Strawberry Ice Cream and Strawberry Popsicles

It seems almost insane that I'm sitting here today, writing a post for my blog after yesterday's repeated, strong earthquake that hit again the area where I live. But in my mind, I just can't leave space to fear and panic to take over. Scary, really scary, especially for kids, but life goes on. We are fine and so is the house. We spent the night at home in our beds, and honestly didn't feel a single one of at least 60 aftershocks that shook the ground during the night.
My younger daughter was just slightly frightened because she says she knew it was going to happen, only she didn't get a chance to warn me because I was too busy talking   ^__^
And she also has an explanation for why earthquakes happen - the Earth is cold and shivers (but then it takes a blanket to stay warm and calms down), it's all because winds blow so hard that poor Earth is shaking.
Well, I'm not sure whether the Earth is feeling cold, I'm rather convinced it's the opposite, and with the heat and summer coming, the most requested desserts in my house are definitely ice creams and popsicles.
The moment is also perfect to enjoy strawberries that are in season now.
So I'm suggesting you to try these two simple recipes - a quick, egg free, strawbery ice cream, and strawberry popsicles that my younger daughter is really nuts for (while my older daughter prefers the mint flavoured ones). I love to add pieces of strawberries into the molds, they look great and it's intresting to bite a piece of fruit while eating them.
Inspired by the Hibiscus Strawberry lemonade I made recently, I dipped a bag of hibiscus tea just shortly into simple syrup to add stronger, red colour, but it's not really necessary.

Have a good day ahead, I'm just hoping for ground shaking-free one!

Strawberry Ice Cream

* 250 ml heavy cream
* 200 g sweetened condensed milk
* 100 g thick yoghurt
* 400 g fresh strawberries
* 1 TBspoon sugar
* juice from 1/2 lemon

Wash, hull and dry the strawberries.
Chop the strawberries, sprinkle them with a TBspoon of sugar and add the freshly squeezed juice of 1/2 lemon. Stir well and let macerate for 1/2 hour in the fridge. Then puree them in a blender or with a stick blender as smooth as you prefer it.
Whip the heavy cream until just thick and shiny.
Add the condensed milk and the yogurt, whipping shortly again. Stir in the strawberry puree.
Chill this cream in the fridge for a couple hours, then process it in your ice cream maker as per instructions and until you reach desired thickness.
Transfer in a freezer safe container and freeze for a couple hours before serving.
If keeping in the freezer longer than that, take out of the freezer 15-20 minutes before serving.
It keeps well in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Strawberry Popsicles

* 250 g strawberries
* 1 TBspoon lemon juice
* 50 g + 1 TBspoon sugar
* 1 TBspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
* 200 ml water

Prepare the simple syrup boilling 50 g of sugar and 100 ml water for 5 minutes. Let it cool.
Wash, hull and dry the strawberries. Chop them and sprinkle with 1 TBspoon lemon juice and 1 TBspoon sugar. Let macerate in the fridge for 1/2 hour and then puree in a blender.
Add the simple syrup and the rest of cold water (you may add more or less than 100 ml depending how sweet you like the popsicles to be).
Pour the liquid into popsicle molds with a stick and freeze for at least 3 hours.

Gelato alla fragola

* 250 g di panna fresca
* 200 g di latte condensato zuccherato
* 100 g di yogurt greco
* 400 g di fragole
* 1 cucchiaio di zucchero
* succo di 1/2 limone

Lavate e asciugate le fragole. Tagliatele a pezzi, cospargete con lo zucchero e il succo di limone. Lasciate macerare nel frigo per 1/2 ora e poi frullatele. 
Montate la panna, poi aggiungete il latte condensato e lo yogurt, sbattendo ancora brevemente.
Unite la purea di fragole e trasferite il tutto nel frigo per un paio d'ore.
Versate la crema nella gelatiera e congelate secondo le istruzioni.
Trasferite poi il gelato in un contenitore per il freezer e conservatelo nel freezer fino a 1 mese. Toglietelo dal freezer circa 15-20 minuti prima di servirlo.

Ghiaccioli alla fragola

* 250 g di fragole
* 50 g + 1 cucchiaio di zucchero
* 1 cucchiaio di succo di limone
* 200 ml di acqua

Preparate lo sciroppo di zucchero facendo bollire 50 g di zucchero con 100 ml di acqua per 5 minuti. Lasciatelo raffreddare.
Lavate e asciugate le fragole. Tagliatele a pezzi e cospargetele con lo zucchero e limone.
Lasciatele macerare nel frigo per 1/2 ora e poi frullatele. Se vi danno fastidio i semini, setacciate la purea.
Mescolate insieme lo sciroppo di zucchero con la purea di fragole e diluite con circa 100 ml di acqua fredda (più o meno, secondo i vostri gusti).
Versate il liquido nei stampi per i ghiaccioli e congelateli per almeno 3 ore.

Sladoled od jagoda 

* 250 g svježeg slatkog vrhnja
* 200 g zaslađenog kondenziranog mlijeka
* 100 g gustog jogurta
* 400 g jagoda
* 1 žlica šećera
* sok 1/2 limuna

Operite i posušite jagode. Narežite ih, dodajte sok limuna i žlicu šećera. Promiješajte i ostavite u hladnjaku 1/2 sata.
Izmiksajte jagode u blenderu ili štapnim mikserom.
Vrhnje umutite da dobijete mekani šlag. Dodajte kondenzirano mlijeko i jogurt pa još kratko izmiksajte. 
Umiješajte jagode pa ostavite smjesu u hladnjaku oko 2 sata.
Zatim je sipajte u stroj za sladoled i zamrznite prema uputama.
Premjestite zatim sladoled u posudu pogodnu za zamrzavanje, pa u zamrzivač gdje može stajati do 1 mjesec.
Izvadite iz zamrzivača otprilike 15-20 minuta prije posluživanja.

Ledenice / Popsicles od jagoda 

* 250 g jagoda
* 50 g + 1 žlica šećera
* 1 žlica svježe iscijeđenog soka limuna
* 200 ml vode

Pripremite sirup tako što ćete kuhati 50 g šećera sa 100 ml vode 5 minuta. Ostavite da se ohladi.
Operite i posušite jagode. Narežite ih i pospite šećerom i sokom od limuna.
Ostavite ih u hladnjaku 1/2 sata, a zatim ih smrvite u blenderu ili štapnim mikserom. Po želji procijedite dobiveni pire kroz gusto mrežasto cjedilo da odstranite sjemenke.
Pomiješajte sirup s pireom od jagoda, dodajte još otprilike 100 ml hladne vode (po vašem ukusu, možete dodati manje ili više, ovisno koliko volite slatko).
Sipajte smjesu u kalupe za popsicles ili obične plastične čašice u koje umetnite drvene štapiće, i zamrznite najmanje 3 sata.