Karina Bland
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 30 2008 10:46 am
Nothing says summer like a kid with a Popsicle, the evidence of the frozen treat stained onto his chest in drips and drizzly lines long after its last remnants have been sucked off the wooden stick.
This time of year, moms know that a freezer well-stocked with frozen treats makes for happy children. Problem is, a couple of kids who have been playing outside in this heat can wipe you out in an afternoon. Someone yells, "Let's
go swimming!" and that's another box emptied.
But you can make your own frozen treats for just pennies and from ingredients you probably already have in the house.
You can freeze just about any liquid to make your own Popsicles, including lemonade, chocolate milk and fruit juices. Pick up plastic frozen treat forms at the store or use small plastic containers from the recesses of your
overstocked Tupperware cabinet. If you don't have wooden sticks or skewers on hand, use plastic spoons instead.
Some recipes
Rocket Pops
• strawberry, cherry, raspberry or
cranberry juice
• blue juice, maybe blue Kool-Aid
• white juice, such as white grape or peach
• small paper cups
• wooden sticks or skewers
Set your paper cups onto a cookie sheet. Fill the cup 1/3 full with red. Put
in freezer for 2-3 hours until half frozen, like slush. Remove from the
freezer and put a stick into the center of each cup of juice. Now fill up
the cup another 1/3 with the white juice. Repeat the steps for freezing
until half frozen.
Remove from freezer. Finish filling with the blue juice. Return to freezer
until frozen solid. Place in plastic freezer bag until ready to eat. Peel
off paper cup, exposing a red, white and blue frozen treat.
Yogurt Pops
• 1 8-ounce container of your favorite yogurt
• small paper cups
• wooden sticks or skewers
• plastic wrap
Pour yogurt into paper cups, almost to the top. Stretch a small piece of
plastic wrap across the top of each cup.
Insert a stick or skewer into the pop through the plastic wrap and put the
cups in the freezer until frozen, typically three to four hours.
You can mix fruit into the yogurt for even more flavor or, in a pinch,
freeze yogurt in a tube, such as Yoplait's Go-gurt.
