Thursday, August 4, 2011

Vegetable Loving Vegetarian Girls

Try saying that five times fast! Hee,hee.


Rock star pop with kale and strawberry jam

I like to think my children eat quite well. Their diet is quite varied, almost all their food is made from scratch and it's always filled with healthy goodness. But as of late, my sweet vegetable loving vegetarian girls have forsaken their veggie friends. I just could not get them to eat them anymore, except on some various occasions they would eat them raw. They really took interest in eating them frozen, though. C, for example, wouldn't eat the broccoli cooked on her pizza but she would devour half of the bag of frozen broccoli as we prepared it (We have our homemade pizza day Friday).



It was as if it was fate - what perfect timing for Anni's new book Ice Pop Joy to come my way. What a brilliant way to get my girls back into their veggies - put them in popsicle form! Now, not all of the recipes have veggies in them, but they are all sugar-free, mouth watering and healthy at the same time. That's quite a bit to pull off!



I admit, Anni sent me this book quite awhile ago and I didn't intend for it to take me this long to actually tell all of you about it. I had a feeling we would love it even before we tried the first recipe so I just knew I would be sharing it.



When it first arrived the girls and I sat on the couch while I nursed Baby L looking through the book. They pointed out each recipe they wanted to try (which was just about all of them), and I made mental notes. I was admiring the beautiful photography as we did this. Since Anni is a fellow Waldorf Mama, I enjoyed spotting the Waldorf references in the book - like introducing 'fairy bites'. We do that at home, too.



We took our sweet time trying nearly every single recipe in the book, a few of them we tried many, many times. The girls are in popsicle heaven. We have been literally making a new batch of popsicles from the book every single night. The girls go through all six popsicles day. With such healthy ingredients I don't mind at all, in fact I encourage them!



Some of the ice pops have been on our 'to do' list just waiting for the fruit we needed to become available. Our wild blackberries are just starting to come in, with us finding about a handful of ripe ones a day, so we'll be making those ice pops very soon!



Since I can not partake in the dairy and soy recipes I have only had a couple of the pops myself (I plan on making some of those recipes with my coconut yogurt and milk, though). I couldn't get over how refreshing they were. My personal favorite is the granola pop.We were able to use our homemade granola in it and my favorite rice drink. I had to stop myself from eating them all on the girls!



Kevin has been enjoying them, as well. To me, that says a lotabout the recipes. He has a huge sweet tooth seriously, I didn't know it was humanly possible for anyone to love sugar so much, and normally doesn't get too excited about our sugar-free creations. Now he's fighting with the girls over who gets to lick the spatula after I've blended up a new batch.



What a wonderful summer treat. Thank you Anni for helping us get back on track. I wish I could invite all of you over to our house to enjoy some with us. I say Ice Pops all around!!



I forgot to say it before - Happy world breastfeeding week, everyone!
Last chance to enter the Carefree Clothes for Girls giveaway.

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Comments (29)

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Lovely post! Where did you get the metal popsicle mold?
1 reply · active 713 weeks ago
YUM! I second the question about the mold! I have been looking for one forever!
1 reply · active 713 weeks ago
Thirding the question about the molds. I remember popsicle molds from my childhood and they were pathetic. That book really looks neat!
2 replies · active 713 weeks ago
We're enjoying our too, as you know. I actually have it out this morning to make the vanilla pops and probably another round of pink princesses. :) <3
i noticed that several of the recipes in the book call for wheat germ & i'm wondering if it's added for health benefits or as a thickener?? i'm curious to know what other people think because my oldest son & i are gluten-free (no wheat) so i was wondering if the wheat germ can be eliminated or if it should be replaced with a gluten-free alternative & if so, what gluten-free alternative have people been using? thanks !
1 reply · active 713 weeks ago
delicious! and yes happy breastfeeding week... should we go there about mama's milk pops? ;)
1 reply · active 713 weeks ago
Yes, I too want to know where you found the metal Popsicle molds. Please share :)
1 reply · active 713 weeks ago
We make popsicles alot!!! I have 4 kids so I make a lot at a time. I almost never tell them they can't have any. They are all healthy. We are dairy and gluten free so of course we don't use those in our smoothies. We just use water and more fruit. A great smoothie turned popsicle is 1-2 bananas, 1 C ice, 1 C water, 1/2 cup raw almonds(or raw cashews or a combo) pinch of salt, vanilla to taste, 5-6 medjool dates and 1.5 TBS cocoa. We will drink this for breakfast alot and what is left over I freeze as popsicles. Try it I'm sure you and yours will like it! I do have to say that it isn't mine. I don't recall whose it is, but it came off a raw food forum.
I just purchased popsicle molds (they're bigger than the ones you show) . Thanks for the recommendation for this popsicle book. My youngest needs more veggies for sure, so this may be a great route to nourish him. BTW - I have that same bowl. In fact, my post today shows it off with a cucumber onion salad.
It sounds great, we made chamomile ones some times have you try them?, making tea's pops it's so good.
mmmmmm. i have a really nice popsicle maker and i should use it!
I have that same stainless steel pop mold :) I found it on Amazon some time ago. It's awesome! I'm compiling all my pics for a blog post soon too. My little miss had a pop birthday party last weekend. We also made them in paper dixie cups. You just need to freeze some of the liquid halfway before you put the stick in. Glad to see kale in your pops Nicole :)
I usually pour the leftovers from our daily smoothie into popsicle molds for my boy. He loves them! :)
We have not made nearly enough popsicles this year! I am going to splash some blackberry cider in with some bronchial tea so my (recovering from an illness) girls can enjoy them tomorrow.
They look delicious! And those molds look pretty awesome too. I keep meaning to ask.....is there a pattern for those dresses (strawberry picking) you made for your girls? Every time my daughters see the photos they ask if they "can have a dress with an apron and a pocket too".
1 reply · active 713 weeks ago
Yum! We have been big on popsicles this summer too - my son's favorite has been plain yogurt and fresh squeezed orange juice, tastes just like a creamsicle!

Another great, healthy summer treat is one ingredient ice cream (which you make 2 or 3 ingredient ice cream for some variety!): http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/stay-cool/how-...
Looks yummy! I so need to check this book out!
Thanks so much for sharing this book, Nicole! I recently bought it and found the swirly molds and WF and the rocket molds at Bed Bath and Beyond - both BPA free. My daughter is going through at least 4 of these a day herself and my 2.5 year old is starting, but not finishing, just as many! These have been a great addition to their diet and my hubby is proud of my introducing these into their diet. Thanks again!
1 reply · active 709 weeks ago

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