Made with nuts, seeds and marshmallows, these crayons are free of artificial colours and truly neat! This idea and images were totally snagged from Luxirare. You can even colour with them!

It`s something I’d love to do with my girls, but since I’m still layed up in the hospital, I’ll have to wait till I’m out and I remember to gather the necessary ingredients.

To see how these health bars were made, please visit the original site here.

It’s that time of the year where, instead of complaining about everything cold, we are embracing it in order to get some relief from the summer heat!

Dawn and Emily are at an age where all things ‘popsicle’ light up their lives with joy, spending time every day sucking their sweet, cold treat. I quickly grew tired of the plain frozen-juice pops, and went on a mission to find new wonderful recipes to try out. The girls like them much better, and it gives them different flavours and textures to experiment with.

1. Mango Kulfi

This ice-cream-type desert originated in Pakistan and India. While this recipe calls for mango, you can substitute it for many other ingredients, including peach or orange.

2. Dripless Popsicles

If you’re a mom, you probably find that giving popsicles to young children a rather stressful event. Try dripless popsicles! The jello in the recipe solidifies the popsicles enough that they don’t make a mess while being eaten.

You will need:

1 package fruit-flavoured Jell-O
1 packaged unsweetened Kool-Aid
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup boiling water
2 cups cold water

Place Jello-O in bowl. Add boiling water and  mix till gelatin is dissolved. Add sugar and Kool-Aid. Dissolve as much as possible. Add cold water, and continue mixing until all particles are gone. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.

3. Rocky Road Pops

You will need:

1 package instant chocolate pudding
2 cups of milk
1/2 c. miniature marshmallows
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Prepare pudding according to package directions. Add in marshmallows and nuts. Pour into molds and freeze.

4. Ice-Creamsicles

Love the flavour of a store-bought creamsicle? Try this:

You will need:

1 can of frozen concentrated orange juice, partially defrosted
1 can of water (same can as the juice came in)
1 pint vanilla ice cream

Combine all ingredients in the blender and blend till smooth. Place in molds and freeze.

5. Creamy Fruit Pops

3 cups grape (or other) punch
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Combine the two ingredients and freeze in popsicle molds.

6. Orange-Banana Smoothie Pops

Recipe courtesy of Country Living.

7. Oreo Pudding Pops

You will need:
1 box instant chocolate pudding
2 cups of milk
8 Oreo cookies, crushed into crumbs
1/2 cup thawed cool-whip or whipped cream

Prepare chocolate pudding according to package directions. Add crushed cookiest and whipped toping. Combine till smooth. Place in popsicle molds and freeze.

8. Banana Blueberry Swirl Popsicles

From MarthaStewart.com

9. Banana and Coconut Frozen Yogurt Popsicles

From Wandering Chopsticks

10. Easy Creamy Lemon-Dream Popsicles

You will need:

2/3 cup sugar
5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons grated lemon peel
1 pinch salt
1 2/3 cup buttermilk

Whisk all ingredients together until sugar is well-dissolved. Mold and freeze.

11. Maple Mocha Pops

From Taste of Home

12. Homemade Fudge Pops

You will need:

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
3/4 c sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Place chopped chocolate into a medium glass mixing bowl. Set aside.  Combine heavy cream, milk, sugar, and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until cocoa is dissolved and mixture comes to a simmer. Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate. Let stand for 2 to 3 minutes and then whisk gently until all chocolate is melted. Add the vanilla extract. Divide into molds and freeze.

13. Honeydew-Lime Popsicles

You will need:

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
4 cups cubed honeydew
2/3 cup fresh lime juice.

Combine ingredients into blender and puree. Force puree through a fine-meshed sieve, passing through as much of the pulp as possible, discarding the remain. Distribute into a popsicle mold and freeze at least 6 hours.

14.  Melon Popsicles with Mind, Honey, and Yogurt

You will need:

1 medium melon, peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
handful of mint leaves
3 TBs honey
1 TB lime juice
1 cup unsweetened Greek strained yogurt

Purée the melon, mint, honey, and lime juice in a food processor. Strain into a bowl through a fine sieve, pressing on the solids to extract the juice. Discard the solids. Stir in the yogurt until smooth. Distribute into a popsicle mold and freeze.

15. Frozen Strawberry Peach Pops

From Country Living

16. Cardamom Rhubarb Sorbet Pops

3 1/2 cups fresh rhubarb, chopped
2 1/2 cups water
1 2/3 cups sugar
1/4 ts. salt
2 ts. dried lemon zest
1/2 ts. cardamom
1 ts. vanilla extract
2 TB corn syrup

Place the rhubarb, water, sugar, salt & lemon zest in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes. The rhubarb should get very soft. Cool. Place in blender and mix until smooth. Press through a strainer to remove pulp. Stir in remaining ingredients. Dispense into mold and freeze.

17.  Red, While, and Blueberry Pops

From Serious Eats, a nice snack for summertime.

18. Plum Smoothie-Pop

Another neat one from Country Living.

19. Kiwi Ice Pops

…and another!

20. Rootbeer Float Pops

From Erin Cooks

21. Tyler Florence’s Yogurt Popsicles

And this final one is courtesy of Oprah.com

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A Facebook Friend posted this awesome way of preparing hotdogs and spaghetti. It may be hard to tell at first sight, but the spaghetti is actually IN the hot dogs. I spiced it up with some sauce and decided to name it “Alien Guts!” What better way to get your kids (especially the boys) eating something other than Kraft Dinner!

I was on a baking kick for the previous few days and the girls were begging me to make something of their own. So I pulled out the best recipe book in the world AKA the Net and found this simple recipe for them to do.

They are super light and crispy-thin. You drop them onto the cookie sheet by teaspoonfuls, then in the heat, they run out till there are even small holes in them!

You will need:

1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 egg
1 ts. vanilla
1/2 ts. salt
1 ts. vanilla
1 c. quick cooking oats
1/4 c. flour

Preheat oven to 325 F. Line cookie sheet with aluminium foil and coat with a non-stick spray.

Combine all ingredients except flour and oats. Stir until well mixed. Add remaining ingredients and stir once again till well mixed.

Drop by teaspoons onto cookie sheet, leaving 2 1/2 inches between each cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes till slightly browned. Let sit 2 minutes before removing. Peel cookies off foil and either allow to cool on a place, or roll up and dip into melted chocolate.

Makes 48.

I can’t remember where I found it, but I discovered an AWESOME tomato Sauce that is so easy to make, you’re children could make it on their own with minor supervision when at the stove.

This sauce contains only 3 ingredients, but I have to say that this is the first tomato sauce that I really like, the girls loved it and they were happy that they were able to make it themselves!

Ingredients:

1 16 oz. can of tomatoes
1/4 cup butter
1 med. onion

Open can of tomatoes and place in saucepan. Crush them somewhat with a spoon or knife. You don’t have to do this too thoroughly since you can also break them down as they cook. Remove the skin from the onion and cut it in half. Place halves into the pan.

Bring to boil, then reduce temperature to a simmer. Cook for approx. 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. You may want to add a touch of salt if your canned tomatoes don’t have much sodium…give it a taste to find out.

Remove onion halves and discard them.

Serve over a plate of pasta…enjoy!

What do you think of this recipe? Share your thoughts in the comments section. Dawn and Emily now have a favourite new pasta sauce!