Natural Juice Push Pop Popsicle’s

6 homemade push pop Popsicle’s made with real fruit juice.

The Best Juice Popsicle’s

One thing that I love to have in the freezer during the summer time is a bag full of Popsicle’s for the whole family. There are so many wonderful flavors to choose from and they’re so tasty but which ones do you buy? Well, lately I’ve stuck with the old Otter Pop or Fun Pops style of Popsicle because they’re cheap, self contained (less mess) and there are a ton or flavors to choose from, including tropical. The problem is that my kids want to eat them at all hours of the day and their little bodies just don’t process added sugar the way they process naturally occurring sugars. I’m not an idiot, so I started looking at my Juice drinks a little closer and guess what I decided to do? If you’re thinking, “Start a Taco shop?”, you’re absolutely right!

3 different Natural Juice companies that make a variety of fantastic juices.

Natural Juice for Popsicle’s

I started drinking these Juice’s a while back because, let’s be honest, I don’t cook and eat the healthiest food in the world. I’ve got some great recipes on this website but I don’t appropriate and balance my diet well, with fruit and vegetables. I’m an entree eater and instead of spending the amount of time it takes to prep and prepare an entire meal, I usually just cook one amazing dish for everyone. That’s where these drinks come into play.

Now already I’m getting hounded with questions about the sugars in these Popsicle’s and drinks. I am not an expert, nor am I trained in the medical field or Nutritional arts and, while I’m at it, I’m not affiliated or receiving any compensation for advertising these products either. In my opinion, that’s what Google and other die hard blogger’s are for. So, you won’t find that information here. I will, however, tell you about my personal experience with Natural Juice.

A few years ago I was inspired to start juicing, thanks to that Netflix Show, “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead”. I purchased an $80 dollar juicer, $50 dollars in fruit and vegetables and I started a 7 day cleanse. Boy was I deleterious, literally. Not only did I not know what I was doing but I couldn’t believe how horribly expensive it was to live that way. I wanted to be healthier but not at the expense of taking food off of my children’s plates. That $50 dollars in fruit and vegetables only gave me 2 quarts of juice (64 oz). Drinking a 12 oz serving of that, 3 times a day exhausted that juice in the first 2 days! How anyone affords that life style is beyond me.

Now, I realize a juice cleanse is quite excessive with the juicing but even just incorporating one glass a day exhausts 2 quarts of juice, before the 7th day, per week. Guess what, that’s still $50 dollars a week in just fresh fruit and vegetables that I can’t afford. That’s why I buy these natural fruit and vegetable juices for $6 and $7 dollars per 64 oz bottle and I realized that they would make some amazing Push Pop Popsicle’s, too.

Natural Juice Push Pop Popsicle’s video tutorial from PoorMansGourmet.

Crab Dip

The Best Crab Dip

This Crab Dip is great to serve at home, parties or barbecues and it can easily be made, in advance, and kept refrigerated until needed. One of the best things about this dip is that it can be served hot or cold and either way is absolutely delicious. I show you how to prepare both and there’s only a few ingredients so, don’t worry about breaking the bank with grocery shopping.

Crab Meat for Crab Dip

For this Crab Dip recipe, I’m using real crab meat and I get it from a refrigerated can. If you want to save money, this is one way to do it. I bought this 16 oz. can for $13 bucks, which may sound expensive but consider the alternative. A pound of Crab legs is going to cost more for practically half the meat weight because of the shells. This can is solid meat. Savings can be taken a step further, however, if you’re willing to use imitation crab but, in all honesty, it won’t even be close to the same recipe and it absolutely won’t taste the same. If that’s all you have available, though, just make my Seafood and Crab recipe, instead. It’s really good and it’s great served as a dip with crackers.

Hot Baked Crab Dip with Parmesan and a sliced toasted French Baguette.

Cold or Hot Baked Crab Dip

To serve this Crab Dip cold, all you half to do is mix the ingredients and serve. Marinating the ingredients in your refrigerator for a half an hour or over night will improve the flavor but it isn’t necessary. Plus the ingredients are already cold so, it’s really something you can just play by ear.

For a hot baked dip, I just top it off, in an oven safe baking dish, with fresh grated Parmesan cheese and bake in the oven until it’s warm. If I’m serving the dip with a sliced baguette, I usually just toasted the pieces along with the baking of the dip.

If you you’re looking for other dip recipes, check out my Clam Dip, Broccoli and Cheese Dip, Spinach and Artichoke Dip and my Jalapeno Popper Dip recipes. FYI, if you drop the sour cream out of this Crab Dip recipe and add a package of wonton wrappers, it makes an excellent filling for fried Crab Rangoon’s.

Crab Dip video tutorial by poormansgourmet.

Crab Dip Ingredients:

1 8oz pkg Cream Cheese
1/4 cup Sour Cream
8 oz Crab Meat, canned claw
1 Jalapeno, diced
1 Green Onion, diced
1 tbsp Oyster Sauce
1 tsp Sugar
1 pinch of Salt
1 pinch Blackened Seasoning
1/4 cup Parmesan, grated

Be sure to follow the instructions in the Crab Dip video tutorial and I’ll show exactly how to make it. This dish can be served cold immediately or marinated in the refrigerator for more flavor. If you’d like to serve this recipe warm, bake it in the oven at 350° Fahrenheit for 8 minutes, then serve.

Instant Coffee Frappuccino

The Best Instant Coffee Frappuccino!

I know that it takes balls to post an Instant Coffee Frappuccino. Everyone is a connoisseur right. You LIKE YOUR COFFEE THE WAY YOU LIKE IT! Well that’s great! Nobody’s knocking you for it. But what about those instant coffee days? You know when you’re running late but you still need your “fix” or “that’s all they had in the break room” days. Enough excuses though, already! What about the days that are just so hot or you need to drink something so cool? Yep, you got it. As long as you’ve got a blender, this Instant Coffee Frappuccino recipe literally only takes 2 minutes to crank out and after you try one, I know you’ll be a believer too!

Caramel or Mocha Frappuccino

I don’t care if you’ve got a Vitamix, a Ninja or a Bullet Blender, that you like to just throw in your back pack and go, this Instant Coffee Frappuccino recipe will have you saving money on day one. Isn’t that reason enough just to give this a try? I mean, I’m not saying that it’s like Kopi Luwak, by any means, but there are 3 easy ways here, using this same recipe, that can send you spinning in the right direction. And, believe it or not, If you want a Caramel Instant Coffee Frappuccino, just add Caramel Syrup, and for a Mocha, add Chocolate. I’m telling you, it’s that easy and it’s that worth doing because it tastes that good!

Instant Coffee Frappuccino Ingredients:

4 cups Ice
1 cup Hot Water
4 tbsp Instant Coffee Granules
5 tbsp Sugar
3/4 cup Cream
1/3 cup Caramel or Hershey Syrup (Optional for Mocha or Caramel Frappuccinos)
Whip Cream (Optional)

It doesn’t get any easier than this. Melt the Instant Coffee Crystals and Granulated Sugar in one cup of hot water and stir. Drop a couple of ice cubes in the hot water to cool it off afterwards, then combine all other ingredients in a blender and Puree. Enjoy your Instant Coffee Frappuccino topped with Whipped Cream if you’d like.