What’s better than homemade, good for you frozen fruit pops on a hot summer day? Well, fresh fruit pops with added essential oils (use only certified pure therapeutic grade oils—not all are safe to eat). This way, you not only get good, healthy servings of fruit (with no chemicals, high fructose corn syrup or any other fills), but also, added health benefits of essentials oils.
Did I mention these fresh fruit pops are SIMPLE to make?
What’s there not to love about this?
I gathered lots of fruit, a bit of plain honey yogurt, a few veggies, a splash of coconut milk and my Vitamix and made a bunch of different flavors. Because I made them for kids (who can be picky at the drop of a hat), I also made all the flavors in ice-cube trays so we could have a TASTE TEST on tiny bits of frozen fruit treats before the larger ones froze clear through (and also eliminating the “eeeewwwww, I don’t like that flavor” issue completely by previewing them beforehand).
Taste Tests are serious business around here. They require pencils, paper and secrecy. Secrecy on my part by not telling them the ingredients inside what they’re tasting (until afterwards) and secrecy on their part to not spill the beans to fellow testers and influence them.
Once the results were in (raving reviews, I might add), I decided to pass on the most favored to you. All of them are fruits and veggies and essential oils–just good, raw nutrition packaged in summer fun.
Assemble the ingredients in your Vitamix or other high-powered blending machine, pour into molds and freeze. (And, of course, experiment with your own additions and/or changes. That’s half the fun).
Here I present you with the top six winning Fresh Fruit Pops:
Tropical:
1/2 a fresh pineapple, peeled and cored
1/2-1 cup coconut milk
1-3 drops an invigorating blend of essential oil (start with one drop and taste it. Adjust accordingly)
honey or sweetener of your choice to taste
Strawberry Yogurt:
2 cups strawberries, cleaned and hulled
1 cup yogurt of your choice (I used plain honey, but strawberry or any flavor that goes with strawberry could be substituted.)
1-3 drops Lemon essential oil (start with one drop and taste it. Adjust accordingly)
Honey or sweetener of your choice to taste
Blueberry Spinach:
2 cups blueberries
1 ripe banana
1 cup spinach leaves
1-3 drops Wild Orange essential oil (start with one drop and taste it. Adjust accordingly)
Honey or sweetener of your choice to taste
(NOT ONE kid of the 6 in the taste test could detect the spinach and all but one of the kids loved these…I never DID tell them the spinach was there, though, because they are all professing spinach haters!)
Blackberry Lime:
2 cups blackberries
the juice of 1/2 a lime
1-3 drops of Lime essential oil (start with one drop and taste it. Adjust accordingly)
1 cup yogurt honey or sweetener of your choice to taste
Carrot Cake:
2 ripe bananas
2 carrots, peeled (if you’re using something besides a Vitamix or good hefty blender, you might need to parboil the carrots to get them finely chopped up for this recipe)
2 tablespoons raisins
1 drop of Cinnamon essential oil (start with one drop or less—you can use a toothpick to dip in the oil and swirl it in the mixture to use less than one drop)
a splash of vanilla
1 can coconut milk (this is the canned thick stuff, not the stuff in the carton)
( I thought I was taking a chance with this recipe, but it was actually the favorite of one kid, and well-liked by the majority of the others. Personally, I LOVE this one as just an icy cold smoothie. VERY yummy!)
Some thoughts about the process:
I found if I needed to add a bit more liquid, I’d throw in a splash of coconut milk (in the carton) or coconut milk (in the can). Juice would also work, but I wanted to keep the fruit and veggies in these pops raw and fresh, so I skipped the juice. Yogurt makes them creamier, coconut milk makes them richer. I added tiny amounts of honey to some, depending on how tart they tasted.
Really, the varieties are endless. I want to try some with strawberries and rhubarb next (and lime oil). Mmmm.
What about you? Do you have a good frozen fruit combo that’s a winner? Share them with us!
Here are some of the benefits of the essential oils used in the above recipes*:
Lime—bacterial infections, antibacterial, digestive issues, anxiety, immune support, sore throats.
Lemon—cleansing, detoxing, uplifting, refreshing, antiseptic, bites and stings, cold sores, colds, digestion, stress.
Invigorating Blend— calming, uplifting, stress-reducing, balancing, anti-anxiety, detoxing.
Cinnamon— airborne bacteria, infections, bites and stings, blood sugar leveling, fungal infections, stimulates immune system, mold, viral infections.
Wild Orange—anxiety, digestion issues, heartburn, nervousness, courage, colds, colic, tissue repair, mouth ulcers, water retention.
*These claims have not been approved by the FDA.
