Make Your Own Popsicles

I mentioned in passing that we make our own popsicles around here. If we have leftover smoothie, I pour the extra into popsicle molds and freeze them for popsicles. Works great. I gave you the recipe for Orange Yogurt Creamsicles. They're delicious! Here's a slight variation on the Orange Yogurt Creamsicles: Pineapple Orange Creamsicles!

1 can pineapple (tidbits, chunks, slices: it doesn't matter!)
1 orange
2 icecream scoops of frozen orange juice concentrate
2 cups plain yogurt (I use homemade)

Put it all in a blender and blend until smooth. Freeze in popsicle molds (I bought some great ones at Ikea this spring). I didn't use all of the juice from the canned pineapple (mostly because I like to drain it and have a little drink), but I did use some to help sweeten it up. If you have a sweeter tooth than me, you might like to add some honey or something. Oh, and on using the frozen orange juice concentrate: I just wrap the can with plastic wrap and put an elastic band around the top to keep it in place and put it back in the freezer until the next time I want to make smoothies or popsicles.
These are delicious! I'm a big fan!

Make Your Own Yogurt

So, I can make my own yogurt. I know, the crafty-ness and the cake decorating-ness, it's all blowing you away, and now I make my own yogurt? Yeah. I go off and on with the yogurt thing. It's a little more work to make the yogurt kid-friendly, since all I can make is the plain stuff, so if it's an ok price at the grocery store, I'll still buy the commercial, fruity, sweetened, thickened, ingredients-I-can't-pronounce stuff off the shelves, but then I start to get worried about all that extra crap the kids and I are eating in our yogurt (D doesn't really eat yogurt) and I make some of my own again. I'm doing that today.

I make it in my crockpot, using this handy little recipe/tutorial. It's not a simple crockpot recipe (as in leave it and fuggetaboutit), but it does only require coming back to a few times a few hours apart and then overnight. It's best to make it on a day when you're going to be home.

I've never been able to get store-bought consistency out of my homemade yogurt, it's usually a fair bit thinner, but excellent for use in smoothies and other recipes. Speaking of other recipes, I finally read the ingredients on my canned soups... and Campbell's mushroom soup has MSG in it. I'm not terribly surprised, I suppose, but I don't like it. Anyway, apparently yogurt can be used (along with some other flavourful ingredients) and a nice substitute in recipes that call for creamy soups. You can also use this recipe (at the end of the post).

Other than smoothies, my favorite thing to make with my homemade yogurt is healthy homemade orange "creamsicles." They're perfect in summer when you're looking for a frozen treat. I often use leftover smoothie to make smoothie popsicles for the kids. We all love them and they're way better for us than storebought popsicles.

Orange Yogurt Creamsicles

Homemade (or store-bought) plain yogurt - I don't know how much, maybe 2 cups?
Orange juice concentrate - a couple of icecream scoops
1 ripe or overripe banana

If you don't like the banana taste in your creamsicle, you could sweeten with honey or sugar instead. Blend it all up in your blender, pour it into popsicle molds and freeze.