Happy Memorial Day Weekend! I'm so looking forward to this weekend because even though we just went on vacation, it's always so hard getting back in the swing of things. Also, our apartment building decided it was a great time to start doing some major construction at the corner apartments directly connected to ours, so they kicked everyone out that was living there and have been drilling, hammering, and banging every day this week between the hours of 7 am and 5 pm. It has made it so difficult to get any work done! Sigh. Cancun I miss you.
The more important thing is tomorrow is my sister's 16th birthday!! I CANNOT believe my baby sister is growing up. Have I mentioned that we are the same height?! She just got a physical for volleyball and we are the exact same height. Which means, she will probably pass me at some point, since she is still growing and apparently I am already experiencing osteoporosis since I turned 18. Or at least that's what all my friends told me when I turned 18. Anywho, I am making her a cake today and I might blog the results depending on how it turns out!
Popsicles were the definition of my summers from the years 1995~1998. Growing up in the first house I can remember in Dallas during those years, summers were spent outside riding our bikes around the neighborhood, swimming in our above ground pool, laying in the hammock, or eating popsicles at our Little Tikes picnic table. While my parents didn't make many things from scratch, one thing they did make frequently were popsicles. They would fill the popsicle mold with whatever juice we had on hand, which was probably mostly apple juice.
I'm not sure if my brother and I really enjoyed the basic frozen juice popsicles as much as we did the bulk bag of frozen popsicles from Wal-Mart that we would also get from time to time. My favorite flavor was the banana flavor that looked like a yellow highlighter. (Which is extremely odd, because now I kind of hate all things artificial flavored banana!)
Memorial Day Weekend always kicks off the official start of summer in my mind, and so I thought a popsicle recipe only seemed fitting. It's been fluctuating between hot and warm days here in Texas, but I have no doubt we will be on a steady stream of hot and hotter days soon that will last through the end of October, at least. While I'm sure I'll be complaining about the heat soon enough, I am so excited for summer this year, and can't wait to go swimming at the rivers, grill outside, and eat lots of cold watermelon and ice cream (or more homemade popsicles!). The Texas summer heat is what I am used to, and I'm looking forward to the longer days, fresh produce, and hopefully being near more bodies of water!
These popsicles were so fun to make! The only difficult part is waiting for each layer to properly freeze before adding the next layer. I had grand ideas to have multiple red and white layers (similar to the American flag, obviously), but quickly shed that idea when I realized I'd be up until past 3 AM waiting for those layers to freeze, lol. If you want, you can add a splash of vanilla and/or honey to the Greek yogurt to sweeten it a little, or you can also use a flavored Greek yogurt instead of plain. Happy Memorial Day Weekend!
Cherry and Blueberry Yogurt Popsicles
makes approx. 6 popsicles
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cherries, pitted and sliced
- 1/2 cup sugar, divided
- 4 tbl water, divided in half
- 1 1/2 cups blueberries
- 2 cups greek yogurt
- splash of vanilla or honey to sweeten the yogurt (optional)
Directions
In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, add the sliced cherries, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and 2 tablespoons of water. Stir and allow mixture to heat up until it is slightly bubbling. Reduce heat to a low simmer, and cook for about 10 minutes or until cherries are soft.
Pour cherry mixture into a blender, and blend on high speed until smooth. Feel free to strain excess cherry chunks out with a strainer. (I did not do this.)
Carefully measure 2 tablespoons of cherry mixture into each of the popsicle molds. It should fill your popsicle mold about 1/3 of the way. Pop in the freezer for about 1-2 hours, or until layer is completely frozen.
When cherry layer is frozen, add 2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt to each popsicle mold. Freeze again until yogurt layer is hard.
While yogurt layer is freezing, prepare the blueberry layer. Repeat the same steps to make the cherry mixture: boil the blueberries in a medium saucepan with 1/4 cup of sugar and 2 tablespoons of water until blueberries are soft. Blend in a blender, and set aside to cool.
Top off each popsicle with the blueberry layer, and freeze. I let them freeze overnight!
