Healthy Frozen Treats: Probiotic Popsicles

Emma from 95 Acres of Sky is with us today with a delicious recipe for probiotic popsicles—a wonderful way to give your children a special treat that we as parents can feel good about.

During the busy, sometimes hectic and overheated, days of summer getting motivated to cook can be hard.  I often find my food mojo goes on vacation as the temperatures rise (and rise).  As my creativity and enthusiasm take a dip so does the family appetite, the children don’t want to sit for large meals when they could be running, swimming or playing with friends.

Rather than fight this phenomenon I prefer to go with a few ‘light days’, providing healthy snack type meals that are packed full of goodness but light on the stomach.  These often revolve around tapas type meals with little bits of meat, cheese, salad, hummus, crackers and fruits that are easy to assemble and are handily portable if we find ourselves heading out for yet another round of summer fun.

But when the temperatures really soar I turn to a summer staple, fruit popsicles and homemade energy bars.  These frozen treats are a hit with my boys, cooling them down and giving them a good dose of energy without the table time struggles of a full meal. They can function as a snack or a summer ‘mini meal’, just before we head out to the pool or a play date.

This year I’ve been more conscious than ever of trying to pack as much nutrition into every bite as possible.  My growing lads are so full of energy, but liable to crash hard when their tummies feel suddenly empty.  With increasingly busy schedules it is even more important for them to be eating nutritionally dense foods that support their growth and development.

Of course that doesn’t mean boring!  The more delicious a food is the more likely they are to want to eat it, so good flavor is key. I’m also conscious of taking any opportunity I can to introduce probiotics and key nutrients into their systems; despite the massive range of foods available to us in these modern times, we are often consuming empty calories filled with sugar and additives, those foods marketed to children are particularly guilty.

So instead of reaching for the freezer section at my local store I reach for my blender and whip up a batch of probiotic popsicles, chased down with an energy bar packed with natural sweetness and a good dose of omegas.  If making popsicles is a bit of a fuss these recipes make delicious smoothies too.

Probiotic Strawberry Popsicles

•  2 cups of chopped strawberries (a great way to use some softer or imperfect fruits)
• ½ cup of milk kefir (a probiotic drink thinner than yogurt)
• 1 tablespoon of raw honey

Blend all of the ingredients together and pour into molds or straight into a glass.  The kefir helps build gut flora which builds immunity and health in the body.  It has a tart taste so a little raw honey (which helps protect against seasonal allergies) is a great addition.

Fruits of the Forest Popsicles with  Vanilla Yogurt

• 2 cups of mixed berries (blackberries, blueberries, raspberries etc)
• ½ cup of spinach
• 1 tablespoon of raw honey or 2 medjool dates

For yogurt topping:

• ½ cup of plain yogurt
• ½ – 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Blend the popsicle ingredients together and set aside.  Mix the yoghurt and vanilla in a bowl and then add in layers with the fruit smoothie to your popsicle molds.  This gives a visual interest as well as a delicious layer of probiotics to soothe and cool hot tummies.  Alternatively serve as a smoothie with a delicious yogurt dollop on top.

I hope that you give these recipes a try, enjoy and stay cool!