Musical pairing – Popsicle Toes by Diana Krall
Innovating . . . Popsicle Style – In my life outside of writing for Smith Bites, I’m a summer babysitter. Day in and day out I calm tantrums, make snacks, run for paper towels, and shuttle back and forth from the swimming pool. Now that swim lessons are over, however, I found myself faced with the seemingly unanswerable question: how to entertain two children all day long? Flipping through the Farmers’ Market edition of Vegetarian Times, a ray of sun fell beneficently down upon a page: a moment of enlightenment seemed to have occurred, and I knew what I was doing with the kids the next day.
Popsicles. Simple, cold, delicious, and– in these Vegetarian Times incarnations– healthful. Stuffed with fruit and soymilk or a little juice, each version looked more appealing than the last, and I was brimming with excitement as I walked in to the house, ready to present my brilliant plan to the kids.
“We’re going to make popsicles today, you two! All we have to do is run to the store, get whatever ingredients we need, and…”
I didn’t get any further. Cries of “I don’t want to go to the store!” erupted instantaneously, and no matter how much I explained that it would take only fifteen minutes and, furthermore, lead to popsicles later, I hit a roadblock no matter where I turned. Sighing, I pushed visions of a cute bonding activity– not to mention a succulent dessert– to the back of my mind.
Until I arrived home. Whereupon I grabbed my younger sister, turned to the fridge, and got cracking. Though we didn’t have all of the ingredients required for any of the Vegetarian Time’s recipes (admittedly, we hadn’t wanted to go to the store either), we did take the recipe up on its promise of infinite adaptability… and what we turned up with was proof positive, if I do say so myself.
For eating that drippy, fruity popsicle a few hours later with my sister on the front steps, juice trickling onto our hands, the vibrant summer fruit we’d used turning our mouths ripe red, I realized that not only was this popsicle a succulent dessert, but I’d got to have the cute bonding experience I’d been planning all along. Though, like our popsicles, it didn’t follow exactly the recipe that had been planned, it still turned out just fine.
We loosely followed the Triple Berry popsicle recipe that follows, using blueberries, strawberries, and watermelon, and orange mango juice.
TRIPLE BERRY POPS
Vegetarian Times’ Farmers’ Market edition
makes 8 pops
INGREDIENTS:
- 1.5 cups fresh strawberries
- 1 cup fresh blueberries
- 1 cup fresh raspberries
- 1/2 – 1 cup frozen white grape juice concentrate
METHOD:
- Purée all ingredients with handheld blender or in stand-up blender 1 to 2 minutes, or until smooth.
- To remove tiny seeds, strain berry-grape juice purée through fine sieve into bowl. Ladle strained berry mixture into 8 half-cup molds.
- Freeze at least 4 hours.
Avery Olund-Smith is going into her sophomore year at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where’s she’s studying English. She’s from Cincinnati, Ohio, where she attended the School for Creative and Performing Arts. She loves biking to Findlay Market and writing with the Cincinnati organization Women Writing for (a) Change, and considers food, writing, reading, and the beauties of both the city and the natural world amongst her passions.
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Yumm. Sorry i missed these!
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These are gorgeous! Love, love, love them!
I have many a memory of sitting on the front porch, eating drippy popcicles. Except they never looked this good!
Very clever. I should have done that long before I picked up some moulds. Refreshing too!
Oh yum, what a gorgeous blend of berries! This sounds like the perfect thing to have in summer!
I don’t have pop molds, either. I had thought about making something pop-like in martini glasses, but worried that the pointed end would pierce my tongue. Your idea is much better.
It’s like a lickable smoothie…
Lovely writing as usual, Avery. And yum this reminds me of the homemade popsicles in plastic cups we made as kids all those years ago. And now I want to make some too.
What a delicious and refreshing treat!
I sure could use one of those right now. It would be a perfect end to a sweaty day for sure.
One of my fav flavor combo’s ever… thanks for the reminder! I will have to use your recipe and whip up some joy.
This post just makes me HAPPY. 🙂
Thanks, Amanda! I’m so glad!
You’re SO clever. I was literally thinking yesterday… wow, I don’t have pop molds, I guess I can’t make pops. And here you go… being all clever.