Mally-malon!!

Now, I have never been 100% on the watermelon band wagon. It seems like kind of a crap shoot, flavor wise, and I don't love the texture that much. But then Abigail learned about watermelon, or as she calls it, "mally-malon!" and I am a big fan of hearing her say mallymalon over and over again! Plus, I always love an easy, sweet treat to feed my girls in the summer! So I thought, why not watermelon ice pops?! There are a few different ideas out there for watermelon ice pops, so I tried two different versions.
Version 1: Half a small watermelon and a cup of vanilla yogurt blended together, then frozen.
Version 2: Half a small watermelon and 1 cup of "watermelon zinger" herbal tea, which as far as I could tell was just regular hibiscus tea with a picture of a watermelon on the box :) Obviously, I added a tbsp of honey to the tea.
And guess what? I should have just done what half of pinterest already did and stuck a popsicle stick in a cube of watermelon. The yogurt version tasted too yogurty. And the watermelon and tea version just tasted like watered down watermelon. Neither were terrible, but neither tasted like a true treat. And while I do like that my homemade popsicles are smaller and slightly healthier than a box of fudgsicles, I still want them to taste like a treat! I am a little curious about trying watermelon with a bit of my favorite ice pop filler- cool whip. But at the same time, if my kids love fresh watermelon as is, why would I add extra steps for a ho-hum product?
Next week: "invisible cookie dough" popsicles. It sounds intriguing and definitely like it'll be a treat, unlike the watermelon pops!

Still not on a beach in Mexico, but closer!

After the crisco pop disaster, I couldn't wait to try again. The main issue was obvious, but they also just weren't sweet enough. Or interesting enough at all. This time I remembered to get coconut milk instead of coconut cream, so I was already way ahead of the game!

1 can pineapple
1 can coconut MILK :)
1 lime, zest and juice
Half a carton of cool whip

And the verdict is- yum, but not YUM! The lime was definitely a plus, I loved the zest especially! Some people might prefer these pops strained, the pineapple is a touch stringy. But I liked them more textured. My main problem is they are more pineappley than coconutty. I was going to add Coco Lopez instead of cool whip for sweetness, but I didn't have enough. Next time I'll try that and maybe add half the pineapple. Bottom line- These were fun to eat and I could be perfectly content with the recipe as is, but I may keep tweaking them for that WOW factor.

Back to basics

This last week, Todd generously offered to keep the girls by himself while I went off to a final family reunion at my grandparents' house before they move. I wanted to leave my family with something sweet and delicious, since I knew they would be outside a lot! And after last week's disaster, I wanted to make sure it was yummy. So I did layered pudding pops again. Stick with what you know, right? 
I made the white chocolate my usual way- make the pudding according to directions and add half a carton of cool whip. But I thought maybe I would swirl them instead of layering them and I wanted the chocolate layer to be fudgier. So, in a stroke of what I hoped would be brilliance, I substituted half the milk in the chocolate pudding recipe with sweetened condensed milk and left out the cool whip. 
Good news first. Boy, it was definitely fudgey! I thought they were really yummy. In fact, they got rave reviews from all the adults who tried them. 
But, as always, a little bit of bad news. Kids were much more meh about them. None of the ones eaten by kids ever got all the way finished. I think a big part of this is that the fudgier chocolate layer doesn't really freeze, I don't think they liked the texture change. It also made things much messier. Also, I really couldn't get much white chocolate flavor, I'll probably stick with vanilla from here on out. 

If you like pina coladas...

I happen to love pina coladas and I've had a super simple popsicle recipe sitting on my pinterest board for years now that I have not made. Here's the recipe- 1 can pineapple chunks, 1 can coconut milk, and a tsp of vanilla. Here was the promise- It would be my "new crack." Clearly, this person has never tried any crack of any kind, because what a let down. Without sugar, the coconut flavor doesn't "pop" like a pina colada ought to. Honestly, these turned out truly truly terrible and it is partially my fault. I did not know that Thai Kitchen now sells pure coconut cream in the same cans as their coconut milk, so I grabbed a can of coconut cream by accident. I decided it couldn't really be that different and might in fact make the popsicles more tasty, but that was a grave error on my part. Coconut cream= vaguely tropical crisco. Even my undiscerning palate of a toddler wasn't tempted by these crisco pops.
I am disappointed, but also now on a mission. I will research the interwebs for less health-minded recipes for pina colada popsicles! I will look at the label on my cans of coconut milk! And I will find a pina colada popsicle recipe that makes me feel like I am sitting on a beach in Mexico!

Popsicle Summer

Third pregnancies kinda suck balls. And being hugely pregnant in the summer is a new, less than stellar experience for me. This all combines to make me the most boring mom on the planet to the little ankle-biters (Haha, literally, in Abby's case!) who just want to play all day, every day! So, in the spirit of not being the lamest family in the history of ever, I have come up with a summer project the whole family can get behind! We are making a new type of homemade popsicle every week! I am highly motivated because it is sugar and the girls love it and it forces me to take them outside, because I do not enjoy popsicles being eaten in my house. And now I will pathetically write a few sentences on the blog to keep track of our progress.
First week, we went with a safe oldie but goodie. Pudding pops! They are super easy, everyone loves them, and I already knew how to make them. WIN! There are tons of ways to make pudding pops, I'll share mine. 
Make a box of instant pudding according to the package directions. Fold in half a carton of cool whip. Freeze. Eat. I use tiny dixie cups (like for bathrooms) and popsicle sticks. Because we keep it classy.
I like the cool whip because it keeps things from freezing super solid, a must with tiny impatient teeth. And it gives things a nice, creamy texture. I like to get wild and make mine layered. This week it was chocolate and vanilla. (Helpful hint: put the vanilla on the top of your mold, so it ends up on the bottom of your popsicle. That way the messier, stainier chocolate layer gets eaten first!)
Next week: PINA COLADA POPS! Minus the rum. Probably.