Make your own reusable ice lolly containers

Hurrah, the sun has popped out this week meaning I have been able to test my latest invention. Unlike my Sock-Sorting-Washing-Line (does what it says on the tin) and my Swellies (soft waterproof wellies for commuters to fold up in their bags!) which earnt me nothing but ridicule despite being completely genius, these made it to prototype stage. And they are a raving success at the trial phase. . .

They are little tubes I have sewn out of old packaging, and filled with yoghurt. As hoped, they make a delectable,  healthy and cooling snack for my little lass.

Yeah, alright, technically Calypso came up with the squeeze-an-ice-pop-out-of-a-tube idea in the nineties. But DID they empower you take something you were gonna chuck in the bin, add ONE line of sewing (or I have even successfully tested a hot glue gun version) and make your own that you can use FOREVER?

Nope, my friends, they didn’t. So here it is:

I can not explain how EASY this is, and how magically they work. They just squeeze straight out the top, the kids munch ’em up, you give them a little clean and fill them up again/ put in a drawer for another time.

I used my own homemade yoghurt (yeah, we are well hippyville like that, recipe is here) mixed with some whizzed up strawbs that had gone slightly too soft.

I also took it too another level – sewing some little sleeves out of some cute old serviettes to fit over the plastic tubes – suiting our whimsical garden where most lolly pop devouring occurs.  It serves a dual purpose of preventing little hands from falling off from freezing temperatures and also soaking up the excess juices. It was just a case of cutting enough fabric to fit round the tube, sewing the two long ends together and hemming to open top and bottom.

HERE’S TO SUMMER!!!

PS – Notice how I don’t really know what to call these icey-yoghurt-things-in-a-tube. Freeze pops? Ice pops? Ice lollies? Ice Lolly containers? Neither google nor Twitter came to the fore here – someone helpfully suggested “Lolly pop without a stick”. Gah. What do you reckon?

Shake your yoghurt maker

So how good for you is yoghurt? Like, WELL good. Amazing protein, jam packed with gut protecting bacteria and also, umm, I dunno, other good stuff I suspect. Calcium and things.

And it is incredibly delicious – my little lass Ramona puts nutritious yoghurt away like the Hungry Caterpillar getting through the treats page. (She is OBSESSED with the treats page – you know;  ice cream, chocolate cake, lollipop, cherry pie. She doesn’t want to read the rest of it. We just stare at the treats and when I have finished reading the list of yummy morsels out she implores “More?”  and I read it over and over and over again. Really, what’s so important about the transforming into a butterfly bit anyway? Back to the treats, mummy!)

But, for real, HOW EXPENSIVE is yoghurt? Especially if you get the organic, live, probiotic stuff.

So imagine my delight when, for 50p I discovered THIS at a jumble sale:

Why is a seventies curling set gonna help with my yoghurt conundrum I hear you ask?! I can understand your confusion. Let me explain.

It is actually a yoghurt maker.

It is a retro Bel electric yoghurt machine, minus a plug. We popped one of those on the end and got straight to work experimenting with the best home-made yoghurt recipe. It is incredibly simple and basically just involves making yoghurt from yoghurt. (You couldn’t make it up.)

I’ll give you the recipe we use, because you might come across one of these bad boys at a car booty (these were ALL the rage in the seventies) or Ebay. You might also try one of the many other options like wrapping some jars in a tea towel and leaving in the hot water cupboard/ making it in a thermos. Have a look here for more detail on yoghurt-maker-less yoghurt-making.

We have six cups in our machine so fill each one with the amount below. The whole batch comes to 50p – about a quarter of the shop bought cost.

To make one cup of yoghurt

• A cup of  organic UHT milk (or milk heated to exactly 47 degrees – it has to be perfectly sterile.  We find UHT is the same cost and without the faff.)

• A teaspoon of milk powder (this makes it thick and creamy)

• A teaspoon of existing fresh, probiotic yoghurt (so we save a bit from the last batch to make the new batch)

Firstly, make sure you use super clean utensils as a bit of dirt can stop the good bacteria getting it’s action on.

Mix the milk powder thoroughly in with the milk, then stir in the yoghurt.

Plug it in over night (or set it up in a constantly warm place) – 12 hours seems to get the thickest result.

Put in the fridge for a little while, and then you get cold, seriously creamy, majorly cheap, incredibly healthy pro-biotic yoghurt!

You can eat it plain but we tend to get a bit naughty and stir in a teaspoon of lemon curd. Heck to the Yes.

Don’t you just want to slurp that right up?

The wonder that is Miss Lizzie B, host of Magpie Monday has flown the nest to a stunning resort in Portugal, where she is bathing in glorious pools and frolicking in the sunshine. *no really, not in THE LEAST jealous*

So I am STOKED to be having the Magpie Mondays over here at my place today. WOOT.

Just click this little guy to see and add the links:

Thanks for linking up or even just visiting. *Pops the lid from a jar of lemon curd yoghurt* *Offers round spoons*