Frozen Fruit Smoothie Pops

I hit a small snag in my eternal quest to eliminate high fructose corn syrup and processed foods out of our diet (and not spend a bazillion dollars on frozen Summer treats). You see, it is Summer break, and my kids adore popsicles (particularly, Otter Pops). They can go through oodles of them on a hot Summer day.  I didn't feel like I could cut the kids off entirely from one of their favorite Summer fare( I am a softy like that). The problem was giving my little ol' brain quite a workout. Then the other day when I was at the grocery store I saw a display of  frozen pop molds. They were priced right at $1.28 a set! I thought, why not make my own frozen pops! At least I will know what ingredients are in them.

Yesterday, as I was digging through the fruit basket, I noticed quite a lot of uber ripe fruit, and I knew there was a carton of Nancy's Organic yogurt in the fridge that need to be finished up. Hey, I could make the fruit and yogurt into smoothies, or better yet, smoothie pops!

I pureed the ripe fruit in my food processor (my blender is a little wimpy, and the processor does a better job of making a smooth puree). Then I dumped the fruit and yogurt in the blender and mixed them together. I made a little bit of a mess, at first.

But, then I realized a funnel might work better!

 Once I got a rhythm going filling the molds went fairly quickly. The mold handles have a hollow bottom, and a straw so that kids can slurp up any melted juice when they are done eating their treat (pretty smart).

After I filled all the molds I put them in the freezer to set up.

This afternoon was the official taste test. All the kid's (big and little) thought they were delicious! I'm just happy that they a fairly healthy (and now my kid's are getting a serving of fruit when they are having a treat).

Of course, after I started cleaning up I noticed a couple of empty ketchup bottles that would have made filling the molds up A LOT easier! They are now filled with leftover smoothie mix to refill the rapidly emptying molds!

This week's smoothie flavor is Strawberry, Mango, Banana. The beauty of this recipe is that you can change out the fruit for whatever is on hand. Canned fruit would work great, too.

Frozen Strawberry, Mango, Banana Smoothie Pops
1 pound of ripe strawberries, hulled
5 very ripe bananas, peeled
3 mangoes, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cups of plain or vanilla yogurt

Puree fruit until smooth. Add in yogurt and sugar (if desired). Blend until well combined. Pour into frozen pop molds and freeze until firm (about 8 hours. I let my sit overnight). Set molds in hot water for a minute or two to make removing the pops easier.

My kids have now requested chocolate pudding pops, watermelon pops, and just regular juice pops. Of course, I will post each of these experiments (for any inquiring mind, who wants to know)!