Recently, on the post 32 Unique Homemade Popsicle Recipes & Ideas someone asked:

“Instead of using plastic molds, why not try making your iceblocks in shot glasses or other containers.”

First of all, many ice pop molds are plastic (not cool), but you can also get molds made of silicone which is a much better option than plastic. Also, in the grand scheme of things, a good set of ice pop molds will save eco-resources over time so I’d rather use plastic molds than none at all.

WHY NOT USE SHOT GLASSES?

If you’ve ever stuck a glass in the freezer, with liquid in it, then you know what a pain it is to remove said liquid from the glass. I have an eight year old who one, would never be able to get an ice pop out of a glass by himself, and two, that’s dangerous. If you hold the glass under hot water to unfreeze it, you’re messing with a hazard. Glass, when exposed back and fourth to heat and cold can break.

WHY NOT USE OTHER CONTAINERS?

You could, if you’ve got some. I suppose yogurt cups would make ok ice pops, but they’d make super wide ice pops, too big for most kiddos, and you’d have to buy some sort of stick so you’re looking at more resources used and more costs involved. With true ice pop molds, you get the mold and stick all included.

In the end, basic ice pop molds, while not perfect are safer than glass and do save money, time, and resources.

What are your thoughts? Do you make homemade ice pops?

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

In any case, since this is water month, and I’ve been water slacking, I figured I’d bring up our one and only issue with these molds. You still have to use a decent amount of water in order to get them loose enough to pop out.

We considered some solutions:

• Fill a bowl with water and loosen all the ice pops at once – the problem here is that you can’t just leave open ice pops in the freezer. They get icky.
• Fill a cup with water when you want an ice pop, place ice pop mold in cup, and wait. Um, kids don’t do well with waiting for an ice pop when they’re hot.
• Get a blow dryer – see if that works. Well, that’s an energy drain for one. Two, mixing electricity and watery icy pops seems slightly dangerious. Three, like I really want to buy a blow dryer.

SO – right now, what we’re doing is when Cedar wants an ice pop, he grabs one and holds it under running water for a minute. One to two minutes of running water for an ice pop seems so wasteful to me. However, on the upside, we’re not tossing out all that plastic trash from store bought pops, also we use up all our produce on pops, so we waste less food.

Still, I feel a little guilty. Any solutions people? Do you think the pros of homemade ice pops outweigh the cons of this water waste?

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Over time, I’ve collected (or experimented with) a ton of ice pop, and other frozen treat recipes and ideas. Following are 32 of them. Some freeze harder than others, some are super sweet, while others are light treats. You have to mess around in your own kitchen. However, there are plenty of ideas here, enough to keep you busy for a while.

Also, because I don’t want to write “organic” nine million times in a row, note that I do make almost all of these with organic ingredients, and you should too. Read up on the best foods to buy organic -even if you’re not all organic, try to buy organic items that are on the super high pesticide level lists, like apple juice for instance. If you find a popsicle recipe around the web that sounds good, you can always substitute organic ingredients as well.

Now, make sure you have some decent popsicle molds, grab the kids, and freeze up some fun in your kitchen.

32 Great Homemade Popsicles Recipes (and ideas about what to freeze)

1. Apricot : Mix 2 cups apricot juice with 1/2 cup soy milk (or skim) and freeze.

2. A tablespoon of organic raspberry jam mixed with water or milk. This is nice for that last bit of jam in the jar.

3. Pineapple and carrot juice

4. Plain old carrot juice

5. Smashed strawberries

6. Homemade lemonade

7. “Glitter” pops: Cedar is obsessed with these. Sadly, they take some time. Sprinkle colored sugar into your mold. Fill the mold half way with water. Freeze a while. Sprinkle more colored sugar in. Add more water. Freeze. I can’t figure out how to simply mix the sugar in because it’ll melt, and or sink to the bottom. These pops look a lot glitterier if you make them with yogurt – the sugar doesn’t dissolve much in yogurt. Cedar likes the glitterier look, but he’s weird about ice – he loves ice. So… we make them with water.

8. Homemade limeade

9. Sparkling Organic Pear

10. Maraschino-lemonade pops

11. Applesauce: sometimes thick applesauce needs to be mixed with a little water or it freezes funny.

12. Fudge pops

13. Tangerine juice – tangerine lime is really good too.

14. Red beans and coconut

15. Blend raspberries (about 6 oz), 1 1/2 cup plain yogurt, 3/4 cup water, and mint (either a handful of fresh mint leaves, or 2 tsp mint syrup) – blend all of this really well and freeze.

16. Green tea root beer

17. Chocolate & vanilla layered pudding – or make it easy on yourself and simply add both flavors to your mold and swirl them with a thin knife.

18. Honeydew lime

19. Fresh pureed peaches, a tablespoon of honey, and whole small wild blueberries. Mix & freeze.

20. Brew strong green tea, mix in honey, freeze.

21. Strawberry cinnamon

22. Salad pops: Blend half a cantaloupe and a couple cherry tomatoes – to sort of still chunky. Add 1/4 cup of chopped mint, basil, or lemon balm (not all three, choose one – I like lemon balm). Add a cup or two of plain organic yogurt. Freeze. Truthfully, I like this better with chopped (very small) tomatoes. But seriously, like I have that kind of time.

