I tried my first LICKALIX ice lolly just over a year ago at an Ocado event and I was immediately in love with the delicious treats. They quite simply ticked all the boxes for me. First of all, the ice lollies tasted amazing. I know, plural… I had three. Well, two of my girls were with me. It was a hot day. I had mine and finished theirs.
After our refreshing treats, I got speaking to Hana, marketing mastermind at LICKALIX. I spent almost an hour chatting to Hana actually (she was really patient). I’d never heard of LICKALIX and I wanted to know everything as soon as I found out the ice lollies were organic, gluten-free, free from unnecessary ingredients, vegan and allergy friendly. It all sounded like a frozen version of Organix, one of the brands I am most passionate about!
I found out that LICKALIX was founded by Karis and Dominic. They had been unhappy in their jobs and decided to ‘find their happy’ by creating a small company with the right ethos that would make a difference (yes, yes, three times yes!). People who live their dreams inspire me, so my curiosity was piqued, naturally.
Karis had always been making ice lollies for her friends and family so when they found out there were no natural, healthy ice lollies that were made with real whole fruit on the market, they thought it would be a great idea for a business. The natural ice lollies are handmade and taste amazing.
They come in a range of interesting flavours for the whole family to enjoy and Lickalix sent us a few last month. They were all devoured in a couple of ‘ice lolly sessions’ (because we’re like that!), so I’ve stocked up again and the children had some with their friends after running around in the park this evening. My favourite at the moment is the Caribbean Twist flavour, but I would love to try the Alcoholic Pina Colada Poptail!
With the success of their ice lollies, LICKALIX have been going from strength to strength (I keep seeing them everywhere, from Jamie’s Italian to our local soft play centre) and after she had her son Rocco, Karis started batch cooking and freezing small portions of fruit and veg purees in ice cube trays. That’s how BABY CÜBES were born.
I knew Karis and the team were going to send me some to try, but I couldn’t wait and I got some on Ocado as soon as they launched, and I love them! The cubes can of course be used as baby purees, but they can also be added to meals for an extra portion of veg, or added to yoghurt, porridge, pancakes or sauces.
“Ultimately, the main thought behind the cubes is to help busy families who are short on time lead healthier lifestyles by eating delicious and healthy food that they may not have time to make themselves. By having BABY CÜBES in your freezer allows you to feed your family healthy alternatives with organic fruit and vegetables allowing you to spend more time having family fun.” (LICKALIX) There are four flavours in the range and they come in packs of twenty:
- Orange pack: carrot, sweet potato, and butternut squash
- Green pack: broccoli, spinach and peas
- Red pack: strawberry, mango and apple
- Peach pack: apricot and peach
All cubes are ‘free from’ and made with certified organic baby grade fruit and vegetables. The first thing I made on the day of my Ocado delivery was a trio of mash. I simply made a lot of mashed potatoes. Once ready, I blended ten broccoli, spinach and pea BABY CÜBES in one small pan and a dozen carrot, sweet potato, and butternut squash BABY CÜBES in another one. I then added regular mash to the small pans to create a trio of mash.
Easy peasy and it gave our dinner a bit of oomph! It was perfect with our roast chicken that evening!
A couple of days later, LICKALIX delivered more ice lollies and BABY CÜBES to my house and we had quite a lot of fun with it all. When the lollies had been eaten, the children decided to make a boat with recyclable and biodegradable materials so they could try to float it on a nearby river. It was a huge success and it attracted quite a crowd of children!
We’ve really had fun with the BABY CÜBES, sometimes just adding them to our regular tomato sauce (for lasagne or Bolognese). I also used them to make quick and easy allergy-friendly pancakes for the children’s snacks (blog post here).
One of my favourite recipes using the BABY CÜBES is the really simple pizza sauce we made by just melting ten carrot, sweet potato, and butternut squash BABY CÜBES, adding in 4 tablespoons organic tomato paste, one crushed garlic clove and dried herbs. No salt, no seasoning needed. Wriggly put the sauce together all by herself and she was pretty pleased with her efforts!
I’d bought some small pizza bases from Napolina and we had a range of topping options (red onion, chorizo, sweetcorn, chopped peppers, cheese, ham). That was such a good and easy dinner!
