Rainbow Popsicles

Jun 14, 2017 | Desserts, Fruits & Veggies, Recipes, Snacks & Sides

“Summer, Summer, Summertime…”

The heat is up, and the kids have been freed from their school duties for the next 2 1/2 months. And that means that I gotta up my mom game. If I don’t, then I’m going to have some cranky, bored, and extra clingy kids…which will lead to an exhausted, frustrated and cranky mom. Since I refuse to be that mom, I have decided to embrace this time with my kids. After all, they won’t be this little forever… and “it goes by so fast”, as people like to point out to me every single day. 

But I digress. 

As a kid, I remember vividly the hot days of playing in the pool and hearing the faint tinkley music of the ice cream truck, coming down the street. We had to act fast, because if we didn’t do a sufficient job of begging our parents for money, we didn’t make it to the truck fast enough before he sped off. I’m betting he hated his job… or was just having a rough day (as we all do), but I always envisioned him driving off doing one of those maniacal laughs, as he left a crowd of kids in his rear view mirror. 

Well, when you live in the mountains and not technically in a traditionally laid out “neighborhood”, you don’t get to experience the ice cream truck. My kids didn’t even know that was a thing until they heard the tinkley music one summer while visiting my parents in the “big city”. 

So I must take on that role.

I really loved those firecracker popsicles – you know, the red, white and blue ones – and so that inspired me to try a layered popsicle for my kids. I decided to start with a rainbow popsicle, using real fruit, of course. You can really use whatever fruits you or your kids love. For mine, I used raspberries, mango, kiwi, and blueberries. 

And I do realize this is more time consuming than say, just throwing all the fruits in the blender together and freezing in one solid popsicle. Buuuuut, the color wouldn’t really be that appetizing. Now, I know these aren’t technically full-on “Rainbow” colors, but it’s close…ish. Plus it’s cute, and I think a little clever, so there you go. 

Rainbow Popsicles

Ingredients

  • 1 cup raspberries (or strawberries will work too!) fresh or frozen
  • 1 cup mango (or papaya, pineapple, or any other yellow fruit you like) fresh or frozen
  • 3-4 kiwis – peeled
  • 1 cup blueberries – fresh or frozen
  • (you can totally sub out the fruits for what you prefer)
  • Popsicle sticks
  • Small plastic solo cups
  • Blender

Instructions

  1. Add your raspberries to the blender, along with about 1/4 cup water. Puree (add more water as needed to make it liquid) until well blended.
  2. Pour a small amount in each plastic cup – place plastic cups in freezer for about 15 minutes.
  3. While you wait for the first layer to “set”, rinse out your blender and add your mangos. Follow the same suit as you did with the raspberries.
  4. Remove cups from freezer, and if the first layer is relatively frozen/slushy, go ahead and stick a popsicle stick in each cup and freeze for an additional 5 minutes.
  5. Pour a small layer of the mango mixture on top of the raspberry layer.
  6. Return cups to freezer for another 15 minutes.
  7. Repeat steps with the last two layers, allowing each layer to freeze for about 10-15 minutes before adding the next layer.
  8. Once all layers have been poured into the cups, allow the popsicles to freeze for 3-4 hours before enjoying.
  9. I found that by running the outside of the cups under warm water, they slid out easily and were ready to enjoy!