Homemade Popsicles and Best Packaged Frozen Treats

I like Snack-Girl's suggestion of mixing frozen fruit with yogurt for a soft-serve type treat. I use fat free plain Fage, some frozen banana slices and frozen blueberries with a tablespoon of high quality cocoa powder (unsweetened baking cocoa) and the bananas are sweet enough to carry it off. I use the food processor.

Robin

This is a great post! I'm 24 and have been following you for about a year now. I love your alternate choices and recopies. You make eating healthier a lot easier!

Keep up the great work :)

Rach

I went to Trader Joe's yesterday and brought them a copy of "The 5 reasons to love Trader Joe's" They were so thrilled that they posted it for all to see !!!

betty

Strawberry Frozen Fruit Bars? 25 grams of sugar!? Interesting that this is found to be better than the fruit juices negatively reviewed with as much sugar. I will bet this is added sugar because one cup of most berries have only about 6 grams of carbs.

Also interesting is that the sugar content of the Jolly Llama Sqeezeups and Haagen Dasz Sorbet have been left off. I suppose the carb content implies sugar content, however, carbs from fiber are healthier.

Since these have no fiber, they metabolize quickly to raise the blood sugar creating an imbalance. When you raise the blood sugar, it crashes later and this is unhealthy for the liver and pancreas. What gives?!

These are NOT healthier.

Probably the best are the coconut milk minis. They are made with Agave and although they have 15 grams of carbs, they will metabolize differently than other sugars and may be healthier.

Make your own and use fresh fruit and then you can control the fiber and sugar content. Imagine pureeing your fruit and adding a low glycemic sweetener like agave or use stevia and freezing. These would be better in my humble opinion.

I_Fortuna

What I do to cool off is enjoy Mother Nature's popsicle, a nice cold slice of watermelon! I buy one per week, cut it up in tree-shaped [triangles] slices, stick 10'' wooden skewers thru bottoms [rind]. Keeps well in fridge, very enticing and refreshing! I'm trying to steer clear of refined sugars wherever possible. I also cool off with unsweetened iced tea, 1qt water cold-brewed with 2 herbal teabags, my fav is minty sleepytime. I like to add fresh mint from the garden, lemon slices, etc., to my ice-cubes too. :0

BarbL

our favourite desert/breakfast/treat of late is Acai bowls. As our local cafe makes fabulous Acai bowls, but they cost $16, we decided to copy them at home instead of getting poorer!

We freeze over-ripe bananas and any fruit in season (or just buy frozen berries). Here are the ingredients:

~ At least 1 frozen banana per person
~ frozen blueberries, handful
~ any other frozen fruit, handful

~ 1 tbsp Acai powder (as we just can't source the frozen Acai here) per person - be generous here, even though the pure powder form is also not cheap when bought even online

~ 1 tsp cacao powder per person (unless you dislike a slight chocolate flavour in the mix)

~ 1 tbsp flaxmeal or amaranth flakes per person (can be omitted as this is just to make it healthier and thicker)

~ any liquid you prefer - apple juice\almond milk\coconut water\soy milk - remembering that any fruit juice will make the mix sweeter, whilst other choices won't (cafes use juices)

Put all into a blender and add as much liquid as necessary to blend into a puree - best if frozen ingredients are in smaller pieces, but I just turn off the blender and push any un-blended pieces down, then switch on again - eventually it all mixes nicely

Pour into a bowl (it will have a delicious, deep purple colour by now)

~ Sprinkle granola or toasted muesli on top

together with your preference of any:
~ sliced strawberries
~ blueberries

~ sliced kiwi with skin still attached - even sour ones are good here, just slice them thinly and they provide a counter-taste to all that sweetness

~ desiccated coconut

~ slivered almonds

~ any seeds you like - pepitas (pumpkin), sesame, sunflower seeds (or these could have gone into the blender, too)

~ cut, dried apricots (or fresh, just to add another colour)

~ sliced dates (1 per person)
~ dried, sweetened cranberries
~ sultanas or raisins

~ slices of fresh banana (just to add yellow colour)

~ drizzle honey over top if not using juice in the Acai blend

and voila! You have a fantastic, tasty, healthy treat that may sound like a lot of work, but really isn't, and can be customised to your liking and would cost a heap of money at any gourmet cafe.

We are loving it. You don't notice the frozen bananas at all; they are just like ice cream when pureed. And my fussy, teen daughter says it tastes exactly like the shop-bought bowls, even though we use Acai powder.

We call them Acai borgs!

Silva

Hi Silva! This is a great recipe. It is a real powerhouse of antioxidants. It looks like some good protein sources too. This is right up my alley! Thanks!

I_Fortuna

You should try a brand called Fruitfull. Their strawberry bar is the same size as 365, has 70 calories and 13g sugar.

Reese