Popsicles are one of those simple pleasures that I remember from my childhood with fondness but rarely have in my freezer these days. They are exceedingly easy to make in a dizzying variety of flavors. Plus, instead of being glorified frozen sugar you can use REAL fruit or REAL coffee or REAL ingredients in general. Much more refreshing on a hot summer day.
My favorite popsicles, by the way, were those ones that are in little plastic sleeves. In particular, Otter Pop brand, blue raspberry flavor, please! I love these homemade popsicles but I’m still not going to turn down an Otter Pop. (PS-I also find otters adorable!)
You might notice that these popsicles look a little melted and refrozen. This can be blamed on my lack of working refrigerator/freezer right now. Last Tuesday our fridge up and died. I am still mourning the loss as I am still fridge-less. The temperature had already drastically risen in the fridge and was also up a bit in the freezer by the time we noticed it had died. Fortunately, we have an extra freezer in out basement so most of the freezer contents were salvaged. (Not without a tiny bit of melting, of course.) The refrigerated items were not so lucky.
The refrigerator did not have a repairable ailment (at least economically speaking) so a new one had to be purchased. The good thing about buying a new one this time of year is that all the 4th of July sales are going on. There is a big push to sell appliances this time of year. I normally don’t notice this push because I am usually not in the market for new appliances. Great deals are abundant.
The bad thing about these great deals is that appliances, apparently, sell like hot cakes. This in turn backs up delivery. Which means the very earliest delivery we could get is Tuesday. A week from the night the old fridge died. We offered to pay extra for a faster delivery. A no go. Appliance deliveries are first come, first served. UGH!!! And a week turn around was fast compared to some places we had compared prices at. . .they were 30 days out. AHHHH! No way!
The lack of refrigeration meant I thoroughly cleaned out/pitched a lot of questionable condiments, pickles, olives, dressing, cheese, etc. A big trip to the grocery store is VERY necessary once we have reliable refrigeration again.
In the meantime, I have been home alone, relying on 3 coolers to try to salvage what I can. Tim has been camping which means he is also living out of a cooler. . .of course, his cooler living is voluntary. I’m about to scream if I have to drain and refill a cooler with ice again. But I’ve got another day of it so I better suck it up!
Ironically, two years ago a similar thing happened while Tim was camping in the spring. The fridge conked out and though Tim tried to fix it before he left, he had to order a part. I ended up living out of coolers that weekend while he camped, too. This fridge has been nothing but trouble.
The moral of this story is that you should never take your working appliances for granted. Tell them you love them everyday!
Assuming you have a working refrigerator, this recipe is very adaptable. Change out the kind of fruit as you see fit. You could change the herb you use or leave out the basil all together. The basil and peach taste fantastic together, though!
Peach Mango Basil Popsicles
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup peaches, I used thawed, frozen ones. If you use fresh be sure they are very ripe and peel them before chopping them up.
1 mango, very ripe, peeled, pitted and chopped
6-8 fresh basil leaves, minced up very small
In a microwave safe bowl, combine the water and sugar. Microwave a couple of minutes until the sugar dissolves.
In a blender combine the sugar syrup, peaches, mango, & basil. Blend until everything is smooth and liquefied. Pour into ice pop molds and add sticks. Makes 8-10. Freeze overnight.
To remove the popsicles from the mold, dip the mold in cool water for a few seconds until they release and slide out. Wrap individually in plastic wrap and store them in a plastic zip top bag in the freezer.
Sugar Coated Sarah 