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Easy Homemade Popsicles Recipe!

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Easy homemade popsicles are a great summer treat! These tasty popsicle ideas and recipes are quick, easy and healthy and are sure to satisfy your kids!

Easy Homemade Popsicles Recipe

Easy Homemade Popsicle Ideas And Recipes

Remember when you used to sit on your front steps on a hot summer day eating a popsicle? It was usually red or purple and on special occasions you got a fudgesicle. Remember how you tried to lick the drips faster than the sun could melt them? Sometimes the drips would roll down your fingers, forcing you to make the mind numbing decision whether to lick your fingers or the new drips forming on your popsicle.

Every once in a while a few drips would get out of control and fall on your bare toes. Remember how your dog’s tongue felt like sandpaper when he licked the sweet gooeyness off of them?

It’s funny how we try to make drama and expensive memories for our children when it’s the simple everyday things we remember the most.

 

Try some of these ideas for easy homemade popsicles to keep the kids entertained this summer:

To find popsicle molds, look at discount and mail order stores or garage sales. If you don’t have any molds, use small paper or plastic cups. Put a wooden stick or plastic spoon in the center.

For mini homemade popsicles, pour orange, apple or grape juice or flavored drink mix into ice cube trays. Partially freeze and then place toothpicks in the center of each cube (or place plastic wrap over the top, secure and insert toothpicks through plastic wrap).

Making your own homemade popsicles can give great variety and keep your kids cool this summer!

 

For non-traditional homemade popsicles:

  • Freeze applesauce in popsicle molds.
  • Mix fruit or jam into yogurt. Freeze in small, snack sized Ziploc bags for frozen yogurt on the go. Cut a hole in the end of the bag for easy access/eating.
  • Mix gelatin and freeze. Add gummie fish or worms before freezing for added fun.
  • Freeze syrup from canned fruit.
  • Add food coloring or sprinkles to yogurt or softened ice cream for added pizzazz. Then freeze in popsicle molds.
  • When you have leftover jam or jelly, put 1/4 cup of hot water in the jar and shake well. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.
  • If jelly or jam doesn’t set up well, use for popsicles or add more water, boil and make syrup.
  • Make a batch of pudding. Add coconut, nuts, marshmallows, crushed cookies or sprinkles if desired. Pour into molds. Freeze several hours until firm.
  • Stick a toothpick in the center of blackberries, strawberries, raspberries or sliced bananas. Dip in chocolate if desired. Freeze on a tray. Once frozen, store in freezer bags.
  • For easy snow cones, freeze orange juice (or any other flavored juice) in ice cube trays. Store frozen juice cubes in a plastic bag. Blend 5 cubes in the blender until they have a shaved ice consistency. The shaved ice will keep its consistency if kept frozen in a container.
  • For watermelon homemade popsicles, blend one cup each watermelon chunks (seeds removed), orange juice and water. Blend well. Then pour and freeze into molds.
  • For strawberry homemade popsicles, blend 2 cups strawberries, 1 cup vanilla ice cream or yogurt, 4 cups orange juice and 2 tablespoons sugar. Blend smooth. Pour into molds and freeze.
  • For banana homemade popsicles, dissolve one 3 oz. package strawberry gelatin with one cup boiling water. In a blender, mix gelatin, 1 banana and 1 cup yogurt or ice cream. Blend well and pour into molds.

 

Pudding Pops

1 pkg. pudding (not instant*)
3 cups milk

Combine 1 large package of pudding with 3 cups of milk. Mix only enough to blend well. Quickly pour into popsicle molds and freeze. Chocolate and vanilla pudding may be layered for a fun treat. Makes 8-10 popsicles.

*Regular homemade pudding may be used instead of store-bought pudding mix.

 

Moo Fruit Freezer Pops
(submitted by Roxie in Texas)

1 bag (16 oz.) frozen fruit. (I used some strawberries I had frozen)
1 1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of sugar or Splenda

Combine the fruit, sugar, and 1/2 cup of milk in a food processor and process for 5 seconds. Add the rest of the milk and process for 15 seconds more. Mixture should be smooth and almost frozen. Scoop 1/2 cup of frozen mixture into 5 oz cups or popsicle molds. Insert sticks and freeze until firm.

 

Banana Pops
(Submitted by Lisa)

Slice bananas into disks (we have bananas on sale this week for $.29/lb)

Roll banana discs into PLAIN yogurt (you can use vanilla yogurt, but I used plain because that’s what the recipe said, and that was back in my super healthy days)

Add any kind of topping you wish. We rolled our disks in chopped pecans. I know that’s expensive, but we love pecans so much. After freezing these we ate them AND YOU WOULDN’T BELIEVE THE TASTE! It was like eating a frozen candy bar. Okay, maybe not that good, but they were sweet and refreshing, and I didn’t have to put a limit on how many the kids could eat.

