STRAWBERRY BANANA POPSICLES

May 2

For many years, we’ve had a vegetable share at the Charlestown farm CSA. Every Tuesday or Thursday during the growing season, you got to pick up a share of the week’s harvest of super fresh vegetables that were harvested that same day. Once you had your harvest at home, you had to come up with recipes to enjoy whatever was ripe that week. The good thing was that the farm always gave a shout out what to expect for the week and I went ahead to find recipes, especially if there were unusual vegetables that weren’t part of our common dishes. I loved trying out new vegetables, some we loved and some we didn’t care much about. The farm also offered cooking and baking classes throughout the summer as well a squaredance with a huge bonfire for the end of the season. You could get involved as much or as little as you liked, and for us, it was always a great experience for the entire family.
With the share came a Upick option for berries, vegetables, herbs and flowers and one could harvest a certain amount of different items themselves. When the kids were little, they loved the Upick and eagerly helped to pick strawberries, raspberries, blueberries or cut fresh herbs with small scissors. The girls especially liked putting together little flour bouquets. As a matter fact, they enjoyed it so much that I had to make sure we left enough for our fellow members.

To this day, all of my children, (two are adult now) enjoy the farm experience as well as cooking and baking, using the freshest ingredients possible. I truly believe that offering healthy fresh fruit and vegetables from a young age as well as involving them in the food making process shapes the childrens’ palates and eventually makes them crave healthy and fresh food options.

So what do you do when you come home with a large harvest of red and juicy strawberries? First, you eat as many as possible, then you make popsicles and ice cream with whatever is left. When the kids were little, they especially enjoyed making their own popsicles, using an instant popsicle maker that takes only 8 minutes to freeze. While my husband and I still enjoyed our dinner outside on a summer evening, the kids would get busy making dessert for everybody. Those are still some of the fondest summer memories we all share, nothing fancy but delicious food on a summer evening in our backyard. CREATING HEALTHY TIMES!

In this recipe, strawberries add seasonal vitamins, bananas give a creamy texture and sweetness, lime adds some extra vitamin C, yoghurt delivers the benefits of probiotics, and last but not least, honey adds healthy sugar for the perfect sweetness. Enjoy!

Note: after freezing the popsicles, they will taste LESS sweet than the mixture before freezing, so make sure they taste really sweet before you freeze them!

MAKES 8 POPSICLES
INGREDIENTS
16 oz ripe strawberries
1 small banana
1/8 cup honey or more as desired
1/3 cup plain yoghurt (if you are sensitive to lactose, I recommend homemade 24 hour yoghurt)
1 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream or almond milk (if you are sensitive to lactose, I recommend fermented heavy whipping cream)
juice of one lime

tools: popsicle maker or instant popsicle maker; high speed blender or stick blender

INSTRUCTIONS
Wash the strawberries and pat dry with a kitchen towel. Remove the stems using a paring knife.

Add the strawberries, banana, lime juice and honey to a high speed blender. Blend until smooth, for about 60 seconds.
Add the yoghurt and heavy whipping cream. Blend on low speed until just combined.

Pour the strawberry mixture into popsicle molds and freeze for 4 to 5 hours or best overnight. Keep frozen until served.

note: if you have over-ripe bananas, you can peel them, cut them in slices, and freeze them. This way, you can use them later to make these or my peanut butter caramel popsicles.