Hints & Tips

May 11, 2009, 9:53 pm

Getting Ready for Summer

It's time to start thinking about cool and refreshing hot weather treats. Here's a blast from the past, the oldie-but-goody ice pop.

I remember my mother making orange juice popsicles when I was a kid. They were sweet, tart, and so cold my lips would turn pink. As a kid I could never eat them fast enough though, I always had orange juice running down my arm or dripping on my bare feet. Ahh, the memories of summers past.

Well the weather was nice last week so we played around with the Frozen Ice Pop Maker that's available in the NutriMirror Store. It's super simple to use but I will confess that we made a mistake on our first try. We decided to use pomegranate Izze sparkling juice and well, we filled the slots too full (all the way to the top). As the fizzy drink froze it expanded and rose up out of the container...fast forward to post freezer floor clean-up, and we made another go of it. This time filling each slot and stopping short approximately 3/4" from the top. Our second try worked like a charm and Mom brought that second batch down to the studio and offered the pops to our neighbors. It was like recess, everyone stepped away from their work for a few moments to enjoy their pomegranate ice pop.

For our third batch we made smoothie ice pops, using the recipe from our Guiltless Pleasure post. Wow, they turned out great! Total hit, we can't wait to make them again. With the smoothie we didn't have an expanding problem like we did with the sparkling juice, but choose to stop just shy of filling each slot to the top anyway.

As I mentioned, the ice pop maker is very simple to use. Fill each compartment (not too full if using a sparkling beverage), place aluminum lid, insert wooden sticks into each slot. Let freeze then enjoy.

Note: the wooden sticks do have to be watched. The lid holds them in place to a certain degree, but they tend to lean to the side. Check their placement periodically; they need to be straight in order to remove the aluminum lid easily. This is especially true when using fizzy drinks. We straightened the sticks as the ice pop began to freeze.

I just realized that none of my pictures show the lid (good job Bethany). Well, the lid has 10 small slots just big enough for the wooden sticks to slip through, thus holding them in place while the pops freeze.

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