Cherry Dragonfruit Popsicles

• Yield:8 Bars
• Difficulty: Easy
• Time:5 minutes prep

While tart cherries are known for their pain-relieving properties, sweet cherries are no joke either! Sweet cherries are a fruit that still falls pretty low in the glycemic index despite being sweet. They contain natural painkilling compounds called anthocyanin glycosides that not only makes them red, (along with the prussic acid they contain) they can be a pain reliever for arthritis, muscle pain, gout, fibromyalgia, labor pains, sore throat, stomach pain, etc. They also contain melatonin, which is an antioxidant that calms you and helps you fall asleep. Cherries can help prevent many diseases associated with inflammation, such as heart disease, arthritis, cancer, and have even shown promising evidence in the prevention of Alzheimer’s disease. Lesson of the day: everybody should eat a few cherries every day! 

Along with the cherries I have included gelatin because it helps protect and cushion the joints. Gelatin also contains glycine, an amino acid that helps regulate body temperature while sleeping and improves mood as well as the quality of sleep. I can go on and on about the benefits of gelatin as there are so many, so feel free to visit the references and read the article on gelatin. 

Here’s a mouthwatering, fun, and easy way to incorporate them into your daily diet—cherry dragon fruit ice pops! They are super easy to make and will probably even pass the kid test. That is the most important test of all as far as I’m concerned! I have only fur-kids, so when someone contacts me and tells me their picky eating kid liked one of my recipes I am beyond delighted! Go ahead…make my day! 

You can buy cherry flavored baking extract online, in the baking section of a large chain art supply store, or at a well-stocked supermarket. 

Ingredients:

• 2 scoops EFX Sports vanilla Pure Whey
• ½ peeled and sliced dragon fruit—also known as Pitaya 
• 1 cup of cherries, pitted and sliced 
• 1 envelope of unflavored gelatin 
• 2 packets of stevia sweetener 
• ¼ cup Greek yogurt 
• 12 oz. almond milk 
• 1 tsp. cherry flavored baking extract (optional) 
• Popsicle sticks and a popsicle mold 

Directions: 

Put the almond milk in a blender with the gelatin, stevia, Pure Whey, yogurt, and cherry baking extract, blend until mixed, and set aside. Put the slices of dragon fruit in the pop mold and then add the cherry slices. Push the sticks in and see if the fruit holds them up (the top of my pop mold cracked so I have to use other methods to brace the sticks!). Pour the blended ingredients into the pop mold segments and freeze for 6-24 hours. If removing them from the pop mold gives you trouble, fill the sink or a large bowl with hot water and soak the plastic part of the pop mold in it for about a minute. Pull each pop out, then store them for a few days in a container resting on their skinny sides. 

Nutrition: