quinn's place

i'm in a popsicle phase, y'all.

welp, it's nearing the end of july and summer is still summering it up on blast. no complaints here, but i can sense that my fellow peoples of seattle are all secretly wishing for a few dreary, rainy days and wanting to wear a big ol' scarf and boots and hide indoors. i wore actual pants for the first time in a while the other day...it was weird, man. flash forward to the middle of january or february, and we are all crying into our oversized sweaters and wishing for just one ray of sunshine to show itself.

anyhoo, i'm just going to continue enjoying our summer weather for the next two + months and become the popsicle making queen of the land.

first thangs first, i freaking love sparkling water.

i wanted to make a light and refreshing popsicle with bubbles, thus were born these two versions of a san pellegrino-based popsicle.

san pell pop #1:

lime + coconut milk + agave + san pellegrino

i know exactly why i love lime + coconut so much. because i used to be (slash still am) obsessed with

practical magic

and loved

this scene

(sidenote: pete and i once camped on the bluff where they filmed practical magic on san juan island at san juan island state park!).

also, because after i had my jaw surgery when i was fifteen (+ six weeks recovery), my parents and i went to hawaii (where, sidenote #2, the very first solid food that i ate in six weeks was one sour cream & onion ruffle and learning to chew on my new bite was the weirdest thing ever) and i would get hawaiian shave ice with lime and coconut flavoring almost every day. it was theee most refreshing thing!

san pell pop #2:

lemon + ginger + cayenne + agave + white nectarine + san pellegrino

i got the idea for this one from those

hunni waters

that have ginger & cayenne. i looove ginger and a bit of spiciness. soo, add my love for bubbly water with my love for ginger and spicy thangs. behold, these popsicles.

spice up your life!

[when was the last time you watched that!? like 1997, if you were lucky enough to catch it on TRL after school?]

i'm gunna go ahead and say that the lime variety of this did not get the peter zerkel seal of approval. i really strive for that damn seal with everything i make. unless he outright says, "this is excellent!" i will assume that he thinks its mediocre.

hey man, they're made out of plain sparkling water...

throw me a frickin bone here

never fear, i know exactly what is missing from the lime + coconut popsicles. the golden honeydew from

my firecrackers

!!! its sweet, but still subtle in flavor. i was wondering why the center white layer of my firecrackers was so delicious, and now i know fasho that the golden honeydew is to thank for that.

so, thank you, golden honeydew!

personally, i think both popsicles are just what i had in mind as far as being ultra light and refreshing and cold on a summer's day. no white sugar added at all, just fruit and agave nectar to taste!

San Pellegrino Citrus Popsicles

~lime + canned coconut milk (light) + agave nectar (to taste) + san pellegrino

~lemon + ginger + dash of cayenne pepper + agave (to taste) + white nectarine slices + san pellegrino

Use the juice of 1 lime (or 1 lemon) and add to your desired amount of the other liquids. Continue tasting and adding teaspoons of agave until your desired sweetness is achieved. I probably used 1 tablespoon per flavor of popsicle (3 popsicles of each flavor).

For the lime version, I just whisked the ingredients together in a Pyrex and poured it into the popsicle molds. Add lime wheels (with rinds cut off) for texture.

For the lemon/ginger version, I pulsed everything in the food processor to get the ginger chopped up super fine. Pour that liquid into a Pyrex and pour into the popsicle molds. Add white nectarine slices for texture.

Freeze and enjoy! I thought they tasted best a couple days after they were made and had time for all the flavors to jive. Yah!

who doesn't love a good firecracker come summer?

those were always my fave in the summertime. i loooooved blue raspberry things and would love getting to the blue layer after the lemon layer. chomp chomp chomp.

unfortunately, blue raspberries aren't actually a thing, so i had to make do with the closest-to-blue fruits that exist.

popsicles are sooo easy to make and so versatile. and healthy, i suppose. all that's in these is

FRUIT!

[and coconut milk in the white layer]

just puree each type of fruit in the food processor and separate into little jars or bowls. freeze the red layer for about 45 minutes, and repeat with the white and blue [purple] layers until the whole popsicle is frozen! i stuck the popsicle sticks in just as the "blue" layer started to solidify but was still soft enough to push down into it.

have you ever had a golden honeydew??? that's what that white stuff is. it's super sweet and delicious! i don't really care for regular honeydew melon, so i was glad to discover this.