I love summer and all, but this heat does not fare well for a pale Polish auburn-head like me. I walked to the library and thought I’d melt into a swirl of green and purple ooze.
Okay, I’m done whining now. YAY SUMMER. To help you cool off, here are just a few ideas of inexpensive, healthy and unique snacks to cool you down. Once you make some, please invite me over.
Make Your Own Popsicles: What better way to control exactly what goes into a frozen treat than to make it yourself? This is a fun, healthy and inexpensive way to have a little summertime snack. Water freezes (obviously – hello Pennsylvania winters!) which makes for an easy base ingredient. Take some fruits, maybe some citrus juice and a little agave nectar, blend together, and pour into popsicle molds. HOW EASY IS THAT!? Go to the farmers market and go crazy with different kinds of fruit.
You can also try making some with vegetables if you’re feeling extra-healthy. Carrot juice popsicle? I’ll eat it. Cucumber and mint? Sign me up. Adding bananas or silken tofu to any base will give the popsicles a creamy consistency. You can find popsicle molds at most kitchen stores, or online!
Make Your Own Ice Cream: Much like making popsicles, making your own ice cream is a great way to play with unique flavor combinations and ensure the ingredients are exactly what you like. Making vegan ice creams is easy with non-dairy milks (try coconut, almond or hazlenut from a nice change from soy!). Experiment with flavors like pineapple, graham cracker and cherries for a pineapple upside-down cake, or try something savory like ginger ice cream.
Ice cream makers can be found in the stores for around $30 – affordable, and a small price to pay for health and fun. (Shown here – the Deni 5200 Automatic Ice Cream Maker, here on Amazon for $42.95)
Chocolate Covered Frozen Bananas: This super and delicious snack is easy and barely costs anything. Unpeel a banana, cut in half, and stick a popiscle stick in the flat end. Melt some tasty dark chocolate, and dip the banana in. Allow to cool on wax paper. Wrap in wax paper, place in wax paper baggies, or just use some tupperware and pop in the fridge.
This is sure to satisfy any sweet tooth! The bananas freeze, but maintain their soft creamy texture, so it really feels like an indulgence.
Frozen Grapes: This is a nod to my Gram. Every time I visited her house when I was a little kid, she always had grapes in the freezer. We’d sneak into the kitchen (just because sneaking was fun, not because we had to be quiet or anything) and grab a handful and have a snack!
Wash grapes, put in a tupperware container, and stick in the freezer until frozen. That’s all! They are sweet and juicy without freezing to a perfect solid, so no need to worry about cracking a tooth. Thanks for awesome snack idea, Gram!
Save the Kales! 
Thanks for bringing these ideas to my attention! Especially the frozen grapes. (I, too, burn and melt easily in the summer. Getting tan has been a completely unattainable goal for me.)
My great aunt always had frozen grapes for my bro and I when we would visit. She would also slice bananas, sandwich them together with a little peanut butter and freeze those, too. Delicious!
Where do you get the molds for the popsicles?
Hi, thanks for commenting, I’m glad you’re here 🙂
You can find them in catch-all stores (like a Target), and online. The photo of the ones I posted are one of many options found on amazon.com