Pink Fruit and Veggie Popsicles

As promised, I am blogging a second attempt at fruit and veggie Popsicles (And just for your info, I didn't know that the word "Popsicle" was capitalized, but that is what my spell-checker tells me.) These were just as good as the Orange fruit and veggie Popsicles, but because my boys don't have any pink clothes or props, I used my 8-year-old daughter as the model...

So have you thought of any fun fruit and veggie combos to make pretty Popsicles? I thought of a new one today....a Brown Popsicle, using cocoa powder and green leaf lettuce or spinach. Probably replacing the water with milk would be a good idea, too. Let me know if you come up with any other color combinations and I hope your kids enjoy these, too!

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup peeled, shredded zucchini
1 cup fresh or frozen strawberries
1/4 cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch salt

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a blender (I love the Vita-Mix) and blend until smooth. Pour into Popsicle makers, then freeze for at least four hours, or until completely frozen. To remove from Popsicle makers, run cool water over them for a few seconds.

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

Strawberry Ice Cream

I made this dessert for the kids today as an accompaniment to red enchiladas. They were kind of hot, so I thought it would be great to help cool things off. I love this ice cream because as the fat, it calls for coconut oil instead of cow's cream. This works for me because cream is hard to come by where I live here in Mexico, but I always have coconut oil on hand.

I have to tell you that when I tasted this after the kids went back to school, I was immediately taken back to summertime. Feelings of freedom and vacations and just playing came back to me and made me so excited about school letting out. I know that sounds corny, but it's true.

We didn't actually have time to let ours freeze completely, as the kids had to get back to school, but it still tasted fantastic...

I hope you get the nostalgic feelings I did. Enjoy!

P.S. The ice cream maker on the left is the one I used, but I would love to have the mint green one on the right. So cute! I love this machine because it doesn't require the use of salt and ice, or a frozen bowl. It has a built-in compressor which freezes the cream in about 45 minutes. Love it!

Black Bean and Green Chili Salad

I didn't feel like going to the store for groceries today, so the 15-year-old girl and I scrounged through my mother's kitchen cabinets and came up with this dinner...

The strawberry preparation is simple. Just wash well, and remove the greens...

The asparagus preparation is simple as well. Just wash asparagus and saute in butter, then add salt...

Just make sure your brother doesn't eat half of them before they are served...

To make the salad, round up the following ingredients...

6 cups of spring greens
15 oz can of black beans (about 2 cups)
1 small can of chopped green chili (about 1/2 cups)
1 cup of cubed gouda cheese
6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
Ranch dressing (for an awesome homemade recipe from an amazing lady, go HERE)
Flax seeds

Toss first five ingredients...

...then serve with dressing and sprinkle on flax seeds...

...and if you're really lucky, you'll be having a good hair day when you serve this. This is a rare occurrence, so I am sharing, and this is the best shot I could get...

Thanks for listening.