Springtime Snacking

Fresh fruit is our jam- all year long. However, we are pumped that it's time for locally grown fresh fruit. Time to not only stock up the fridge for snacking, but it's time to buy extra to wash, cut and freeze for popsicles and foozies (smoothies), as well as the frozen yogurt recipes that are on our to try list! We definitely didn't waste any time getting to the orchard to pick some fresh strawberries. Two large containers were washed and eaten in less then two days! That only means one thing- a second trip is needed- stat! We have a handful of favorite snacks this time of year around here and fresh strawberries are definitely at the top of the list. 

Is there anything sweeter than a sticky, stained watermelon face? These two are watermelon addicts. Those small triangles are the perfect refreshing snack while playing outside. Watermelon is another favorite :) It's also yummy frozen, sprinkled with a little crushed sea salt or blended into a fresh watermelon margarita. sorry kids those tasty looking drinks are not for you! I always find myself taking pictures of them eating watermelon...I just think it is so cute to watch them bite into the fruit and see the sticky juice run down their faces and arms and when they are done, they are left with pink smiles. 

Another favorite of Stella and I's are frozen grapes. When she was younger I would put green grapes onto long wooden skewers, freeze them and let her chomp away. So this one has been around for a bit. However, we have been going the red grape route these days, and throwing some in a bowl in the freezer. Easy to reach in, grab a few, and pop in your mouth on the go :) It's kind of like taking a bite of grape flavored icy.  

Homemade popsicles could probably have a post of their own. I find myself on pinterest all.the.time. searching for yummy popsicle recipes. There are so many out there it's a bit overwhelming. After making so making popsicle recipes last year and having to ditch so many because of crappy plastic popsicle molds, I finally caved and bought a decent mold tray. It's a mix of silicone and aluminum and uses good old fashion wooden craft sticks. So far we love them. The popsicle comes out of the mold with the stick unlike how we used to pull the stick out with no popsicle treat attached! Our first recipe to try this season was chocolate hazelnut popsicles, with strawberries of course! Using our ninja smoothie maker, we blended two and one fourth cups of almond milk with 1 heaping cup of nutella. Before pouring the blended mixture into the molds, we dropped a few chopped strawberries in each mold and then filled each mold with the milk mixture; froze over night and YUMMY! Stella loves them! These blueberry lemon pudding pops and Lava Flow Pops are both on the list to try very soon!

All in all, thank goodness for wet ones because Springtime snacking is the best, but not the cleanest! Sometimes messes make snacking that much more fun. 

It's warm outside....time for a popsicle! ;)