Red, White, and Blue Popsicles

The 4th of July is just around the corner, so I've been preparing a list of the recipes and crafts my family and I plan on making. On the top of the list are these Red, White, and Blue Popsicles.

As a kid I was a big popsicle lover. I mean what's better than an ice cold treat on a hot summer day as a kid? Other than running in the sprinkler. Ice pops are one of the easiest things to make too. Freeze some juice in a ice pop mold and, ta-da! It will not only amaze the kids, but it's a good thing to get them involved in, hey they could probably even make them on their own (with a little adult supervision of course).

Since my son plays a ton of sports and sports drinks are always on sale at our local grocery store, we usually grab a few every shopping trip as a treat. I chose red, white, and blue ones. I wanted to test out my 4th of July recipes to make sure they are a hit when we have guests over.

You only need 3 ingredients to make these:

• Red, white, and blue sports drinks
• Popsicle molds
• Food safe popsicle sticks

1. First you want to fill up ⅓ of your mold with the red sports drink, place your craft sticks in, and freeze for about 2 hours (you'll want to check on them after an hour and rearrange the craft sticks to make sure they are centered).
2. After the are frozen you can now fill up ⅓ of your mold with your white sports drink and freeze for another 2 hours.
3. After that layer is frozen you can fill up the remaining area with your blue sports drink and freeze for another 2 hours. This may seem like a lot of work but it's really not. It only takes a minute to add each layer.
4. Once your pops are frozen, hold the plastic part of the mold under running hot water for about 10-15 seconds to loosen your popsicles from the mold. Carefully pull on your stick and they will slide right out.

You can place a cupcake liner onto your stick to avoid them dripping on a hot summer day. Plus it looks pretty too! Have you ever tried making homemade popsicles before?

If you're not a fan of the sports drink idea, here are some whole fruit recipes you'll love: Our Strawberry-Kiwi Ice Pops and our Rainbow Party Pops