Crave Wednesday: Orange Cream Pops

One of my favorite fall traditions is going apple picking with LO and her family.  One of my least favorite fall traditions is going apple picking when there are no apples left on the trees.  Which is almost every year.

Every year, without fail, by the time September rolls around, there is only one orchard that still has apples.  And those apples are small and hard to find.

This year, I planned early.  I knew this would mean going in August, opening weekend!  And luckily LO was available, and so we met them at our new favorite orchard - Apple Starr.

We like this place so much because last year, when we went the first weekend in September and they were out of apples, they did have pears.  And those pears were delicious.  So we knew that even if the apples were weak, the pears would be strong.  But we had pretty high hopes for strong apples too.

We also love that they have wagons for dragging your kids through the orchards.

Opening weekend meant the trees were full of fuji, gala, green, and jonagold apples.  There were even a couple of yellow apples.

While we were warned that the pears weren't quite ripe yet, we found green and red pears, soft and ripe, bursting with flavor.

We had no problem filling up a couple of bags to bring home.

On the way home I asked the boys what they wanted to make with the apples and pears.  Thatbaby requested apple pasta, and so last week we had pasta with goat cheese and apples.  And both boys picked out the apple pieces, gobbling up the goat cheese and pasta.  Thatkid requested apple and pear muffins.  But you guys, the problem with apple picking in August?  It's HOT out there.  It seriously might have been the hottest day of the year while we were there, the sun beating down on us.  And it has barely let up since.  So the idea of baking anything isn't highly appealing right now.  Instead, we've been eating pears and apples like crazy - just as they are.

And instead of baking, we've been whipping up more frozen treats.  You may have heard the saying "comparing apples and oranges" as a way of describing two very different items.  So it makes sense in this post about apples and fall I would make something very orange and summer.  Right?

50/50 bars were one of Thatdad's favorite Good Humor treats, and he passed that love on to me.  The flavor is unmistakable, and probably one of the reasons I was such an Orange Julius fan, which seemed to capture that orange cream in drink form.  Thatbaby also loves orange flavored anything, so he falls right in line with his mom and grandfather in loving orange and ice cream.  These orange cream pops capture that flavor from my childhood in a way I love sharing with my kids.  It's a new summer tradition - less nutritious than apple picking, but way cooler!

Orange Cream Pops (From Cooking Light)

4 1/2 cups vanilla light ice cream, slightly softened

1/4 cup thawed orange juice concentrate

1 Tbsp grated orange rind

1 drop orange food coloring

1 drop yellow food coloring

1/4 cup whipping cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Combine 3 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream, orange juice concentrate, orange rind, and food coloring in a large bowl, stirring until colors blend.
2. Beat whipping cream in an electric mixture at high speed until soft peaks form.
3. Fold vanilla into whipped cream.
4. Fold whipped cream into 1 1/4 cups vanilla ice cream.
5. Divide half of the orange flavored ice cream among 20 popsicle molds.  Freeze 30 minutes, or until set.
6. Top each serving with vanilla ice cream and add popsicle stick.  Freeze 45 minutes, or until set.
7. Top each serving with remaining orange flavored ice cream and freeze at least 4 hours.