Whole Fruit Popsicles

We have had a very busy week!  We spent this past weekend running and hiking in the Grand Canyon, doing 33 miles in 40 hours.  Needless to say, we are sore, exhausted, and I haven't had much time for blogging.  For non food-related eye candy however, here is one picture of our amazing trip.

About one mile down the South Kaibab Trail

It was perfect weather for such a grueling weekend.  Slightly overcast, and much cooler than the canyon usually is in the middle of July! 

Though it was cool and pleasant in the Grand Canyon this past weekend, it was pretty warm the week before in Arizona, even up here in the mountains where we live.  As we usually do a long run of 10 miles or more on Saturdays, we have been learning to adjust to heavy exercise in weather over 75 degrees.

One of John's favorite pre-run tricks to beat the heat is to eat a popsicle or drink a glass of water that has frozen blueberries tossed in.  I was looking through Pinterest a couple of weeks ago (while thinking about our Saturday long run coming up!) and I saw these posted by Skinnytaste and thought, "What a nice combination of John's favorite things!"

Doesn't your brain think yummy sounds by just looking at these?

I had a few mangoes that needed using up, and the raspberries and kiwis were on sale at our local supermarket.  When I got started making them, I realized I had some frozen blueberries that John would love if I put in there, since he's such a fan.  I have linked to the recipe here and I have also put it below.  

Quick notes before you get started.  1.)  You probably will not need the extra sweetener unless you already feel the need to sugar your fruit.  I used a tiny bit of maple syrup and John said next time he'd be just as happy if I left it out.  2.)  The blueberries were a success.  In fact, they were John's favorite part.   3.)  If you don't have popsicle sticks, you can use a plastic spoon, but don't use a plastic fork like I did.  John almost swallowed a tine that he bit off....

Frozen Mango, Kiwi, Raspberry Pops
Skinnytaste.com

Ingredients:

9 tbsp water

2 tbsp sugar

5 oz kiwi, peeled

6 oz mango, peeled

6 oz fresh raspberries

(Emily's addition: 6 oz. blueberries)

Directions:

1.) Make a simple syrup by combining water and sugar in a small pot and bring to a boil; boil for about 4-5 minutes on medium heat. Set aside.

(Emily's note:  I left out this step and used maple syrup.  Like I said before, the extra sweetener was probably not necessary for our taste.)

2.)  Puree fruit separately in the blender. Set aside in 3 small bowls.
3.) Divide the simple syrup between the fruit purees and mix in.
4.) Equally fill four small 5 oz cups with the kiwi puree and place in the freezer; freeze one hour.
5.) Add mango puree and freeze 20 minutes. 

6.) Insert sticks and freeze at least 2 hours.  

7.) Add raspberry puree and freeze overnight.

Here is what ours looked like!

 

The verdict?  I made four of them.  John had polished them off within 2 days and has been asking for more since then.  He loved them. He ate each one before a run and said he thought they really helped keep him cool throughout his exercising by lowering his core temperature.  

A yummy fruit treat and a trick to make exercising more pleasant?  That sounds like two birds with one stone to me.  I'll take that any day.