If I know one thing, it is that kids love rainbows and kids love popsicles.
That is more than one thing, but I can’t help it because I know so much. I’m sure you are also aware that all of us — kids and grownups alike — eat first with our eyes, so anything that is visually appealing is hard to pass up. I had seen versions of these beautiful creations on the internet, and I was so excited to try out my own recipe.
To make them, you start by blending various combinations of fruits and veggies with yogurt, honey and lemon juice. For the colors you use strawberries for red, peaches for orange, spinach for green (and I promise, you barely taste the vegetable here) and blueberries for blue. Each layer is distinctly flavorful, and the creamy yogurt base keeps them from melting too quickly.
Once poured into the molds, everything swirls together to develop a lovely rainbow of colors that is as nutritious as it is delicious.
Makes 22
Hands-On Time: 25 Minutes
Total Time: 8 Hours, 25 Minutes
Blue Layer
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup vanilla whole-milk yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Green Layer
1 small ripe banana, sliced
1 cup baby spinach
1 cup vanilla whole-milk yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Red Layer
1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
1 cup vanilla whole-milk yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Orange Layer
1 cup chopped fresh peaches
1 cup vanilla whole-milk yogurt
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
Process each layer separately in a high-powered blender until smooth. Pour the mixtures into 3-ounce ice pop molds, alternating the colors. Top with a lid, and insert craft sticks. Freeze for 8 to 12 hours.
Siriously Important:
When pouring the mixtures in the popsicle molds, it’s helpful to think about which mixtures are thicker than others. Alternate thick and thin mixtures so that they don’t blend colors too much. Also, stir the blueberry mixture before pouring into the molds. The pectin will start to make it gel a little if it sits too long.
Siriously Simple:
If you don’t want to make 22 popsicles, swirl the leftover mixture in a glass and drink it as a smoothie or prepare it as a smoothie bowl.
Siri Daly is a Today show tastemaker and author of Siriously Delicious: 100 Nutritious (and Not So Nutritious) Simple Recipes for the Real Home Cook.
Excerpted from Siriously Delicious by Siri Daly. Copyright © 2018 Oxmoor House. Reprinted with permission from Time Inc. Books, a division of Meredith Corporation. New York, NY. All rights reserved.