 

Other toppings that work well: chopped raisins, granola, any kind of nut (cashew, peanuts, almonds), peanut butter (this would be without the yogurt), and of course, melted chocolate or chocolate chips.

My son is not a fan of bananas, but he really liked this treat. You can even eat them plain. Oh, yeah, another topping we did was a cinnamon/sugar mixture. Believe it or not, it was good too! I will warn you that it’s messy because of the yogurt. And super messy if the kids help! But you don’t have the guilt of giving them something unhealthy, and it’s a cheap “popsicle.”

 

[dining]

 

Easter Menu and Leftover Easter Tips

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Easter Menu

Spiced Honey Ham
Boiled or steamed new red potatoes
Deviled eggs
Carrot and celery sticks (in honor of the Easter Bunny of course)
Peas and pearl onions
Cornbread
Pineapple Sour Cream Pie

 

Spiced Honey Ham

1/2 cup mustard
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp. cloves
1 ham

Mix first 5 ingredients and pour over ham. Cook ham according to directions on the package basting every 30 minutes or so.

This dessert is great a change from all the sweets everyone has probably had from the Easter Bunny that morning.

 

Pineapple Sour Cream Pie

1 pkg. (5 1/2 oz.) instant vanilla pudding
1 can (8 oz.) crushed pineapple plus juice
2 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 baked pie crust (you can use a store bought one of course)
Whipped topping

Combine all but the crust and beat slowly for 1 minute. Pour into the crust and chill 3 hours. Top with whipped topping when ready to serve.

 

Easter Leftover Tips:

  • Run leftover Easter hard candy through your spice grinder. Sprinkle it on cakes, cupcakes and cookies for color, sparkle and taste.
  • To keep egg yolks from crumbling when you slice hard boiled eggs, wet your knife before each slice.

 

What to do with 1001 hard boiled eggs:

  • Use them and some of the leftover ham and veggies from your Easter relish dish to make chef salads.
  • Chop them up with ham, bacon or sausage and a little grated cheese to make breakfast burritos.
  • Use them for Scotch eggs. Wrap uncooked sausage (the moldable kind that comes in a plastic tube) around each peeled, hard boiled egg. Bake for 30 minutes at 350°. You can serve these cold or hot and make a great on the go breakfast.
  • Make your favorite egg salad. Then add to it equal amounts of ham. Slice a hoagie roll or French bread roll in half. Place bottom half of roll on baking sheet and spread with 1/4 cup of egg/ham salad. Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese. Broil until cheese is melted. Top with roll top and broil a minute.
  • If you have a mound of leftover hard boiled eggs, don’t forget the simple ways to use them up like for deviled eggs, egg salad sandwiches, on a chef salad or just thrown in a lunch to be eaten with a little salt.

 

photo by: eraphernalia_vintage

Herb Guide – Which Herbs Go Well With Which Foods?

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This easy herb guide helps you figure out which herbs go best with which foods! Find out which herbs work best in various dishes and make more tasty meals!
 
[dining]
 
Herb Guide - Which Herbs Go Well With Which Foods?

 

Herb Guide – Herbs That Complement Different Dishes

[Read more…] about Herb Guide – Which Herbs Go Well With Which Foods?

Free School Lunches – Readers’ Answers

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Free School Lunches – Readers’ Answers

This is A Reader Response to our post, “Is It Wrong To Use Free School Lunches?“

Dear Readers, A while back, Melinda wrote asking our opinion of accepting free school lunches if you qualify. You can read our initial response here. Since then, we received these reader comments on the same subject and we thought you might find it interesting. Tawra

Hi Tawra,

I just read Melinda’s question regarding reduced school lunches. Having been on both sides of being able to afford and it being a real pinch, AND having worked in the public schools this past year, I would like to offer an additional perspective.

First of all, school lunches are not funded by the Department of Education or local school taxes. They are a program of the USDA to help farmers use the surplus. I don’t know all the specific details, but at least some of the foods are surplus that the government has ALREADY purchased and needs to distribute. That said, the local, state and federal layers of the education system DO look at the numbers of students receiving free and reduced price school lunch when determining where extra money will be spent. That is the only legal way of determining average income of a school/neighborhood or district. So, if a family decides to not sign up, that ultimately does cut the dollars being sent to that school.

