Tropical Mango Popsicle

I've always loved mangos. Period. I went to Africa a few years ago and it just so happened to be during their mango season and WOW! What an awesome surprise! It only increased my love for the fruit! There really is nothing better than a fresh-off-the-tree-that-falls-at-your-feet mango! And even though I am back in America where I don't have that privilege, I still enjoy getting mangos as often as possible. So here's a fun treat to make for a hot, summer afternoon!

To make the popsicles, you are going to need:

• 4 very ripe mangos
• 6 clementines
• 1 cup of pineapple juice
• 4 scoops vanilla ice cream

As well as:

• A popsicle mold or DIY option, talked about in step 3
• Popsicle sticks
• A blender

Select four ripe mangos, then carefully peel away the skin using either an ordinary peeler or your fingers, depending on how soft the fruit is. Once the skin is off, slice the mango close to the middle, cutting the fruit from the seed. Try and get as much fruit as you can off! Then dice into one in squares. Set aside.

Take your clementines and peel them, then break apart each slice, checking each to make sure there are no stray seeds.

Throw the diced mango and orange slices into the blender (I’m using a Vitamix), then pour the pineapple juice overtop. Blend on high for about a minute, making sure that there are no chunks or anything left unblended. Once the "smoothie" is smooth, add the vanilla ice cream, then blend on high until fully combined.

Fill a one cup measuring cup with the fruit mixture, then using that the cup measure, carefully pour the fruit mixture into your popsicle mold. I found that using a smaller cup to transfer the mixture into the molds was a lot less dangerous, because if you were to spill, you wouldn’t have the possibly of loosing the whole batch. If you don’t have popsicle molds, you can go DIY and use plastic cups or just skip the whole freezing step and drink it as a smoothie!

After each mold is filled, place a popsicle stick in the center and set in the freezer for a few hours until fully hardened!

To get the popsicles out of the molds, run under warm water until the outsides begin to melt slightly. This will help them to come out easily without to much yanking involved!

Then enjoy on a hot summer afternoon!