Frozen Fruit - Kids' Favorite Summer Snack

Hubby always wants those nasty food coloring, HFCS laden Otter Pops (Flav-R-Pops), he can down six or more at a time, ick. I was hoping we could skate by this summer without any of those seeing the inside of my freezer box. So far so good.

But I didn't want to deprive my boys the joys of treats from the freezer, so we've been making popsicles from yogurt, banana and berries and a frozen fresh fruit.

I wash grapes, berries (blueberry, raspberry, strawberries, black berries) or peaches and put them in a metal bowl in the freezer for 30-90 minutes and they're ready for after camp/school treat. The peaches and strawberries get sliced, the others go in whole. If your freezer wasn't packed to the brim like mine, you could lay the fruit out flat on a cookie sheet in single layer and the freeze would take less time. Be sure to gobble the fruit up while it's still frozen, at room temp it's texture will be much less desirable....How hard is that recipe?

The boys look forward to it and seem to enjoy it as much as those nasty popsicles that turn their tongues and lips blue. If I'm out of fruit or forgotten to put some in the freezer they are pathetic. My favorite are grapes and blackberries. Something about the icy half flaky, half crisp texture of a sweet n tart berry your mouth can linger on is so refreshing and satisfying.
Big Boo's favorite are the peaches.


Little Boo's favorite are the grapes.

Be sure to move any uneaten fruit into a freezer bag for a later smoothie. We rarely have any left.

Frugal Fruit Treats
It's pretty easy to find berries and stone fruit on sale in the summer, stock up when they're on sale and toss some in the deep freeze to snack on plain, to top yogurt or to blend in your favorite smoothie.

This post is participating in Pennywise Platter, hosted by The Nourishing Gourmet.

Kids, Make Your Brain Happy - Drink Water

Little Boo has never been much of a drinker - milk, water, juice, anything (although he has a new love for soda which he was exposed to on our summer vacation, sigh). I reluctantly open his lunch box every day after school and discover he, yet again, has not had much water to drink.

I'm trying something new with him, something I picked up from an article in Kiwi magazine. I can't find a link to it so you'll have to live with my paraphrasing. The feeling of thirst means you're already dehydrated, and one of the first signs of dehydration is fatigue. I don't know about you, but when I'm feeling sluggish, I'm not ready to learn new stuff and I have a hard time paying attention.

Of course I've been asking and reminding him to drink water since I weaned him, but now I don't see him 5 days a week for 8 hours at a stretch and there is likely no one at school reminding him to guzzle a few sips here and there. So to remind him I drew a picture on his napkin and tucked it into his lunch box. I'm not the best artist, but I think he got the message! Drink water, your brain is thirsty! Make your brain happy.

It's been two days of the picture message, and he's still coming home with plenty of water in his cup, so this is not a home-run....yet. I will keep trying to get that little camel to drink his water.

As part of the Healthy Lifestyles Events I am planning for the Boo's Elementary School, I will be sharing Grow Your Brain foods with parents and kids through various activities and mediums. From time to time I'll be popping onto the blog here to share the same with Kid Appeal readers. Hope you enjoy the Grow Your Brain series! I still haven't been able to blog as much as I'd like. I'm working on my first ever grant application to fund Healthy Lifestyles events on our campus. Deadline is in 10 days egads!

What do you find left in the lunch box at the end of the day?