For me, the beginning of every season conjures up images from my childhood. The changing of the seasons makes me sensitive to the passing of time. And so, while opening the freezer door on a recent particularly hot June evening, I remembered the orange popsicles I'd make during the summer. I romanticized those blisteringly hot summer days as a 7-year-old boy with both of my sisters sitting outside by our inflatable "kiddy" pool. At that moment, I felt compelled to make the same super sweet, mildly acidic, and juicy ice pops.

I went to Bed Bath and Beyond to purchase the identical plastic popsicle molds I used as a child. On the side of the plastic mold is a straw so that you can drink the orange juice that melts to the bottom. For some reason, I remember that being the most enjoyable part of the treat. As a child, creating these orange juice popsicles –pouring orange juice in the molds and placing them in the freezer-seemed so thrilling.

I highly recommend these orange juice popsicles! They're a great way to keep children excited and hydrated during the sizzling summer days. Find out some wild and crazy ice pop ideas and check out the gallery of popsicles of different shapes and sizes.

Gallery: Wild and crazy ice pops

Açaí (pronounced along the lines of ah-sigh-ee) is just about the ultimate superfood, as the South American berry has a higher concentration of anti-aging antioxidants than any other food out there, is high in fiber and has an "almost perfect essential amino acid complex" that will aid in muscle function. Up until recently it was virtually unknown in commercial foods, but its extraordinarily fast rise to popularity means that it is popping up all over the supermarket these days.

Bossa Nova bottles açaí juice, both pure and blended with other fruit juices, to make it easy for consumers to get the maximum health benefits of the fruit. All of their products are completely organic and they proudly advertise the fact that they work in conjunction with the Rainforest Alliance, so that each bottle you buy saves a tree. They make five flavors, including açaí and açaí blended with raspberry, blueberry, mango and passionfruit. Açaí itself tastes quite similar to blueberry, which will give you an idea of what the flavor combinations taste like, but the excellent drinks are refreshing and give you a little peace of mind that you're doing something good for your body.

If you are fortunate enough to have access to an apple tree (or several), you probably have had the pleasure of having fresh, homemade apple cider. Cider, in this case, is not the alcoholic beverage, but a minimally processed apple juice made by pressing as much juice as possible from the whole fruit. Often, cider apples are used to make commercial ciders, but if you want to try making cider at home, you will probably have good results with most types of apples, using a mixture of whatever fresh ones are available. A farmer's market is the best place to get apples if you can't get access to an orchard.

Once you have the apples and they are scrubbed clean, they are pulverized and the juice is strained out. For big batches, a cider mill and press is the easiest tool to have, but if you are willing to put a bit more muscle into yours, the food processor and a jelly bag (a very fine cheesecloth bag) can be used. Apples should be quartered and pureed, then the juice can be extracted by carefully pressing it out through the bag with pressure from a rolling pin.

A recently completely study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health provided another piece of ammunition in the ongoing battle to get sodas out of schools. After observing kids at 10 middle schools, it was found that 71% buy "sugar-sweetened beverages from school vending machines." Water was the second most popular drink, but soda sales tripled its numbers.

Perhaps the conclusion of the study was that access to soda was too easy and that this is another reasons schools should make them less available, but the study did not compare soda purchases from, say, a machine stocked with non-sweetened drinks. Even though there was water in the machines, if you have even looked at a soda machine on a school campus, you'll notice that water is only one of the 8 or so options, if it is there at all. Yes, students are buying too much soda if the middle school students from the study are drinking it down on a daily basis, but the kids want to buy something and an alternative should be provided - otherwise they'll just wait until school is out and head across the street to buy a soda from the nearest fast food joint or convenience store.

We have heard in the past that drinking fruit juice is just as bad as drinking soda, since even though it contains vitamins and minerals, it still has a high number of calories from sugar. Some even speculated that drinking too many calories is a major cause of childhood obesity. A new study suggests that this speculation is incorrect and that drinking juice does not necessarily contribute to excessive weight gain.

The study, conducted by Dr. Theresa A. Nicklas from the Children's Nutrition Research Center at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, looked at 3-5 year old children and found that, on average, they only consumed 4.7-oz of juice per day, which is well within the 4 to 6-oz. recommended by the US dietary guidelines. It also found that not even 10% of these kids drank as much milk (low-fat or skim, preferably) as they should. Regardless, even when the study participants drank more calories each day, "beverage consumption was not associated with [being] overweight."

Love wine but need to "lay off the slosh sauce" for a bit? You could drink grape juice, especially now since Welch's 100% Concord grape juice has been listed as a top anti-oxidant containing food, but then, you're just drinking grape juice.

Navarro Vineyards, located in the Anderson Valley in coastal Mendocino, has been growing grapes and making wine since 1974, but they also make grape juices from the same grape varietals they use to make wine: Chardonnay, Gewürtztraminer, and Pinot Noir. They started making the juices after their own children wanted to share in the joys of the vineyard.

Bottles are availabel for purchase from their website and cost between $9.75 and $11.00 per bottle.

[via: BoingBoing]