Lemon-Coconut-Blueberry Frozen Greek Yogurt Pops - "Celebrate Summer's End Recipe #2"

Happy Sunday & Happy 1st Day of September, too!  We awoke to a sunny, hot and extremely humid day here today...but hubby and I were troopers and still went for our walk before breakfast this morning. I am so excited to share the recipe for my first EVER "frozen treat pops" with you. After making these awesome Lemon-Coconut-Blueberry Frozen Greek Yogurt Pops, I might just have to retire my ice cream maker to the garage for a bit! As some of that regularly follow me may already know...I have not exactly been overjoyed at my attempts at making ice cream! While it's turned out "alright"...it was never anything good enough where I'd say..."hey, I'd like to do that again" or make me want to share my recipe with anyone...I'm kind of picky (if you haven't already figured that out). So, on a whim, a couple weeks ago, I ordered some cute ice pop molds to see if I might like using those better. I bought bright yellow molds that hold about 1/2 cup of "ice cream or frozen yogurt" each....and they are called "Groovy Ice Pop Molds"...and they definitely live up to their name...they worked beautifully and produced some extremely "groovy pops"!  LOL  But...even more groovy than the pop molds was my recipe for what I put in them! My top three favorite "summer flavors" have to be, hands down, lemon, coconut and blueberry...and I was torn between which flavor to go with...so I settled the debate going on in my head and went with ALL of them!  :-)  I made Lemon-Coconut-Blueberry Frozen Greek Yogurt Pops and not only are they beautiful (and a mouthful to say), but they are absolutely delicious! The recipe turned out so good, I could drink the stuff and not even worry about freezing it!!! There are not a lot of ingredients in them and I can't tell you how much easier (and fun) they were to make than ice cream. I used Greek Gods full fat yogurt, Native Forest Unsweetened Coconut Milk (also full fat), Swerve confectioners and NuNaturals stevia, plus lemon zest and fresh blueberries. The reason why I prefer using Greek Gods full fat yogurt for these is because I find it to be the least tart of all the brands of Greek yogurt I have tried, but if you prefer a different brand...then definitely go with that. I used Swerve confectioners version of sweetener because it blends in nicely and you won't get any grittiness that you sometimes can get with granular erythritol based sweeteners...especially if what you are making gets refrigerated or frozen, which exacerbates that. If you don't have the powdered confectioners type of Swerve or other erythritol based sweetener, no worries...you just pop it into a coffee grinder or Magic Bullet type of small blender and give it a whiz..."voila"...you have a powdery confectioners style sweetener. I add the NuNaturals stevia drops to boost and more fine tune the sweetness because I can add it a little at a time -- 7 drops of it equals approximately 1 teaspoon of sugar in sweetness. I use NuNaturals stevia exclusively because it doesn't have the bitterness and icky taste found in so many other brands of stevia I've tried before...but, you can use whatever kind you prefer. You will see that I also added 1 teaspoon of coconut extract to my coconut milk mixture -- I did that to further boost the coconut flavor so I could distinctly taste all 3 of my favorite summer flavors...lemon, coconut and blueberry!  I snapped a few photos (alright, I lied)...I snapped a LOT of photos of my groovy bars for you to see...they have been my best photo subjects so far...can you tell I REALLY liked these bars?  LOL Oh...I also included the recipe for you below, as well!  Enjoy and happy last blast of summer to all!  P.S.-- Don't forget to enter my Swerve Giveaway for your chance to win a Weber grill and some FREE Swerve (courtesy of Swerve). Details are below!

Not too shabby for my first ice pops, huh?  

I poured the extra 1 cup left into little "Dixie cups" and froze them -- you don't have to have special molds to enjoy these (they are just prettier and more fun to eat that way).  I had enough left to make 4 of these little cups...notice there are 2 missing?  ;-)

Lemon-Coconut-Blueberry Frozen Greek Yogurt Pops

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh blueberries

For the Greek Yogurt Mixture:
1 24-oz container full fat Greek yogurt, or approximately 2-1/2 cups (like Greek Gods or Fage)
Zest of 2 medium lemons (about 4 teaspoons)
1/2 cup Swerve Sweetener, confectioners style
35 drops stevia, or to taste

For the Coconut Milk Mixture:
1 cup unsweetened canned coconut milk, preferably full fat (like Native Forest Organic Classic)
1 teaspoon coconut extract (like Bakto or Olivenation)
1/4 cup Swerve Sweetener, confectioners style
14 drops stevia, or to taste

Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine Greek yogurt, lemon zest, 1/2 cup Swerve, and 35 drops stevia and mix well. Taste and add additional sweetener, if desired.

In a 2-cup glass measuring cup or separate medium bowl, combine coconut milk, coconut extract, 1/4 cup Swerve and 14 drops stevia.  Pour coconut milk mixture into yogurt mixture and whisk together until well combined. Taste for sweetness and adjust, if necessary. (I added an additional 10 drops of stevia to slightly over-sweeten since freezing tends to decrease the level of sweetness).  

Using a glass measuring cup (or other container with a spout for easing pouring), fill pop molds up half way; then divide and add blueberries. Fill molds with remaining yogurt mixture all the way to the top, per the mold instructions; gently insert sticks (I used six 1/2-cup "Tovolo Groovy Ice Pop Molds"). Freeze 4 to 6 hours or until completely set. To serve, briefly run each mold under warm tap water, then gently pull them out to remove. 

CONTEST IS OVER!

Don't Forget to Enter the Swerve Giveaway!

Contest ends Friday, September 6, 2013 at Midnight EDT (details below)

The kind folks at Swerve recently contacted me and have allowed me to offer Gourmet Girl Cooks' followers a chance to win an exciting "Celebration to Summer's End Giveaway"!  One lucky follower will win a:  Weber 22.5” Silver One-Touch, Kettle Grill AND a Three-Pack of Swerve (see below). As most of you that follow me already know, I have been using Swerve for almost a year now and it is my favorite "zero calorie" natural sweetener to bake with. It tastes great and measures cup-for-cup just like sugar, which makes it super easy to substitute in recipes...no calculations involved! It contains no artificial ingredients and comes in both granular and confectioners (powdered) versions. With the upcoming Labor Day weekend ahead, I will be posting some delicious "end of summer" recipes using Swerve...so stay tuned!  Ready, set....GO!  Begin entering now!

P.S.-- if you are already a Swerve lover like I am, and your supply is getting low...Swerve is currently running a special through Tuesday, September 3rd, for $9.99 each (for a 16-oz bag) or you can grab 6 packs of Swerve for $49.98 ($8.33/each + free shipping). You can click here to grab this special ---> Swerve

HOW TO ENTER:
The winning contestant will be chosen at random (must be a U.S. resident).  To enter a chance to win, all you need to do is: Leave a comment here on my blog and include the words "Swerve BBQ Contest" (1 entry per person per day).  Contest ends Friday, September 6, 2013 at Midnight EDT.  The winner will have 24 hours after being announced to contact Gourmet Girl Cooks (by email at GourmetGirlCooksBlog @ gmail.com) with their shipping address. If no response is received in 24 hours, a new winner will be selected.

*The product provided in this giveaway is contributed by and will be sent directly to the winner by Swerve.