Banana Sherbet Cups

It's starting to heat up a little here in the South so it's time to find some cold treats!

2/3 cup orange juice (fresh is best)

1 1/4 cup sugar

juice of 2 large lemons

3 bananas

2 cups milk

Pour juice over sugar, stir, and allow to stand.

Using a hand mixer, mash the bananas very well. 

Pour milk over the bananas and blend.

Slowly, while blending, pour in the sugar-juice mixture.

Blend very well.

Pour in lined muffin cups and freeze.

For longer storage, once frozen, place in ziploc bags.

I like them thawed for about 10 minutes before serving, but they're great straight from the freezer too.

Pureed Frozen Fruit Cups

These are more suited for summer but they have some great vitamins, making them perfect for winter too!

They are quite tangy and sure to be a hit with my sour-loving kiddies!

1 can room temp orange juice
4 cups frozen whole strawberries
3 bananas
1 can crushed pineapple, juice and fruit
1/2 cup cane (or plain) sugar
2 T lemon juice, real or bottled

Puree the fruit in blender. Pour or ladle into muffin tins lined with cupcake papers. Freeze. Once frozen the cups can be placed in large Ziploc bags and served at will.    

Treats for days!

Banana-Avocado-Mango Smoothies

Believe it or not, you can't taste the avocados, but they do give it a smooth and creamy texture that is really a nice treat. I haven't frozen any of this but I bet it would make a nice and smooth pudding type pop!

2 ripe avocados
3 small very ripe bananas
2 cups frozen mango chunks
1/3 cup cane sugar (adjust to taste)
1 quart of kefir (yogurt, buttermilk, or milk)

Blend well and serve.
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Homemade Fruity Yogurt...

I won't hardly pay big bucks for fruity yogurt- (I only buy it if I can get it almost free with coupons!)

But that doesn't mean we don't eat it!

It's so easy to make your own and much more frugal. I make my own homemade plain yogurt for starters, which saves money too, since I can make a gallon of it for $2.49 which is what I pay for milk at Aldi these days.

I sweeten with a little cane sugar and add thawed, slightly crushed fruit from the freezer.

I can make this for about $1.20 a quart...and when I start getting enough fruit from my berry bushes- it will take it down to around .70 per quart! (milk+sugar)

I usually make a couple of quarts at a time. Sometimes I freeze some for 'pops' or whirl it with some ice for smoothies. But it's great to have it ready for a quick-healthy-frugal-snack!

Or even breakfast!

Homemade Orange Sherbet:

A favorite treat at our house:

This is super easy! And made from only 3 ingredients!

*1 can evaporated milk

 *1 can frozen orange juice

 *1/2 cup sugar

Chill one can of evaporated milk in bowl in the freezer for 30 minutes.

You want it really cold, but not frozen. *Just until ice starts to form in the bowl.
(The colder it is, the quicker it whips up!)

Thaw one can frozen orange juice.

Whip milk until soft peaks form.

Blend in orange juice and 1/2 cup sugar.

Place in the freezer for approx. 2 hours.

Tip:

-Freeze leftovers in serving size cups for easy-serve.

-Try other flavors with frozen juices, chilled nectar may even work but I haven't tried it yet.

-You may need less sugar with other flavors!

-Also- if the OJ is too strong for your liking, you can add about 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla for a 'creamsicle' taste! 

-Even if you freeze overnight, this doesn't get hard, like ice, it stays soft.

 This picture is made like the orange except I subbed the O.J. for a can of apple-strawberry-kiwi juice with no HFCS. Very good- very sweet...it doesn't need but about 1/2 the sugar amount!

Frozen Lemon Cream Bars....

This is another treasured recipe from More With Less. And I say treasured -because its just so good! Its like a homemade ice cream sandwich! Yummy!

Beat until stiff:

1 can evaporated milk, chilled

Gradually add:

3/4 cup sugar (I used cane)

Add 3T lemon juice

grated rind of 1 lemon

Beat until very stiff.

Roll into crumbs:

12 graham crackers

Pour half cracker crumbs into 9x9.

Pour cream over and top with remaining crumbs.

Cover well and freeze.

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You can use other flavors as well!

Or leftover puddings- or even yogurts.

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Watermelon Smash.....

Such an easy and refreshing treat on a hot summer day!
I used half of a seedless watermelon to make these.
I simply scooped it out into the blended (yes, even the white seeds) and pressed it down in there (so as to press out enough juice to make the blender work;).
I also added just a little extra sweetener (optional, but I used a tiny bit of cane sugar)and then whirled it in the blender for 20 to 30 seconds.
Then pour it into ramekins or other dish and freeze for a couple of hours.
You want them to the slushy side but frozen enough to where they have to be eaten with a spoon!
A great dessert or snack!

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With a couple of mint leaves, its certainly one of the Finer Things!

New Pop Makers...