I also made chicken burgers by blitzing together chicken breasts, breadcrumbs, an organic free range egg, carrot, sweet potato, and butternut squash BABY CÜBES, a little salt and pepper and herbs, then covering the burgers with more golden breadcrumbs before cooking in the oven. I served these babies with sweet potato chips and that was another hit!
Disclosure: I was sent some LICKALIX products for the purpose of this feature, but I wasn’t compensated in any way for this blog post.
I use leafy greens in smoothies and add avocados, mangoes, bananas, cooked carrots or sweet potatoes to them for ultra creaminess.
putting it in smoothies x
I love smoothies and salads that way you can combine fruits and vegetables together
These ideas are amazing Mel, yet more hidden veg recipes to add to my arsenal thank you xx Oh, and the photos are amazing, and your little one’s face – pure cheekiness, love it!
She’s a cheeky monkey: no shadow of a doubt about that!!!
I love fresh veg anyway so need to do anything special for me.
So many great ideas here. Mel! I’ve been adding the cubes to all sorts. Made some fabulous meatballs the other day. Fried some onions and garlic in butter, added a few of each cube then whizzed it up, added the mixture to the mince and baked them in the oven. So tasty 🙂 Must write up the recipe!
That’s a brilliant idea! They just work with pretty much anything and everything, don’t they? Definitely a freezer essential 🙂
I love to snack on raw veg. Quick and easy. Kids will always go for red pepper if it’s chopped and ready in the fridge
Fruit with cereal and yoghurt
i tend to grate veg into everything i cook… tricks my kids into eating them without even knowing!!
I love to have snacks like raisins and carrot sticks x
Smoothies
I Like to puree other veg and mix it with my mashed potato!
I love fresh fruit served with yoghurt and veggies in a big salad smothered with homemade French dressing. Persuading the children to enjoy the same is rather challenging.
I love a fruit salad, lots of my favourite fruits chopped up and shared between us at lunch
I like mixing them in a smoothie and my kids enjoy them too
I usually try to replace rice/potatoes with vegetable puree, or fried/steamed veggies and keep the plates very colourful
I like making smoothies in summer and vegetable soup in winter x
I love snacking on frozen grapes and using them as ice cubes in drinks
we love fresh fruit and yogurt as a sweet treat.
We like making fruit and veg pictures on the plate to encourage them.
Loads of soups!
Extra veg in chilli and curry dishes and we drink fruit juices x
i cut them up to nibble on a plate x
By adding them to an omelette.
looks really tasty
smoothies.
I snack on fruit throughout the day, make smoothies and try to find new veg to keep us all interested
Blend them into stews etc
We like to have smoothies with plenty of fruit in and I do sometimes hide veg in things like bolognese. hehehe
smoothies thankyou
I find blending them into sauces is the easiest way.
We have lots of homemade soups but we also grow a lot of fruit, veg and salad, so it has always been expected that we eat what we grow.
I keep plenty of fruit around for snacks.
Soup or smoothies 🙂
I like to grate it into things like spaghettii bolognase.
The easiest way is to make smoothies and fruit drinks.
Adding them to casseroles etc…
In soups, stews and casseroles.
me and my son love smoothies. lots of fruit and can throw in veg too
love to have fruit and veg in raw form
I have a smoothie for breakfast and I love making my own soup by roasting the veggies then blending and cooking in a slow cooker. It is a great way of getting all that veggie goodness!
I like to drink smoothies- I just throw a load of fruit in the blender and hope it tastes nice basically!
I like to make stir fry’s and chop up pepper’s really small and the beansprouts blend in with the noodles so the kids don’t get suspicious
At the moment we’re adding loads of spinach to curry’s even the kids like it
I just eat at break for a fast meal.
Simply eat fruit for breakfast and plenty of veg with the main meal
I add fruit to my salads – strawberry and lettuce is a great combination
Surreptitiously for extra portions, ours think that if they have had what they think is five portions then they can “junk out”.
I love fruit salads and smoothies, I love stir frys to add more veg 🙂 xx
making delicious smoothies
Adding fruits to cereals or smoking porridge overnight in the fridge with milk , Greek yogurt and blueberries and raspberries. We love homemade stews and include a variety of fresh vegetables
In my pasta sauce.
