Red White And Blue Fruit Pops

It's getting hot out there.  The kids are restless.  Summer is a-comin'.  Time to get ready for those Memorial Day celebrations...Need a cool dessert?  And one that's patriotic too?  Make these.  I'm sure you could do these in one day (the layers need about 2 hours to freeze up), but I did this over 3 days...and my kids got 3 different smoothies out of this.

You'll need

Part 1

strawberries (or another red fruit, frozen or fresh)

orange juice - just a splash

Popsicle mold

Part 2

Soy yogurt (plain or vanilla)

soy milk - just a splash

banana

Part 3

blueberries

orange juice

Blend the strawberries with a splash of orange juice.  I used less than 1/4 C of OJ.

Put about 2 tablespoons (or about 1/3 of the way up) of the strawberry puree into each mold.  And put the mold into the freezer for at least 2 hours.  Here's where my kids scored.  I added about a cup of ice to the blender and blended for a super cool smoothie.

The next day, I did the white layer.  Blend together the soy yogurt, a splash of soy milk, and the banana. Again, spoon about 2 tablespoons of the white into the molds and freeze this.  Again, I added some more strawberries to the yogurt mixture and made another smoothie for the kids to enjoy.

Bonus smoothie with the leftover banana soy yogurt mix

On the final day, I made another puree.  This time I used blueberries with a little OJ.  If you can't get your blender to go, add some water or more OJ.  Whiz that up and fill the molds to the top.  Freeze for at least 2 hours.

To help release the pops from the molds, run the mold under warm water for about 10-20 seconds.  They should pop right out!

Enjoy!

He ate them so fast he didn't need that straw feature. :)

Tip:  Make your own frozen fruit.  You know how when you go to the farmer's market and they've got strawberries for sale and you buy the whole darn flat because, hey, they sure do look good....but then there's no way you and your family can eat them all before some of them start going bad.  Or how sometimes the berries look great at the store, but once you get home and open the package up...oops...got some bruised ones.  Well, don't throw them away.  (Throw away the moldy ones, of course) Wash, cut and freeze them for future smoothies!  Nobody will know they weren't "perfect" and blemish-free, once the fruit has been blended into a smoothie.  For peaches and nectarines, I would suggest peeling the fruit and cutting into wedges or cubes.  Lay the fruit in a single layer on a cookie sheet or even a plate.  Just make sure they aren't touching.  Once frozen, pop them off the cookie sheet and into a bag and place them back in the freezer for later.