I know it's still only the beginning of March but the weather has been so unseasonably warm around here over the last few days, that I'm ready to jump ship from Winter and right into Summer! Especially when gorgeous, delicious, healthy pops like these are on the menu. Creamy, sweet and tangy alternating layers of lemon and strawberry yogurt-y goodness, these easy-to-make pops are guaranteed to become your new favorite. Bring on the heat, baby!!

What is it about popsicles that make us smile? Other than the lickability factor, there's just something so whimsical and fun about them, right? Brings you back to those long lazy summer days of childhood when your biggest worry was what to pick when the ice cream man drove down the street!! Well, I can't promise that these stripy pops will take away all your worries, but I can promise that they'll make you smile. Maybe even jump up and down for joy--that's what my daughter and I did when we unmolded them, but then again, it doesn't take much to excite us!

And speaking of kids, these are all around great for them--no artificial colors or flavors and they're just the kind of treat that kids of all ages can really have fun with in the kitchen.

All you do is whip up two separate yogurt-based batters, adding lemon juice to one and a strawberry puree to the other. It's so easy. Then, you layer them in the popsicle mold any way you like to create the striations. Here's the one I use--it's from Prepworks and you can buy it for a little over $20 which isn't too bad as far as gadgets and specialty kitchen tools go. If you don't have a mold, you could definitely make these in paper cups too. 

The hardest part of all is waiting for them to freeze!! As you can see we really hated them!

The combination of lemon and strawberry is really wonderful--sweet and tart at the same time with the creaminess of the yogurt rounding everything out--but as the summer fruits start to reappear in the stores, I'm anxious to try them with blueberries, raspberries, mangoes, pineapple...I think you're going to be seeing a lot of pop variations on these pages in the coming months!! And lots of kitchen jumping up and down too--looking at these stripy frozen beauties is just so darn exciting!!

Strawberry Lemon Dreamsicles

Makes 10-12 standard size popsicles

You will need a popsicle mold or paper cups and popsicle sticks

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes (plus some chilling); Assembly Time: 15 minutes; Freezing Time: Several hours or overnight.

Ingredients

For the strawberry layer

• 1 pint strawberries, hulled and quartered

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 2 tablespoons water

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

• 1 cup plain or vanilla yogurt

For the lemon layer

• 1 1/3 cups lowfat plain or vanilla yogurt

• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, strained

• 5 tablespoons sugar

The Recipe

1.  To make the strawberry layer:  Place the berries, sugar and water into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and let simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the berries are soft. Pour the mixture into a food processor with the lemon juice and pulse until almost pureed but not totally runny. If you don't have a food processor you could always use a potato masher to mash it all up. Place the mixture in a medium bowl, cover and chill in the refrigerator until cool. If you're impatient like me, you can place the bowl in the freezer--just check it every 5 minutes or so--you don't want the mixture to freeze.

2.  To make the lemon layer:  Place the lemon juice in a small pot over medium-high heat until hot. Remove from the heat and add the sugar. Stir to dissolve. Pour the mixture into a medium bowl, add the yogurt and whisk until fully blended. Cover and refrigerate until the strawberry mixture is cool enough to use.

3.  When strawberry mixture is cool, whisk in the yogurt until well combined. Pour the strawberry mixture into a measuring cup with a spout or a pitcher for ease in pouring into the molds. Remove the lemon mixture from the refrigerator and pour it into a separate measuring cup or pitcher. Pour alternating layers of the strawberry and lemon mixture into the popsicle molds. Alternatively you can spoon the mixture in. Insert the sticks and freeze for several hours or better yet, overnight. Run mold under hot water to loosen pops and gently pull them out. Serve right away.

4.  Pops last at least a week to 10 days in the freezer but not in my house.

Enjoy!

Note:  Recipe adapted from Pass The Sushi.