Triple Berry Smoothie Pops // For School Lunches
Well, it’s hard to believe… but summer vacation is officially over for my crew. Boy that went by fast! Two months out of school surely wasn’t enough! We fit in a couple road trips to far off places, a week of VBS, and some time visiting with close friends. Besides that…. we soaked up the down time together.
I’m still in denial about the school schedule and extra curricular activities. I don’t personally love being tied down to a schedule, so it’s something I struggle with every year. We’ve embarked on quite a few big changes in our family… one being the start of middle school for my oldest (wish us luck)! I hope to update the blog with photos of our summer adventures and news about this new chapter in our lives. Until then… let’s talk school lunches!
I have to admit that I fell into a rut last year when packing their daily lunches. My oldest is pretty picky and won’t eat typical lunch items. I found myself making three to four different lunches every day. My goal was always to provide them with a healthy variety of foods, but towards the end of the school year… I was completely over it all!
This year, I’ve started thinking about different things I could include to mix things up. I watched a few videos on school lunches, including this one from 100 Days of Real Food. I really appreciated her ideas about making at least one thing in their lunches ahead of time (like soup, homemade uncrustables, muffins, or even frozen smoothie pops)!
That brings me to this post! I purchased these super cool silicone mighty pop reusable holders from Sunsella. They’re durable, dishwasher safe, and easy to use! Simply fill with your favorite smoothie recipe, freeze, and pop into your kids’ school lunches!
I don’t tend to use smoothie recipes… I prefer throwing in the fresh/frozen fruit that I have on hand. I always add a few things to make them even healthier, too … such as almond milk, coconut water, greek yogurt, nut butters, and/or chia seeds. I included some helpful tips, links to buying the molds, and also a Triple Berry Smoothie Pop recipe for you to try out! Happy lunch packing, friends!
TIPS & LINKS //
- Mix up your favorite healthy smoothie recipe and use a funnel to fill your silicone molds. I used this funnel from Oxo. (There is also an optional strainer you can attach to the funnel for those of you that have picky kids that don’t like chunks of fruit in their frozen pops). I used these Sunsella Mighty Pops for the mold.
- Leave approximately one-inch of room at the top of the mold to allow for expansion once the smoothie mixture freezes.
- Freeze overnight or for a minimum of 4-6 hours.
- Depending on your insulated lunch box, the pops may stay frozen, or turn into a cold drinkable smoothie!
- This is a simple recipe that the kids can help with! From my experience, if they help, they tend to be more open to trying new things!
Triple Berry Smoothie Pops
Ingredients
- 2 cups of coconut water
- 2 cups of fresh or frozen berries I used strawberries, blueberries and raspberries
- 1 ripe banana
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1-2 tablespoons honey
Instructions
- Add all of the ingredients into your blender.
- Blend on high for approximately 1 minute until smooth.
- Add in more coconut water if the mixture appears too thick.
- Using a funnel, pour smoothie mixture into silicone molds. (I used large plastic tumblers to hold the molds in place while I poured in the liquid.)
- Leave one-inch of room at the top of the mold to allow for expansion when the smoothie freezes.
- Place lids on molds and freeze (standing upright -- I placed my tumblers in the freezer) for 4-6 hours.
- These can be made ahead of time and used as desired in school lunches, for quick breakfasts, or for snacks!
- Enjoy!
