2 Ingredient Strawberry Popsicles

There's nothing better on a hot afternoon than to hand your kids a popsicle...instant smiles!  We've had some amazing deals on Strawberries here lately, and so we've had all sorts of fun with our berries.  

These popsicles are super easy to make.

You will need:

2 cups chopped strawberries

1 cup apple juice (Any other fruit juices would be great.  Almond milk would probably be tasty, too!) 

In a bowl, mix the strawberries and juice together until smooth using an immersion blender (I know, here I go again...it's my favorite!).  If you don't have an immersion blender (yet...hehe), you can put the ingredients in a blender or food processor, too.

Pour into popsicle molds.  If you don't have popsicle molds, or if your children think your monster popsicle molds are better used as toys, you can also just use those little paper dixie cups and a popsicle stick (the Dollar store sells popsicle sticks in the craft area, FYI).

Let the popsicles sit in the freezer for about 20 or so minutes before adding the popsicle sticks, otherwise the sticks will just fall over.  Once they begin to set & freeze a bit, you should be able to place the sticks in the cups and have them stay upright.

When you're ready to eat them, simply cut off the paper cup!  Note:  Because these are not thin popsicle molds, but fat cups, you probably won't need to fill them more than 1/2-3/4 full.  1/2 full seemed perfect for my kids, 3/4 was good for us grown people :)

Here's my happy little bug eating the popsicle she made:

Enjoy your popsicles!  Also, if you try any other fruit/juice variations and you love them, will you leave a comment below so we can all try it out, too?  Thanks!

Lofthouse Cookies, the Park, and Morning Sickness

The girls went over for a playdate this morning for a couple hours, so the little man and I ran to the Dollar Store to get some items for his birthday party (he's turning 2 this month)!  We ran home, washed some dishes, and then began to bake up a batch of my Lofthouse knock-off cookies.  Everyone at Ben's work loves these!

After I picked up the girls, I surprised them with a picnic lunch at the park.  It was a nice day, but it's starting to get hotter and their little cheeks were all red by the time we left!  

They are all sleeping now, the cookies are frosted and sitting, and I'm left with a messy kitchen that I don't really want to clean.  Anybody want to come take care of it for me?

On another note, how absolutely lame is it that I have had almost no morning sickness with this pregnancy, yet the day I hit 14 weeks I puke for the first time?  I hope it's not a sign of things to come...because that would be dumb.  

Chocolate Filled Strawberries

Like I said, those 12 pounds of cheap strawberries I bought this last week would lead to a lot of strawberry recipe posts!  

This one is super easy to do.  Simply cut off the top of the strawberry and cut a small hole out of the middle.

Melt some chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until done.  

Put the chocolate into a Ziploc baggie, cut the tip of the bag off, and squeeze some chocolate into each strawberry center.

Place in the fridge to set.

Now, I must admit, you cannot eat these straight out of the fridge.  They need to be room temp or meltier to eat (well, you CAN eat the straight out of the fridge, but I personally did not like the big chuck of hard chocolate in the middle).

The solution?  Sit outside in the sun and let your chocolate melt a little bit (not all the way).  NOW they can be eaten in bites!  And they are oh-so-delicious!

While I like the look and ease of these, I truly think I'll stick to strawberries dipped in chocolate in the future (except maybe parties and such).  Though, eating them outside once melty really was just fine in my opinion ;)