It's Not Easy Being Green: A Mission to Shrink my Carbon Footprint

Remember Fudgesicles and Dreamsicles? Those were just lovely yummy things, and I miss them. 

So I went experimenting, pretty much as soon as I remembered that I had bought a quart of plain nonfat yogurt yesterday (we put a dollop on the dogs’ food daily.)

Two recipes, reviews to come:

Fudgesicles:

• Stir together 1 tbs cocoa powder (unsweetened) and 2 tbs sugar. Drizzle in a little hot tap water and stir to make a paste. (For the grownup version, a little instant coffee might be nice in there too…)
• Mix in 1 cup plain nonfat yogurt (or to taste)
• Try to refrain from eating it all standing at the counter. (Put down the spoon. Right now. Put it down, I say!)
• Pour into popsicle molds, paper cups (not as green!), or even ice cube trays
• Stick popsicle sticks (recycled?), chopsticks, or whatever works–I use some of the plastic utensils that never seem to get used around the house from before my green days. Re-usable sticks are probably best. If your mixture isn’t thick enough for them to remain upright, put a layer of cling wrap or foil over the top and stick the sticks through.
• Freeze till solid.  Eat. Share with your kids.  Really.

Dreamsicles (sort of…these don’t have the white inner layer we remember from childhood, but the flavor seems pretty darn close!)

• In a bowl mix 1 cup orange juice, 2 tbs. plain nonfat yogurt, 1 tbs sweetener (I used agave syrup; maple or honey would probably be nice), and a few drops of vanilla extract. You may need an electric mixer or blender to really break up the yogurt.  I also suspect that 3 tbs vanilla yogurt would probably work in lieu of the plain-yogurt-and-sweetener of this recipe, though I’d probably add the vanilla extract anyway.  In fact, I’d guess that the whole yogurt/juice ratio could be very subjective.  Nor would I discourage anyone from using WHATEVER yogurt you have in the fridge that’s about to pass its “best if used by” date.*
• Pour into popsicle molds or whatever else (see fudgesicle recipe for thoughts); here you will definitely need the cling wrap or foil to make the sticks stand up, since this recipe is much thinner.
• Freeze. Eat. Share. If you want to.

I tasted the pre-frozen goo for each, and it’s fairly yummy…can’t wait for the final product. I’ll update this post  again when we’ve tried them.

–J

*p.s. everyone knows, right?, that the dates on dairy and such from the store are the sell by date, not the use by date–it’s the latest date the store is allowed to sell it, which means it’s guaranteed to be good for at least a week or so (and often much longer, in the case of eggs and yogurt and such) after that date.  So please don’t toss your dairy just because it’s a day past its “expiration”!