>My friend Melissa shares with us a summer recipe that will sure make our summer days brighter!

Katie Lloyd Photography

The alarm clock rests silently. School clothes give way to bathing suits. Sunlit evenings stretch before us. Summer has finally arrived. A recent stretch of brutally hot weather brings to mind my own childhood summers. Long days of playing until lightning bugs began to speckle the twilight sky. Drawing hopscotch boards on the pavement with the sharp edge of a rock, dancing under the water hose, and riding bikes to the store down the street. And the counting down of days until the ice cream truck would make its weekly appearance in the neighborhood. The colorful truck was full of enough sticky, sugary concoctions to tempt any child’s palate.

We don’t see the ice cream truck around here anymore. What I do see these days are grocery store aisles of frozen treats filled with sugar and preservatives. My family – your family – deserves better. I found this basic popsicle recipe online, and use it all the time. Homemade popsicles are simple and delicious. Best of all, they are packed with nutrition.

The basic recipe:

2 cups vanilla yogurt (or plain with a tsp. of vanilla extract)
1 cup fresh or frozen fruit of choice (or any combination)
1 Tbsp. honey

Blend well (I use an immersion blender, but a regular blender or food processor would also work great) and pour into popsicle molds. Freeze for at least 4 hours.

This recipe is adaptable for any taste. So far, we’ve tried strawberry, blueberry*, and strawberry/banana. Each flavor has been a hit. Up next – peach.

*I would recommend blending the blueberries alone before adding the yogurt and honey. The skins need to be broken down quite a bit.

Thank you, Melissa, this is already making my mouth water!

Becky

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