{Summer Camp} Guilt-Free Treats to Keep Cool & Link Up Party

When it comes to summer-time, there are no lack of popsicles around our house.  Which is good and bad.  Good because the kids love them and they help keep everyone cool, but bad because they are usually laden with sugar, high fructose corn syrup and artificial food coloring.



Now don't get me wrong, I love artificial food coloring as much as the next guy, but giving my kids too much sugar and too many treats usually leads to hyper children who are prone to excessive meltdowns.  That takes the fun out of popsicles in my book.



So here are two super simple and super yummy (almost) guilt-free treats you can give your children this summer to help stay cool.  And they are so good,  you will want to eat them too!



Fruit Juice Snow Cones

If you happen to have a snow cone maker, you can make a healthy version of snow cones at home!  I have a simple electric snow cone maker that cost under $20 and we are already getting a lot of use out of it!



Instead of using syrup, I used the ice molds it came with and froze 1/2 fruit juice (I used cran-raspberry here) and 1/2 club soda (or water).



If you use 100% juice, this is a fairly guilt-free treat in my opinion.

And it is definitely kid-approved!





Banana Ice Cream

To make this, simply freeze bananas (freeze the bananas that are too brown to eat).



Then cut the bananas into slices and blend in your blender.

Magic will happen!  The bananas will magically form into a yummy creamy treat similar in texture and consistency to ice cream!



Yes.  You ONLY use bananas to make Banana Ice Cream!



I added a few mini chocolate chips to the top and it was delish!  Which made this an almost 100% guilt-free ice cream treat!



I actually enjoyed eating this treat too and my daughter thought she had won the lottery when I handed her this BIG bowl of ice cream!

She was loving life, and I was smiling knowing she was eating 2 bananas!  



So when you are looking to cool off this summer, consider making a healthier version of a simple yummy treat instead!



What is your favorite summer-time cold treat?

Ashley Phipps is an Interior Designer, NCIDQ #25242,

living in the Indianapolis area, and author of the blog Simply Designing.  You can follow Ashley at her blog Simply Designing, Facebook and Twitter.







Design Dazzles' Summer Camp Link Up Party!

The Link-Up Party is open to ideas/projects for summertime fun that you've created and would like to share! The link up party starts Friday at 12:01 AM (EST). So where your time zone is will depend on when you can enter the link up party. Those living in the PST zone will be able to post Thursday nights at 9:00 pm. Those living in Eastern Time Zone will be able to post at 12:01 AM Friday (basically midnight)

No linking to selling sites or giveaways.

Have fun and leave some love (comments) and visit some amazing bloggers.

Summer Camp ideas -  crafts, games, art, recipes, parties, sewing, summer activities, books, recipes - all of the link-ups should be related to fun with kids (babies, kids or teens)!

Enter your project description in the "name" section of the link form.

Please, please, please link back to  Design Dazzle so others can share in the awesomeness! 

This Summer Camp link-up party will be open until July 18th. By entering our link up party, you are giving  Design Dazzle permission to use any part of your post including  pictures.