Summer Chillin’

Well, I finally got around to purchasing something I’ve wanted for quite sometime now.  I tried several cheap options, of which some ended up broken, others ended up forcing me to dig the final product out of the mold and others didn’t allow the product to turn out at all.  Why oh why didn’t I go w/ the high quality- oh so worth the money- machine to begin w/?!  Lesson learned!  I adore William-Sonoma and I could spend hours upon hours in that place.  Well, this recent purchase has only deepened my love for the place!  It’s gotten great reviews, and my family added in their thumbs up tonight too…  In order to get full enjoyment out of these hot Texas summer nights, you too need a Zoku Quick Pop Maker! In fact, Harper enjoyed his first popsicle from this little machine tonight.  He said, and I quote, “Mama, it is deelish-US!”

I can vividly remember as a kid some of my first experiments in the kitchen were popsicle recipes.  It was so frustrating to invent a really cool combo of flavors, poor it in a stirofoam cup and add a stick or pour it in ice cube trays and add toothpicks only to have to wait hours for the freeze so you could enjoy your hard cold treat.  Well, thanks to Zoku, the days of cups and trays are over!  And, even better, that long wait for freezing is really over.  Yep, this nifty machine really does produce your frozen treat in about 10 minutes.  In fact, you watch it freeze before your eyes.  Too cool, huh?

Mommypotamus hosted a giveaway for a popsicle cookbook recently, and I’ve heard great things about that book.  I tried a recipe off of their website for our first treat from the machine.  And of course, you know me, I can never leave a recipe alone.  This recipe is great because I’ve been fighting an itchy throat every morning, and there’s a lot of immune boosting in this popsicle.  Plus, if you use local honey it’ll help that itchy throat/allergy issue too.  And, grapefruit has one of the highest contents of vitamin C of any food.

Rooibos Red Tea Immunity Pops

3 Rooibos Red Tea bags (I used 2)

¼ cup agave nectar (I used less than 1/8 cup local honey)

1 whole grapefruit, squeezed (I used 1/2)

1 cup fresh strawberries, chopped

½ lemon, squeezed

1 cup of ice (I didn’t add ice)

(I added a handful of fresh mint from my garden)

Boil 4 cups of water on stove top and add in tea bags (I boiled 2 cups). Add agave nectar. Let simmer on low for 10 minutes. Let cool to a luke warm state. Pour tea mixture into blender. Add in grapefruit juice, strawberries, lemon and ice and blend to a smooth texture. Pour mixture into chosen pop molds. Freeze. Enjoy!

We will also be making this recipe again in our new machine.  We’ll enjoy licking them, you know like how actual popsicles are supposed to be enjoyed!  Instead of like last time, when we were digging them out of the cheap $1 molds because the sticks broke off…  Not enjoyable!

If you have a favorite recipe, please share…  I need new ones to enjoy making in my new toy machine.  Happy Summer!