Greensicles

My children are fairly typical in that they don’t really like vegetables all that much, especially green ones.  They will eat some steamed broccoli or green beans; but really, most of the time, they would far prefer orange veggies like carrots and, of course, fruit.  I continue to present them with new vegetables, vegetables cooked in different ways, and encourage them to eat vegetables as much as possible.  I also don’t mind hiding vegetables in foods (I’m actually always up front with them about a food’s vegetable content since the idea of veggies being there doesn’t seem to bother them as long as it tastes good).  But, my daughters aren’t into smoothies, and while hiding some green veggies in baking (such as my spinach brownies or banana-broccoli muffins) is nice for a treat, I really don’t like them eating such sweet foods every day.  Enter the greensicle (a green popsicle).  Funny how a little bit of sweetness from fruit combined with the novelty of frozen foods makes eating green vegetables so much more palatable!  My children get so excited about eating these greensicles for dessert that I can actually bribe them with them to eat their veggies! (They actually taste quite strongly of fruit despite the color). And the combination of whole fruit and vegetables (as opposed to juice, except for the carrot juice) and the fat from the avocado also means that my kids don’t get all sugar-crazy when they eat these (even if I let them eat 3!).  I also open up and empty 5 or 6 Acidophilus/Bifidus Capsules into my popsicle mix since my kids are refusing any good probiotic foods at the moment.

I use classic cylindrical popsicle molds that I bought years ago (can’t remember what store).  They are similar to these Kidcopopsicle molds.  However, if I was going to buy new molds (which I may do because I can’t be 100% certain that mine are BPA-free), I would either buy ones with a spout for drinking the melted liquid like these Danesco ones or buy these super cool Norpro Silicone Ice Pop Molds that are more like otter pops (or freezies if you’re Canadian).  This recipe makes 16 ¼-cup sized popsicles (2 typical popsicle molds).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups frozen chopped spinach (measure frozen) or about 1¼ cups steamed spinach
• 1 cup (8 oz) carrot juice
• 2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 large orange (or substitute 1 small mango)
• 2 ridiculously ripe bananas
• ½ large avocado

1.    Peel bananas and avocado.  Peel orange and remove the thick white pith from the middle.  If using frozen spinach, let thaw.
2.    Place all ingredients in a blender and blend on high for 2-3 minutes.  The secret to getting my kids to eat these popsicles is to blend until completely smooth.
3.    Pour into popsicle molds, insert popsicle sticks, and freeze until hardened (at least 4-6 hours).
4.    Remove from molds (I have to run a little water on the outside of mine to release the popsicles) and enjoy!