With all the brightly colored fruits and veggies packed with nutrition that God created, it's good that our eyes are attracted to those enticing colors. But as always, food manufacturers know how to use that to draw our eyes (and especially our kids' eyes), to processed junk foods full of chemicals used in artificial colorings and flavors. Read this news story on the danger of artificial colorings in food: Consumer Group Asks FDA to Ban Artificial Coloring in Foods.
But artificial colorings and flavorings are in almost everything!
It's in all the many processed foods you see at the store (it's good to steer clear of those anyway), and now that summer is here, another thing to avoid are those “freezer pops” that the kids love, full of artificial flavorings and colorings.
Are there any Healthy popsicle alternatives?
You'll be glad to know that I've got a few good ideas for you today so you can avoid the fake colors and flavors that are in so many popsicles at the store! So if you need some healthy popsicle alternatives, one idea is the popsicles I make from our leftover smoothies. The kids love these, and I do too because they're packed with nutrition, and simple to make. But it's not something I can just hand out to all the neighbor kids, in case their parents aren't aware of the health benefits of raw dairy. It's sad, but something I need to be careful about – many people are still misinformed on the safety of raw dairy, and I have to respect where they're at. Another great one (that I also couldn't give to the neighbor kids), are these probiotic fudgesicles!
More ideas:
You could use the same popsicle makers I use for smoothies and make popsicles out of extra Kombucha (especially for the times it turns out really sweet) or with extra fermented lemonade! By the way, yes, I know these popsicle makers are made out of plastic, but cold foods in plastic don't worry me as much as hot foods do.
NOTE: See the great comments below full of ideas for more healthy popsicle alternatives!
Let me know if you have more ideas for easy summer treats for the kids! (Check out more snack ideas below, too.)
- My other post about food dyes and how they can affect a child's behavior
- Need more healthy snack ideas?
- Here are some healthy & delicious salad recipes for summer
- Adapting recipes to make them healthier
- Read more on the dangers of artificial food colorings
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Lexi says
I definitely love frozen watermelon. I just cube it and put it in a ziplock. Then I let it thaw out a bit, just until it isn’t too hard to bite. This also works really well in a blender. I imagine you could blend watermelon and freeze it into molds also.
Heather says
I hand popsicles out to neighbor kids all the time! So I have Edy’s Fruit bars, or Dole Fruit bars. They are fruit! no HFCS, so colors and mostly fruit. I also buy Whole Fruit bars but they have chunks in so they are only for moms! love them!
I do make my own somtimes and have great popsicle molds but when you are handing out like 8-16 a day, you gotta buy some!
Kelly says
Can’t wait to try these! Thanks, Barb.
Barb says
Lemon Balm Popsicles (from Herb Mentor News)
http://www.learningherbs.com
2 cups fresh or 4 Tbls dried lemon balm leaves
added to a half-gallon jar.
Then simply fill the jar with boiling water, and let it steep for about 20 minutes. (The knife absorbs the heat to prevent the glass from cracking…just a little trick, but not always needed with these types of jars)
Strain and add honey to taste. I added about 2 tablespoons.
Pour into popsicle molds or simply into ice cube trays.
Freeze for a few hours.
Kelly says
Mmmm, love that one, thank you!!
Chef Rachel says
Here’s a great frozen treat I call Frozen Banana Delight: peel, slice and freeze over ripe bananas. Portion them into 8, 12, or 16-ounce containers, cover with a piece of parchment paper cut to cover the banana slices. Cover with a lid and freeze.
For the sauce: mix 1/2 cup roasted nut butter with 1/2 cup hot water, a pinch of sea salt, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, 1 to 2 tablespoons honey, and 1/4 teaspoon pure stevia extract powder or liquid. Chill the sauce in a jar in the fridge.
Take a container of frozen banana from the fridge, let thaw for 15 minutes, top with some of the sauce, stir and eat. It has a texture like ice cream.
Recipe from The Garden of Eating: A Produce Dominated Diet & Cookbook.
Chef Rachel
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
Geesh, I guess you guys were the ones to ask, so many great ideas!!
Jody says
Oooh! If you were feeling really creative, you could mix up the carob chip recipe from NT and dip the ice cream popsicles in it! MMMM.
I haven’t made popsicles with our homemade ice cream yet…the ice cream always gets eaten right out of the maker!
cheeseslave says
PS: The ice cream also contains raw egg yolks — another really healthy thing to add!
cheeseslave says
I made popsicles out of pureed mango and raw cream. It tasted exactly like a Creamsicle!
I also plan to make popsicles out of the homemade ice cream I make. I make it with raw cream and sometimes I make it with coconut milk. I’ve made chocolate (with organic cocoa powder), vanilla, cherry, mango, and strawberry (the fruit flavors are made with fresh organic fruit).
You can get an ice cream maker for around $50 (less if it’s on sale or used).
I think ice cream and popsicles is the most wonderful way to get the good raw cream into the kids. I now consider ice cream to be a health food! (Of course we only sweeten it with honey or maple syrup and/or fruit juice).
My former nanny got an ice cream maker and makes her own now — and every time her toddler hears the ice cream man outside, she just whips out a healthy popsicle from the freezer.
Bamboo says
We rarely buy fruit juice but there was some organic orange/mango juice on sale with no bad stuff in it so I bought a jar. Our youngest just poured it straight into those popsicle molds. 1/2 the price of the packaged fruit juice pops that DO have bad stuff in them.
Somewhere I saw a list of food colorings that have been banned in the past. If those were eventually found (even by the FDA) to be bad, maybe these will eventually be banned also.
I cannot give our youngest dessert after dinner or bedtime prep is a nightmare. I figured this out years ago and assumed it was the sugar. Maybe it was the food additives?? Now that we’re avoiding those I may try it again and see how she acts. Come to think of it – I gave her some homemade pudding last night at dinner and her behavior was fine.
Beth
Jody says
Another great thing my kids love is slushies. We picked up a Hawaiian Ice shaver a few years ago at a garage sale. I also bought one a few years ago on clearance at Meijer and gave it away as a gift, but even at full price, it might be worth it!
The aforementioned Kombucha or lemonade could be frozen and shaved, or you could add fruit juice, etc. Definitely avoid the ready-made squeeze bottles of brightly-colored HFCS and artificial flavors that come with the shaver! 😉
Kelly the Kitchen Kop says
YAY! I haven’t seen either of those, but they’re on my list! 🙂
Jody says
I’ll have to look for those! I had not seen them. You can also get a juice pop in plastic sleeves from UNFI. Cool Fruits, maybe? I can’t remember the name… These are great for the times when the kids want popsicles “like the neighbors.”
Jenn says
Here’s a great alternative: Costco sells 100% popsicles in those long tubular plastic packages. They’re made by Motts. They don’t have any artificial colors or flavorings. They do have a tiny amount of preservatives (and I mean tiny) but it’s worth the trade-off to get a 100% fruit juice ready-made freezer pop. They taste awesome!