Katie & Todd Blake

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!

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.

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 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!

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.

Chronicling the lessons learned from tackling my home improvement projects with nothing but grossly over-inflated confidence brought on by too much Pinterest browsing...
1. It is so worth it to buy a good brush and learn to cut in, especially on ceilings. Give me mad props for now painting two rooms without having to tape the ceiling! (Is mad props still a thing?)
2. Lining paint trays with foil so you don't have to clean them was semi-effective, but I couldn't stop mine from leaking eventually. And lining them with grocery bags was ok for small jobs. But make sure the logo isn't near the paint, it will bleed into your paint.
3. Mix up a small bowl of oil and salt and put it by your sink. It's a great way to scrub paint off your hands, especially if you've been using oil-based paint.
4. Speaking of oil-based paint, I still don't know what the advantage of oil based paints are. But they're a super pain to clean up after.
5. Wrapping brushes and rollers in foil to keep them from drying out between coats is awesome! I hate cleaning brushes. But this will only work for about 24 hours. After that, small bits of paint have started to dry in the fibers and you'll get weird little gritty pieces on your paint finish.
6. Oak has a really deep grain, so it doesn't paint up to a beautiful, smooth finish. Which is apparently why a lot of people give it that "distressed" look or try those gel stains.
7. Don't roll on your polycrylic top coat. The roller puts all these tiny air bubbles in it and it looks terrible. It is thin enough to paint on with a paint brush and the brush strokes don't show.
8. Save your back and make yourself a work table. Mine is an old closet door stood on two of those TV dinner stands. Keepin' it classy.
More to come. I will maybe include pictures and even full confessionals of the projects that go horribly awry.

I am eating Ben and Jerry's while Todd tackles a giant sink full of dirty dishes. Almost makes a very sleepless last three nights worth it. Almost...