Also, for those who decide they will take their reduced or free school lunch some of the time and bring lunch from home most of the time, that is great but be aware that if your school uses a debit account, the juice/milk and/or dessert that children often buy when bringing a bag lunch from home, actually will reduce your debit account more than just buying a whole reduced price lunch. Sounds stupid, but it’s true. At our elementary school, reduced price lunch was 40 cents. Milk plus dessert was, I believe, 65 cents.

I would suggest if you are truly feeling guilty about “taking” the lunch program, then make a donation of cash or food to a local food bank or use the extra cash to help out a friend.

Much of the same goes for the state Children’s Health Insurance. The numbers are used to make estimates of how many children are low income and thus be able to use the figures to appeal to state and federal levels for additional funding. Yes, it all ultimately comes out of our pockets but at least think about making sure some of it gets diverted to your neighborhood. 🙂

          -Christy

 

Hi Tawra,

I would like to reassure Melinda to please use the free meals at school. This is a Federal program, not welfare. I raised 3 children on this program and it is a lifesaver. If enough people do not use the program that do qualify for it ,it could be discontinued, and the people that need it will not have it. Please do not feel bad or guilty about using these programs.

          -Lisa from Gloucester Point, Virginia

Tawra, the federal government uses the number of students enrolled in the free/reduced lunch program to apportion other federal funds to schools for programs.

For example: If you have 2 schools with the same number of students and the same number of children eligible for free lunches, but at school A 50 children enroll and at school B 100 children enroll, then School B is going to get a lot more federal dollars for programs like Head Start than school A. The number of children enrolled in the free lunch program is used as a proxy in the funding formulas for several federal programs.

          -Maria from Washington, DC

In response to the free school lunch question… I am a teacher and we wish more parents would take the free/reduced lunch. First, the school receives a lot of money for each child on the program. Second, there isn’t a chance of the child being embarrassed. As a teacher I don’t even know who the kids are in my class who are on the program.

Lastly, this also helps with your school’s end of the year test scores. In Missouri, we have the MAP. The school not only receives a score, but there are sub categories in the schools. One is free/reduced lunch. Not to sound cruel, but the more kids who score better on the test on the free/reduced lunch program the better the score is for that sub category. If one category fails the entire school is considered a failed school.

          -Lisa from Gloucester Point, Virginia

 

What is an Appropriate Food Budget?

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Elise from Kelowna, British Columbia writes:

Hi Tawra and Jill,

My husband and I are saving hard for a mortgage down-payment and we are trying to stick to a budget, but I don’t know what is an appropriate amount of money to allot for food per month. I try to get everything on sale and in bulk, as well as utilizing free sources of fruit and vegetables. (Here in the Okanagan they are all over!) Could you give me some advice about this? It is just the two of us — we have no children yet.

Thank you for the help, and also thank you for this inspiring website. I always read your articles and they boost my resolve to be as frugal as I can while still living life richly.

Thanks again, Elise

 

Hi Elise! Well, first let me tell you that we’re jealous that we don’t live in the Okanagan. From what we’ve seen of it, it’s beautiful country up there!

The answer to your question depends on a lot of factors. I can’t really give you a dollar amount because the price of food varies from state to state and from the US to Canada. When Mike and I were living alone we spent $125 a month on groceries (US dollars). My best advice is each day or week think about where you can cut a little more from your bill. No matter how much you cut, there is only so far you can go. Eventually you will get to an average point and the will be a steady bill for you. Then focus on how you can save in other areas.

Generally, if you cut out the convenience foods and go to restaurants as little as possible you will be well on the way. Since you are saving extra hard right now, I would cut out all of the restaurant trips except maybe on your anniversary and try for no expensive convenience foods. Then, when you have saved what you want to save, ease up on those things a little if you like. Also, keep in mind that it may be worth it at times to use convenience foods if you have an opportunity to make more money with the time you save. For example, if you and your husband can work some overtime this week and it pays well, but it eliminates the time you have to prepare meals for the week, it might be worth buying some TV dinners. Still, whenever possible, I’d prepare some freezer meals ahead of time when things are slow to make up for the time you may not have later.

It sounds like you are well on your way to getting it as low as you can. I hope you get your down payment quickly!

      -Tawra

 

photo by: Masahiro

Buy Pumpkins After Halloween

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Buy Pumpkins After Halloween

This is a tip one of our readers posted and I thought it was a really great idea! Of all the things I am busy buying on clearance after Halloween, pumpkins wasn’t one of them. Duhh!! What was I “not” thinking? Thanks for the great idea! [Read more…] about Buy Pumpkins After Halloween