Recipe: Strawberry Fruit Puree Popsicles

The temperatures where I live reached the 90's some days this June, which is unusually hot for this time of year. On one particularly warm afternoon my mother and I decided to try making homemade popsicles with ingredients we had on hand, and they turned out perfectly! Here's what we came up with:

Ingredients
- 1 bag of organic frozen strawberries, 10 oz., defrosted
- 1/3 c. apple juice
- 1 1/2 tsp. sugar, if desired

1. Place the defrosted strawberries in a blender and pulse until fairly smooth. Add the apple juice and blend until completely smooth--the juice adds a little extra sweetness rather than flavor, and helps the strawberries to blend.

2. Strain the pureed strawberries through a fine mesh sieve. If desired, stir in 1 1/2 tsp. sugar to sweeten, let the mixture sit about 10 minutes so the sugar can dissolve, then stir again.

3. Pour the strawberry mixture into popsicle molds--this recipe makes just enough to fill one of IKEA's $1.99 popsicle trays, which hold six popsicles of about three ounces each.

4. Freeze until completely firm, unmold, and enjoy!