How To Turn The Last Scrapes Of Yogurt Into Homemade Popsicles
For those of you guilty of running out the door every morning to get to school or work, you probably have a container or two of your favorite yogurt stashed away in your refrigerator somewhere. Among the many quick nutritious breakfast options available, yogurt is not only convenient but purports many characteristics beneficial to your health. Most yogurts on the market contain viable doses of B vitamins as well as potassium and phosphorus but what makes yogurt even more beneficial is the fact that every serving contains a decent amount of protein. However, there are probably times you don't buy enough to make more than one blueberry-lemon coconut yogurt bowl and wind up with a small amount left over. Now, what are you supposed to do with those few extra scoops?
Luckily, yogurt is a versatile food that can be added to a number of your favorite dishes. You can swap yogurt for buttermilk in your homemade scone recipe as long as you add a bit of milk to thin out the consistency. You can also add the extras to a hot bowl of your favorite soup, to pancake batter, or mixed in with sour cream to create a tasty vegetable dip. Of the many ways to use this leftover creamy protein-packed food, you may want to also try adding leftover yogurt to your favorite popsicle recipes.
Use up leftover yogurt to make tasty frozen treats
If you're looking to make some easy homemade healthy popsicles, you aren't restricted to just fruits and vegetables when making these cold, delicious confections. If you have leftover yogurt lying around, this creamy snack can be incorporated into any of your favorite popsicle recipes to give them an extra layer of creaminess. If you want to keep your frozen snacks simple and healthy, you can make popsicles that simply include the fruit of your choice, yogurt, and honey. While one somewhat more involved recipe from Betty Crocker calls for 3 cups of yogurt to make eight popsicles, there's no reason why you can't add a smaller amount to just one or two popsicle molds to see if you like a certain flavor.
Depending on how you prefer the consistency of your homemade popsicles, you can blend the frozen fruit and yogurt until nice and silky, then pour the mixture into molds and freeze. Otherwise, you can add your leftover scoops of sweetened yogurt to popsicle molds before or after pureed frozen fruit to give your frozen treats a nice layered look. If you want an added boost of protein, make sure to add Greek yogurt as opposed to regular, since Greek yogurt often has twice the amount of protein. If you've already used up your leftovers and didn't save enough to add to your next batch of icy goods, there's more than one tasty way to upgrade your homemade popsicles.
Different ways to upgrade homemade popsicles
There's good news if you want to upgrade your standard popsicle recipe and you have more than yogurt as an option to elevate the flavor of your favorite frozen after-dinner snack. If you don't happen to have any yogurt on hand, you can always add coconut milk (as seen in Food Network's coconut cherry ice pops) or coconut yogurt and still get that creamy goodness completely dairy free. If you don't want to add a creamy element, you can use pureed vegetables in addition to your favorite fruits to add some texture. Good options would be neutral-tasting veggies such as spinach, as well as beets and sweet potatoes.
Not every popsicle needs to be healthy though: If you want to get even more creative with how you craft your homemade frozen treats, you might want to try adding extra citrus juice to make drenched watermelon ice pops. Or why not try an adult-only confection by adding your favorite liquor? You can also take things in a slightly different direction with your frozen molds and make skyr popsicles from Siggi's which uses the trendy Icelandic dairy product instead of Greek or regular yogurt. Feel free to get creative when it comes to adding extra food or drink elements so you can craft many unique tasty popsicle creations.