Strawberry Lemon Paletas

I've been promising my three year old all week that we would go to the park so he can play on the "boo dinosaur roar" slide.  Unfortunately, it's been raining every afternoon and we haven't gotten to play outside much.  I feel horrible, having been busy with school work and blogging; we haven't gotten to spend much one-on-one time together lately.  So today, I decided that we were going to make some homemade popsicles.

One of my favorite things about summer was running after the ice cream cart, getting a strawberry paleta, and going for a walk to the park with my dad.  I've had a set of popsicle molds sitting in the cabinet, unopened, for about a year.  It was time to break them out and try my hand at making a good summertime popsicle recipe.

We had a bunch of fresh fruit in the fridge, so I figured a strawberry lemon paleta would be simple to make and delicious.  I wasn't wrong.  These just taste like summer, and the kids loved them too!  (Momma scored some cool points today!)

Strawberry Lemon Paletas

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh strawberries, hulled
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp lemon zest
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, simmer the strawberries, water, sugar and lemon juice for about 5 minutes or until the strawberries begin to soften.  You don't want them to reduce too much, but make sure they're soft and releasing their natural sweetness.  Add in the lemon zest and simmer for another two minutes.

Add all of the ingredients into a blender and puree.  You want the mixture to be smooth (unless you'd prefer a few chunks - in that case, coarsely blend the mixture)

Pour the mixture into popsicle molds and freeze for 4-5 hours.  Enjoy!