Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Besides an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, healthy snacks are hard to come by here.

Honestly, I would really rather have ice cream, especially since summer has brought warmer days. However, I’ve been trying to watch what I eat and so far I’ve lost seven pounds. Yeah!

I couldn’t find any low-calorie ice cream or frozen treats at the grocery store. That’s when I decided I needed to make my own.

A quick search on the Internet provided a variety of healthy frozen treat recipes. I finally decided to defrost my leftover kanlı portakal (blood orange) juice and make a version of these popsicles.

Surprisingly, I had brought along my plastic popsicle kit that’s only been used once in the last 3+ years. (For some reason, I think I will use all these kitchen must-have gadgets and then I don’t.) If you do not have molds like these, you can easily use small paper cups and natural craft sticks instead. For DIY popsicle tips, please click here.

I was trying to see if there’s a Turkish word for popsicle, and this is what I found buzlu şeker (which directly translates as icy sugar). If anyone knows if this is correct, please let me know.

When the outside temperature is too much to bear and you want something cold, sweet and healthy to eat, try my recipe below. It’s not as instantly gratifying as running out to the ice cream truck to buy a frozen snack, but it is better for you.

You could substitute different fruit juices according to what you like. Also, if you want a creamier version, use whole natural yogurt such as Greek yogurt or Turkish süzme yoghurt.

Afiyet Olsun!
Blood Orange-Vanilla Popsicles
Only 42 calories per popsicle!

Ingredients:
½ each vanilla bean pod, scraped
8 oz. low-fat yogurt (I used 1% Danone Light Yogurt)
8 oz. blood orange or other fruit juice
splash vanilla extract
1 T. granulated sugar

1. Place all ingredients in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk together until ingredients are thoroughly combined.
2. Using a funnel, carefully pour the mixture into the plastic popsicle molds, leaving about ½-inch gap at the top. (They will expand slightly.)
3. Place in freezer for several hours until frozen solid.
4. To remove from molds, you may need to run them under warm water. Then, carefully pull out the popsicle and eat.

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2 comments:

Sheryl Sparks said...

I am going to try these! Looks great!

Joy said...

I enjoyed one yesterday after I got back from game day! =)