Berry Boost pops

I love Bolthouse Farms juice. My favorite is the berry boost smoothie. It's just so delicious. And I decided to use it to make some frozen fruit pops.
All I did was pour the juice into the molds and freeze it. I could have chopped some berries and added them, but I just wanted the straight juice this time. Unfortunately, the extreme heat and humidity means they don't stay frozen very long up on removal from the freezer, so the final product is kind of lumpy. But it's delicious and I wanted to eat the whole tray of pops all at once.

Strawberry Cheesecake Pops

I decided to try out the Popsicle molds I bought a few months ago. After playing with a few ideas, I decided on making cheesecake. I'll tell you how I did it this time, and how I plan on doing it next time.

Cheesecake pop #1

I chopped up some strawberries and put them in the bottom of the mold. I then mixed up some cheesecake pudding and poured it in the molds. Into the freezer it went until it hardened, and then... yummy!
Cheesecake pop #2

What I'd like to try next time is to get one of those no bake cheesecakes. I'd still put strawberries in the bottom of the mold and then top it with the cheesecake mix. The top would be the graham cracker crust. I'd let them set in the fridge to set up, and then I'd pop them in the freezer. Mmm, yummy!

Ice Cream Sandwiches

Time Needed: 4 hours
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: ice cream ingredients as directed by your favorite recipe, chocolate chip cookies

Directions: Mix the ingredients for your ice cream together. My ice cream directions call for 2 hours of chilling before mixing, hence the first part of the 4 hour time limit here. While this is chilling, you can take a nap, make your own chocolate chip cookies, go buy some gourmet cookies, watch an episode of "The Office" or whatever tickles your fancy. Then, whip out your ice cream maker and make you some ice cream. My ice cream maker takes 15 minutes, but some take up to an hour, hence another piece of time frame. When it's done, scoop it in between some cookies and stick these in the freezer for at least an hour. And that's the last part of why this takes so long. But it's so stinking easy and way better than any ice cream sandwich you'd buy in the store. Mmm... drool...

Vegan Chocolate Ice Cream

Yeah, yeah, another vegan recipe. I got an ice cream maker from my in laws for Christmas, and while I made the vegan recipe for my vegan friend, I think this is my favorite creation from it so far.

Time Needed: 2 1/2 hours
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: 1 1/2 cups soy milk, 1 can coconut milk, 1/2 cup agave nectar, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and whisk until completely combined. Alternatively, you can put the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Place the bowl or blender container in the refrigerator, and chill it for at least two hours. You may choose to skip this step, but your ice cream will not freeze as solidly if you do. After chilling the ingredients, place the mixture into your ice cream maker, and process according to the manufacturer's directions. Serve immediately, or store in a freezer-safe container until ready to eat.

Strawberry Peach Freezer Jam

Time Needed: 15 minutes (plus 24 hours of sitting)
Level of difficulty: easy
Materials needed: 2 cups crushed strawberries, 1 1/2 cups crushed peaches (I throw both in the blender to crush), 7 cups sugar, 3/4 cup water, 1 package pectin (such as Sure Jell), 6 or so pint-sized Tupperware containers with lids
Directions: Combine your fruit mix and sugar and let sit for 10 minutes. Once that's had time to marinate, boil your water. Once it's boiling, add the pectin and boil for one minute. Then, add to the fruit and stir for 3 minutes. Put in freezer safe Tupperware and let sit on your counter for 24 hours. Then put one in your fridge and the rest in your freezer. Woo hoo!

Variations: This is obviously a VERY basic recipe. It's amazing with any fruit by itself or any combination you can think of. Besides strawberry peach (which is our ultimate fave), we love strawberry, raspberry, peach, and mixed berry. For just berries, I'd go with 4 cups of berries total.