23. Mashed bananas, a dash of milk, peanut butter, and chocolate sauce – (mix smooth & freeze).

24. Mango Kulfi

25. Pureed watermelon mixed with white grape juice

26. Sweet potato pops – cook, mash, mix smooth (adding some soy milk to thin it out), sprinkle in a little nutmeg, freeze. These are really good – no joke.

27. Banana & pomegranate

28. Chamomile sun tea pops – just like it sounds. Make sun tea & freeze. I love lemon ice sun tea pops too.

29. Chocolate chip mint popsicles

30. PLAIN WATER – plain water is way fun to freeze. Every kid I know likes plain ice pops, and water is important, we need lots of it to stay healthy. Also, if you’re having a summer picnic, you can make plain water pops with beautiful tiny edible flowers, flower petals, small whole berries, or whole herb leaves in them. Stick them in a bucket of cubed ice to serve and everyone will think you’re some sort of Martha Stewart genius. I’m serious. You think I’m kidding. Make some. People will fawn over you… for freezing water. Go figure.

31. Fruit and yogurt pops

32. Herbal pops: Herbal pops are awesome. You can actually make them with medicinal qualities which is the perfect way to get your little one to take herbs (kids don’t always love tea).

You can use lavender, thyme, basil, and more – really any herb. You’d be surprised at some of the tasty ice pops herbs make. IF you’re nervous try a sample first by making herbal ice cubes. That’s less waste than whole pops. Samples can save you from things like rosemary blueberry pops (Hey, it sounded good).

Anyhow to make a basic herbal mix you can make basic (but strong) herbal teas, boil herbs down for a good long while on your stove and use the liquid, or try the sugar method, it depends on how you’re feeling.

For the sugar method pound herbs down with a pestle and mortar (or food processor). Add an ounce of super fine sugar, and pound to make a paste. Next, boil a liter of water with about 2 ounces of super fine sugar for five minutes. Add the juice of two lemons or not – this step depends on what you’re trying to create. You can add orange juice, lime, etc. You could even just add more water or some saved tea. Mix the herb mixture and the water mixture together. Stir well with a whisk. Cool down before filling your molds.

That’s enough I think. What I’m hoping is that this list showed you that you can try all sorts of combinations. You don’t have to stick to plain old fruit juice.

Note: as you experiment, don’t forget to write down items you use in a concoction. The only thing worse than a terrible idea for an ice pop flavor, is the best idea ever that you can’t remember how to make. Also, if you come up with something amazing come back and let me know.

Now, what’s your favorite ice pop flavor? I like ginger rootbeer and tangerine best.

[all photos via: stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Sure you can recycle some popsicle trash, but rarely all of it. Plus if you want organic pops, they’re hard to come by and expensive. It’s far better to make your own popsicles – or ice pops I suppose, since popsicle is really a company name.

You have a few choices when it comes to molds, but in my experience, molds that stick together are used less frequently because they’re a pain. No one want to have to stick the whole mold under running water. Not to mention that stuck together molds are harder to clean – especially if you don’t have a dishwasher.

The last issue to consider is plastic. We don’t want plastic molds that leach chemicals. I’ve been looking for a while for alternatives to plastic molds, but really few options exist. Some people bring up the paper cup option – which of course I don’t like. You can sometimes find old school tin molds, but ice doesn’t exactly pop right out of metal or tin based materials.

Here are a few options.

I like these Tovolo Star Molds (Star shaped).

These molds are plastic, but do have some nice perks. One they’re single molds, making them easy to freeze, serve, and clean. Two the handles are designed to catch drips.

They also have a huge array of shapes. I like the star shape best but also like the Tovolo Groovy Molds:

Your next option is Silicone.

These Lekue Silicone Ice Pop Molds are really unique. They’re also singles, but more like push pops, and are flexible besides. The only issue I have with these is the color. I can’t stand red – if you look around you might be able to find them in another color. Also, I don’t like the fact that they’re not clear – my son likes to see his icy treats.

Two other ideas (which you can go view) include:

Cuisipro Sailboat Ice Cream / Ice Pop Molds – cute, but it looks like the holder would take up extra room.

SiliconeZone Popsicle Mold: Not single molds.

Some people worry about silicone safety, just like people worry about plastics. My pal Marye did some research on it a while back and found nothing scary about silicone bake ware. So far as mold material – that’s honestly going to be your call. Some of the sites I visited said the Tovolo pop molds are non-toxic. True? I’m not sure. I’ll be looking into it more and reporting back.

That said, you have to weigh stuff sometimes. Using the same molds all summer (and for years to come) will save literally buckets of trash, depending on the types of ice pops your family likes. I like molds because they save on resources and garbage – even plastic molds, because you can use the same molds for years and years. It’s not the same energy drain.

It’s a toss up. But when it comes down to it, I’ll go with molds over not, it’s one small step that saves resources, and saves you money, along with everlasting trips to the store.

Up next: the fabulous mega ice pop recipe post (woo hoo).

Post from: Tree Hugging Family