is so easy to come up with some fun flavors by getting the kids involved.  Let them put together a bunch of ingredients and make popsicles!  Everything tastes great when it is frozen on a stick!  I add vegetables to mine as well…  the trick is to have a POWERFUL blender that can eliminate any chunks left from vegetables.  Have fun!