Summer is popsicle time, and this strawberry vanilla yogurt popsicle recipe is both healthy and delicious. Best of all, it whips up in about 5 minutes and uses just three ingredients. Time to make popsicles!
No, Rocky, you can’t have one!
Strawberry Vanilla Yogurt Popsicle Recipe
I’m like a big kid. I’m addicted to ice pops. The kind that you buy in bulk from the store in plastic tubes. Pops in neon shades of bright blue, orange, yellow, red…100% sugar and artificial chemicals.
And I love them.
I know they aren’t good for me. As I round the corner and see middle age not just looming but just over the horizon, I know I can’t beat up my poor body anymore with all the junk food.
What is a popsicle lover supposed to do?
Make her own!
I bought two popsicle molds, one from Dollar General and the other from Wal-Mart. I freeze orange juice, cranberry juice, or other all-natural fruit juices in the smaller mold. When I crave a 3 p.m. popsicle (why do I always want something sweet and cold at 3 p.m.?!) I can just take one out of the freezer. It’s only 1/4 cup of fresh juice, and enough to make me feel content without ingesting all those chemicals.
Sometimes, however, a girl just wants more oomph in her popsicle. I found this recipe and of course tweaked it for my own needs. As you blend the mixture and pour it into popsicle molds, any leftover can be enjoyed as a smoothie. It’s delicious!
Ingredients for Strawberry Vanilla Yogurt Popsicles
Makes 8 typical popsicle treats.
- 2 cups of vanilla yogurt
- 1/4 cup of sugar
- 2 cups of strawberries, washed and with the stem and tops removed, cut into pieces
Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend on smoothie setting until it’s thick and creamy. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for at least 6 hours. Don’t rush this; if you try to un-mold them too soon, the sticks pull out, leaving the popsicles in the tray. If that happens, you can spoon the popsicle mix out into a small dish and enjoy.
To remove popsicles from the plastic store molds, immerse the molds in a bowl of hot water for 1-2 minutes. Gently pull the popsicles out, wrap in plastic wrap individually, and refreeze.
You can substitute many fresh fruits for the strawberries. If you are using a very sweet fruit like pineapple, omit the sugar.
Enjoy!
Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.