Fruits are great as a snack and veg I put inside soups.
Fruit as snacks, glass of fruit juice a day, lots of veggies for dinner
I like sneaking vegetables into soups and stews.
we have smoothies
I love adding fruit to my muesli in the morning, mostly berries but I do throw a bit of banana and apple in sometimes too.
Lots of veg in family favourites like bolognese sauce
Smoothies which are so tasty too
such a good idea! i’m vegan so don’t find it difficult to incorporate a lot of fruit and veg into my diet at all, but i think smoothies is the easiest and quickest way, especially on the go x
I love to drink fruit smoothies no veg, I always found I a little strange having veg in smoothie, with vegetables I like to just snack on them raw especially carrots.
Mini Cornish pasties and bakes, and blended into soups.
I mix them in cottage/shepherd pie, and other similar foods. don’t need to mix fruit has they snack on fruit during the day
blend into sauces
Homemade chicken stew with extra veg like sweetcorn.
blend them into sauces
By making hot soup in winter and chilled/iced soup in summer! Refreshing, delicious and so easy.
By making smoothies!
I absolutely love salads so my favourite way to get more into my diet is just to make a big varied salad with at least 5 types of veg as part of my main meal 🙂 it can be very “interesting” (let’s just say my salads are often unconventional!)
Make a smoothie! Chuck in all fruit and veg getting past their best and blend with some ice, voila!
Mixing lots of veg into sauces or stirfry!
I try to chuck in as many as I can into my main meal. Salad (lots of variety & colours), any mince based meals like bolagnaise or chilli are great to pop lots in. Getting the kids to eat them is a challenge but they know they need to eat lots of fruit and veg to be healthy. Love getting fruit into them as smoothies or ice lollies. As long as they don’t go overboard then the sugar content isn’t too scary.
Love vegetables with dinner we have 3 different types
Vegetables in stir fries and any fruit with yoghurt
I make a one pot meal full of different vegetables. Both economic and nutritional.
I love to incorporate all the veggies that need using up into a nice pasta sauce – lots of tomato, chilli and garlic and then anything else in the fridge!
I like to make fruit smoothies and love eating corn on the cobs as a side dish
love making smoothies
I find snacking on fruit like grapes, melon or mango works well for me at work x
I love reducing the amount of meat I use, particularly mince, and bulking out a meal with veg.
In a spag bol I have 250g of meat, chopped tomatoes, fresh cherry tomatoes, spinach and other wilty veg I can blend down into the sauce!
Grating veg into bolignase (etc) so they dissolve into the sauce
Making fruit salads and smoothies. Thanks for running this comp.
Smoothies and veg curry
I enjoy fruit and vegetables over unhealthier foods such as crisps and sweets so they naturally find a way into my diet x
Definitely smoothies. But I also substitute a lot of snacking for fruits during the day,
Definitely smoothies
yummy smoothies
It’s so easy to add extra veg into sauces and marinades!
I find it easy to have extra fruit and veg in a smoothie
I love lots of steamed vegetables, my son and partner also like vegetables so it’s rather easy to have vegetables in our diet x
Smoothies
i enjoying making fruit salad x
i like to make smoothies and milkshakes
has to be fruit I ice-creams and pies but my son not too bad for fruit and veg
We love vegetable lasagna
My own personal favourite has to be blending them into smoothies or in meals such as soup
I love my morning smoothie but hate the mess.
Smoothies and sauces
I use a juicer machine and make a green juice using veg and fruit. A quick way to get it all in!
I’m vegetarian so when my kids were young they were served lots of vegetable dishes. Once, at a friend’s BBQ, we were offered crudites with dip, and my son (aged 7 or 8) said “Yey! Raw brocolli!” and proceeded to grab handfuls of it. My friend was dumbfounded and said she couldn’t even get her kids to eat cooked brocolli, never mind raw! So my advice is to make sure they are given meals with only vegetables, and lots of vegetable snacks, from a young age.
That’s a great point! I’m not sure I’d eat raw broccoli (he he), but I agree with giving them lots of veg snacks 🙂
This can be lifesaver for many people. After work I can not stand the thought of preparing a dinner (+ lunch for the next day) which messes the kitchen too much. It’s a nightmare for me when you need more time preparing and cleaning than actually eating my food.