Strawberry & Mango Popsicle Recipe

Man, is it hot down here in Houston this weekend! Days like today, and probably every other day until October-ish, make me crave something refreshing to snack on. After a long day of playing with our new water table in the backyard (thanks Ya-Ya and Papa!) my son and I retreated into the house for some air conditioning and a snack. Luckily, I had whipped up a batch of Popsicles the day before.

This recipe was super easy, and made up on a whim. I just used what I had in the my refrigerator and I am sure with a little experimenting, you could use any fruit that's in season. Next time, I'm going to try and sneak some type of veggie in my pops!!! These would  be really great for a teething baby or toddler, possibly frozen in an ice cube tray and used inside of a mesh feeder.

Now lets talk price:

Lime               $0.30
Strawberries $0.99 for conventional or $2.99 for organic
Mango            $ 0.33

Depending on which strawberries you choose you are either looking at $1.62 for the conventional recipe or $3.62 for the organic recipe. Either way you go, these are a much better alternative to most Popsicles found in your grocery store.

Strawberry & Mango Popsicle Recipe

Makes 4 twin pops

1 Mango, peeled and cubed
1 lb of strawberries, tops removed and sliced
Sweetener of choice, I used maple syrup
Juice of a lime

Puree mango in either blender or food processor, set aside in bowl. Juice 1/2 lime into the bowl and mix it up! Now, puree your strawberries and sweetener together. I used 1 tsp if maple syrup and they tasted great, but if you want a very sweet Popsicle I would recommend adding a little more. Now squeeze the other half of the lime into the strawberries and mix.

I wanted my Popsicles to look pretty, so I layered the mango and strawberry separately using  a funnel. I have the Tovolo Twin Pop Mold and really like it! (Also the price on Amazon was cheaper than what I found in store, bummer!) Just be gentle with the Popsicle sticks and run your mold under water before trying to pry them out.

Happy Summer!!

Confession Time...

Okay, so I must admit something. My Whole30 challenge was a complete fail, I lasted about a week and then gave in and ate a muffin. A very healthy, delicious muffin. But still, a fail. I can chalk it all up to not being prepared what so ever and having a crazy weekend. My family came to stay the weekend with us to help me attempt Once a Month Cooking. We spent the better part of two days shopping, chopping and cooking and I was famished. I had nothing prepped for my special diet and was starving and light headed at the end of the second day. So, I grabbed a muffin.

I wish I had stuck it out because I felt AMAZING during the week that I was Whole 30 compliant. Tons of energy, no moodiness and zero tummy bloat. It was amazing, so I'm going to give it shot number 2. I am much better organized to start this again. I just went to Sprouts and went grocery shopping for the week and have my menu all planned out. I am surprised at how inexpensive my grocery bill is and I'm excited to share my menu plan with you a little bit later.

Clean Eating Chocolate Sauce

We ate pretty well tonight for dinner; steak, a small baked potato, asparagus and salad. After dinner I was craving a little something sweet. My family loves frozen yogurt for dessert on the weekends and it might seem like a pretty innocent treat, but I have no way of telling what is in my cup of yogurt. There could be high fructose corn syrup, food dyes and the milk they use is most definitely not organic. The unknown is pretty scary to me and I have just learned not to eat something that I can't easily identify. So usually I will just buy some organic ice cream and have a little here and there, but that gets kind of boring after a while. The best part of a frozen yogurt place, at least to me, is the toppings bar. I needed a little something to top my ice cream off with tonight and that is how the clean eating chocolate sauce came about, and it is delicious. Much better than Hershey's chocolate syrup and certainly much better for my body.

What exactly is in Hershey's Chocolate Syrup???

HERSHEY'S Chocolate Syrup

Ingredients

HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP; CORN SYRUP; WATER; COCOA; SUGAR; CONTAINS 2% OR LESS OF: POTASSIUM SORBATE (PRESERVATIVE); SALT; MONO- AND DIGLYCERIDES; XANTHAN GUM; POLYSORBATE 60; VANILLIN, ARTIFICIAL FLA VOR Eek!! I'm not sure why they need all of that in their syrup, but what I made tonight had 4 ingredients in it total and was delicious! Here's the recipe: 1/4 cup organic maple syrup (the real deal! not pancake syrup, read your label) 1    Tablespoon Unsweetened 100% dark cacao 1    teaspoon organic unsalted butter 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract Heat the maple syrup over low heat, add the cacao. Mix together well. When thoroughly heated add butter and vanilla. Let cool and drizzle over your ice cream or dessert. This recipe makes 4 generous servings at 61 calories per serving, according to myfitnesspal. Enjoy!

Homemade Citrus Dressing

I went on a one day rampage where I threw everything out that had an iffy ingredient in it...GMO, flavor, added color or preservatives. It left me with brown rice, fruits and veggies and not much else. I think the most common ingredient I threw away was salad dressing. I really love having a salad before my dinner but was not sure what to do as far as a dressing that wasn't crazy in calorie content or hard to make.

Well guys, I have fallen in love with this dressing!! You probably have everything you need to make it in your pantry already..which is awesome because who wants to run to the store just for some salad dressing?? The best part is this is low-cal so if you are like me and trying to loose weight, this will be a keeper! I recycled a bottle of Honest Tea that my hubby drank to use to keep the dressing in and it is quite convenient.

So the recipe is:

8 Tablespoons of freshly squeezed citrus juice. (I used a grapefruit because they were on sale.)
2 Tablespoons of oil, I used olive oil
2 Tablespoons of honey
2 Tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
2 to 3 teaspoons of mustard, I used an organic brand from Kroger's

Put everything in your bottle and shake, shake, shake!!! A little tip: add the oil before the honey, it will make the honey slide off the measuring spoon easier.

And that is pretty much it, super easy and probably takes 5 minutes at the most. This stuff is good!! According to my fitness pal recipe maker it is about 62 calories a serving, if this recipe made 8 servings. Oh, don't forget to store this in the refrigerator.

How my Clean Eating Journey Started

My journey to Eat Clean started two weeks after my son was born. We were in the midst of a growth spurt and he needed to nurse every hour on the hour which meant we spent a lot of time sitting on the couch watching TV or Netflix and heating up a microwaveable meal for lunch. Any Mom wants to lose weight ASAP after her baby is born and so I stocked up on the low cal, microwaveable foods because they were easy and convenient, and supposedly healthy. The calorie info seemed legit enough for me at the time. Yes, I am cringing right now thinking about the sodium, GMO's and junk that is in microwaveable food. YUCK! Anyways, I was trying to find something interesting to watch on Netflix and saw the Food, Inc. documentary and decided to press play. If you haven't watched Food, Inc. yet you need to!!! You will probably never want to eat fast food again and it might change your life.

After Food, Inc. I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and then Fork Over Knives. My hubby came home and I made him watch them too. I was in disgust. How could I be feeding my family such junk??

It has been 8 months since my husband and I decided to Eat Clean and there have been some ups and downs. I have lost 50 of the 62 pounds I gained while pregnant and haven't bought a bag of potato chips because I can't get over the thought of the GMO's hidden inside of them. I also have left the grocery store buying way too much "organic junk food" and spending ridiculous amounts of money on groceries. It's a life change and I know it will take a while to find the right balance between Eating Clean and overspending on food.

Clean Eating is definently not the most convienent way of life, you have to put some thought into planning your meals and must resist the temptaion of peanut butter cups and diet sodas...my weakness. But, you will feel so much better!!! So, give clean eating a try, your body will thank you.