The weather is warming up quickly here which means one thing to my kiddos…smoothies!  They love making smoothies for breakfast, snacks, whatever, then taking leftovers and freezing them into smoothie popsicles.

And with ingredients like fruit and coconut milk, who can complain?  The best part about smoothies, for me, is that I can take pretty much any fruit I have sitting in my freezer, plus some fresh ones, and create any flavor combo we want.  Sometimes it’s a surprise like the time we made tropical smoothies with frozen pineapple, bananas and a handful of unsweetened shredded coconut – delicious!  Or they can be classic, like a simple strawberry smoothie.

This time around we had some amazing, fresh strawberries from our local farmer’s market which I threw in the blender with some frozen (pitted) cherries we picked last summer on one of our U-pick adventures.  And the results were beautiful as well as yummy!  We threw in some fresh basil and lime juice as well to give it a little brighter flavor, and it worked wonderfully!

Make a batch today with your family and say goodbye to those chemical filled ice pop thing-ies that always seem to appear this time of year.  Ewww.  I’m good with the real food, thanks.

Enjoy!

Cherry Berry Smoothies (and popsicles!)

1 C Fresh, sliced organic strawberries

2 C Frozen organic cherries (pitted of course)

2 tsp Fresh squeezed lime juice

1 tsp Pure vanilla extract

1 Can coconut milk (choose one without a bunch of extra ingredients, preferably just coconut milk and water.  We like using “lite” since the full fat version is a little rich for our tummies.  Trader Joe’s has a great one!)

1/2 C Cold water

5 Medium basil leaves, torn

1)     Put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth.  If it’s too liquid-y (yes this is a word in my vocabulary) then add a few ice cubes to thicken it up.  Blend well.

2)     Enjoy and make sure to freeze leftovers for some delicious ice-creamy treats!

For more delicious, gluten free strawberry recipes, check out the Gluten Free Homemaker’s, Gluten Free Wednesday roundup, or contribute your own strawberry recipe!