Strawberry Banana Popsicles (Shhh... no sugar added!)

Seems the rest of the country is turning to thoughts of back to school and fall, but here in San Diego summer is just getting going.  Our weather has been a bit strange this year bringing rain (a rare occurrence for us), heavy marine layers that hide the sun for days at a time, and cooler temps.  Until this week.

This morning I woke to a brilliant sun peeking over the horizon and temps already warmer than some of the highs from the past few weeks.  And with no air conditioning in our house, popsicles seemed a "cool" plan.

Serving double duty, these popsicles also served as temporary ice packs filled with fruit for my girl who underwent oral surgery yesterday.  Her somewhat confused teeth set a permanent tooth shooting horizontally low in her jaw and left  unchecked would have sheared off the roots of her front teeth.  Hence, the tooth needed to come out, and along with a bit of bone, she's now free of the rouge bicuspid and nursing a sore jaw.

As we know from my prior post (surgery has been all in the family this last week) the after effects of anesthesia and pain meds can be not so pleasant, hence the all fruit popsicle to reset my girl's tummy.

A simple recipe of bananas, strawberries, chia and a few splashes of oj, brought all of Liv's favorite ingredients together and packed the nutrition I was looking for.  Banana?  Filled with fiber bananas can help ease the uncomfortable after effects of narcotic pain meds, and acting as a prebiotic the fruits assist the growth of friendly gut bacteria which are wiped out by antibiotics.  Add in the fact that the high levels of vitamin B-6 can help reduce swelling and we have a real winner.

Next we have strawberries, rich in antioxidants, the Vitamin C in the berries gives the immune system a boost along with more fiber and their fabulous sweetness.

"Strawberries are the angels of the earth, innocent and sweet with leafy green wings reaching heavenward."

Jasmine Heiler

And next orange juice... also packed with that immune boosting Vitamin C, orange juice is said to help reduce inflammation and heck, it's also good for your heart.  A few splashes perk up any smoothie or popsicle and work as the perfect liquefying agent for our blend.

So here's to summer, fat lips and simply hanging by the pool.  Wishing you a happy and healthy day filled with balance and a little bit of chill.

Coconut Mango Pops with Blueberries

Summer... it's meant for leisurely days by the pool with a cold popsicle in hand, isn't it??  We spent years buying rainbows of store bought pops, but when the kids smiled at me with lips dyed red and blue my heart always felt a little sad as I had purposefully served my kids some sort of chemically food dye.  Hence... we started freezing whole fruit smoothie recipes and we've never looked back.

This week these pops have come in particularly handy, though they weren't consumed lounging leisurely by the pool.  As I mentioned in the last post, this past week brought a nasty stomach bug that now has me trying to refuel my girl with nutrients, and as soon as her stomach could again hold food her first request was a mango pop.

Made with potassium rich coconut water, these pops work to replenish fluids better than sports drinks, and while I'd love to get Liv to sip on coconut water alone, she's not really a fan.  So in the pop it goes.

Sweetened with mango and banana I also tossed in whole blueberries for a little texture (frozen blueberries are a favorite snack in the Liv Life household) and they look pretty to boot.  Frozen, the pops go down slowly and are perfect for helping refuel after a stomach bug.

All fruit, no additives or yucky dyes, you'll want to keep extras on hand.  Today??  We're all healthy again and I have 3 girls leisurely lounging by the pool... their first request?  Coconut Mango Pops.  Bring on the summer San Diego sun!

Frozen Blueberry Pineapple Popsicles

Summer favorites... frozen grapes and popsicles

While the rest of the blogosphere seems to be turning its back on summer and instead diving head first into fall, here in San Diego we are still in full summer ahead mode.  As much of our June and early July on the coast consists of a deep marine layer which on occasion can last for weeks, we savor each and every moment of our long awaited sunny summer days, and these last few summer weeks have been extraordinary.

Waking to full sun with no jacket required, I've spent my mornings on the patio with my cup of coffee.  The afternoon temps have reached my beloved 90º point, and have had Liv and her friends enjoying the pool, bringing us the perfect venue for a version of Coastal Living's Frozen Blueberry Pineapple Pops.

Taking mere minutes to put together and requiring a couple of hours to freeze, these fresh fruit pops are perfect for cooling off on a hot day.  Telling the girls I had "fresh fruit popsicles" or "sweet juice popsicles", they immediately chose the "sweet juice pops".  Little did they know, I only had one set of frozen treats, and whatever answer they gave they were receiving the fresh fruit version.

Gushing over how they had chosen correctly, the girls floated on their rings while nibbling on the pops and another summer favorite, frozen grapes and mentioned how cool Liv's mom was to not make them eat the fruit pops.  Shhhhh.... don't tell them that they had a healthier snack than they thought.