We found these neat little things the other day. We had some years ago but they had been chewed on-- back in the day when I had teethers, ah! those were the good ole days! ;-)

But these are so handy on hot days and I get by with so much sneaking with these things!

2 of these had orange juice, and another had some juiced mixed with a yogurt blend, and the remaining ones have just a yogurt blend. The yogurt blend has plain yogurt, a good brand of juice, and a couple of tablespoons of cane sugar.

Sometimes I use leftover smoothies, sometimes I use juices, and I've even been known to mix up cranberry sauce with yogurt! Believe it or not, that's a favorite around here.

On a few occasions I've even smuggled different teas, from green tea to blueberry!

Berry Cream Shakes.....

You can use any berry to make these, but so far, this Strawberry Cream Shake is my kids' favorite. We made cherry today and they loved it, but still voted for strawberry as the best!

3 cups frozen strawberries

1 cup heavy cream

3/4 cup cane sugar (for sour cherries you'll need 1 cup)

1 1/2 cups milk

Whirl and serve! Yummmmy!! (IF you have any leftovers, you can freeze them for pops for the kiddies!)

A yummy yogurt idea!

This is a great treat to make with homemade and/or plain yogurt.

Simply mix in your favorite flavor of concentrated juice with approx. 32 oz yogurt.

If it's too tart, stir in 1/4 cup cane sugar. Serve or freeze for a great popsicle!

(**And this juice has no high fructose corn syrup! or added sugar)

Banana Pops!

I got this neat little idea from Sonshine's. (Sorry I couldn't find her exact link again...Sonshine if you see, please post the link:-)!)It's really good and really simple!

I just mixed some homemade yogurt with a bit of sweetener and vanilla, put a popsicle stick in the bananas, rolled them in yogurt, placed them on a lined (foil or wax paper) pan and froze. Big hit!

Peaches and Cream Pop

These were today's popsicle treat.

Homemade yogurt mixed with a little sweetener (cane sugar) and vanilla; blended with a can of peach nectar to make 6 yummy pops.

A good way to get some calcium, some other vitamins from the nectar, and cool off at the same time!

PINK POPS

These were a great treat! A little homemade yogurt mixed with Cranberry-Grape Juice and a dash of cane sugar. Frozen for fun!

Popsicles

My kids chisel out shapes in their juice pops. Kemuel said, "Take a picture Mom. I made a Pac-man!"

I think these were made from No Added Sugar Apple Juice.

We make them from whatever we have on hand. We use juices, nectars, homemade yogurts, fresh fruits, etc.

Strawberry Nectar Popsicles

The pinkish colored pops are strawberry nectar mixed with a bit or carrot juice and the other pop is one with the strawberry nectar mixed with orange juice.

Cans of nectar can be bought for .40 to .50 cents and, depending on the flavor, have lots of vitamins in it!

My kids love them for their dessert or for fun!

Strawberry Cream Pops

This is truly a frozen delight!

It has strawberries, a little sugar, milk, and leftover whip cream whirled in a blender and frozen on a stick! Yummy!

A big hit at our house!

Pina Colada Pop

These frozen pops have lots of texture in them.
I used about 1 to 1 1/2cups of homemade yogurt.
1 can crushed pineapple and the juice
1/2 cup coconut
sweeten to taste

Pour in cups and freeze. We like these a little slushy so I make them after breakfast so they are just about right at lunchtime.

Berry-Banana Smoothie

You caught me, just before I give it a whirl!
This smoothie is a cinch and SO good!

Strawberries (1 16oz bag, frozen $1.29DGM), blueberries ($1.50), banana (from the freezer, pennies), yogurt (homemade, .50?), sugar or other sweetener, milk(or juice or water), and ice to the top.

($3.75?) Makes 8 full servings or 12 small.
(NOTE: I often make these, serve the kids (6 of them) a regular-sized portion and freeze the rest for popsicles.)

2 Layer Frozen Pudding Pop

My kids often get excited when they see me getting the cups out. They never know what kind of 'pop' they are going to get! I have found that pops are a frugal way to make an after dinner (and/or lunch) sweet-treat.

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You can also make "Fudgsicles" with the following recipe.

3 T flour

4 cups milk

1 1/3 Cup sugar

3 1/2 T cocoa

Stir over medium heat and boil one minute. Pour into cups and freeze.

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I use empty yogurt containers and whatever I have on hand to make our pops. Every now and then I will catch a good sale and have a coupon for fancy little cups but most of the time I use whatever is handy.

Yogurt Juice Pops

FROZEN YOGURT JUICE POPS: take plastic or paper cups, or whatever is handy.....at bedtime, pour 1/4 full of favorite JUICE (this is a great way to get cranberry in)place in freezer.... In the morning, once the juice is frozen, blend approx 8oz of PLAIN YOGURT and one can of drained CRUSHED PINEAPPLE along with about 1/2 cup of sugar and pour over frozen juice. These are usually set after lunch and are great for an afternoon snack. It's got yogurt, juice, and fruit! Makes about 6!