Orange Fruit and Veggie Popsicles

I am totally obsessed with the idea of fruit and veggie Popsicles! I know humankind has thought of this before, but I personally came up with the idea for our family when I was cleaning out my food storage room. I came across some old Popsicle makers I had bought from a school girl selling things door-to-door so her school could get some kind of grant, and...since I'm ALWAYS trying to find ways to get vegetables into my kids, the idea occurred to me that I could use my Vita-Mix to blend up raw fruits and veggies and freeze them into Popsicles. THEN....my mind went into over-drive and I thought how fun it would be to come up with recipes to make tons of different colors of Popsicles. My first attempt was, as the title states, orange fruit and veggie Popsicles. We used strawberries (these are from our garden)...

...baby carrots...

...and fresh-squeezed orange and lime juice...

...along with some honey, a dash of salt and a cap-full of vanilla. After filling up the Popsicle makers, I had enough leftover for a refreshing drink...

Actually, I added ice to this and watered it down about 50 percent. I felt so healthy drinking strawberries, fresh citrus juice, and carrots! Delicious. So here's how you do it...(But don't leave after checking out the recipe, because I have some amazing suggestions for Popsicles of every color of the rainbow and more cute pictures of my kids!)

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
1 cup shredded carrots
The juice of 2 oranges
The juice of 3 limes
1 cup water
1/4 cup cup honey
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Blend all ingredients in a blender, preferably a Vita-Mix, pour into Popsicle makers and freeze for at least four hours, or until completely frozen.

To remove from Popsicle makers, run cool water over them for a few seconds until they can be easily removed.

Okay, so here are some fruit and veggie combos my kids and I came up with to make all kinds of different colors. If you are too chicken to try them, don't worry, I will, and I'll blog about it. Good luck and I'd love it if you'd let me know what YOU come up with!

Red: tomatoes, strawberries, raspberries, red grapes

Purple: red leaf lettuce, blueberries, blackberries

Yellow: bananas, yellow bell peppers, corn, lemons, squash

Pink: strawberries, celery, peeled zucchini

Light Green: white grapes, celery, ice berg lettuce

Medium Green: Kiwis, green leaf lettuce, spinach

Dark Green: blackberries, cucumbers, green leaf lettuce, spinach