Ice-Cream and Giggles

Now, I know I say all the time "this combination is magnificent", but really, if there is any two fruits that I wish had got together and made babies during the early stages of life on earth, it would be watermelon and raspberries. The next best thing however, is combining watermelon and raspberries as a popsicle. It's like a wonderful berry, that has all the amazingness of watermelon and raspberries, without the tart. Let's do this! This recipe makes approx. 5 small popsicles. I used this mould from Ikea ($2.99!) and it made 5 of these.

P.S. Merry Christmas everyone!

Approx. 10 minutes + 4-8 hours freezing time. Serves 5.

You will need:

2 cups of watermelon
1/2 cup raspberries

1. Combine all ingredients in a blender/food processor until smooth.
2. Pour the mix through a sieve to remove the seeds.
3. Pour into popsicle moulds, put in paddle pop sticks if using.
4. Freeze for 4 hours, or overnight.

Mangoes are finally coming back into season, and I am just so darn excited! So naturally I had to make a mango themed post, and I went with mango-yogurt popsicles! I used a soy vanilla yogurt, which is nice, sweet and creamy (for the traditional yogurt lover), but if you were more of a Greek or sour yogurt kind of person (prior to veganism) then plain coconut yogurt might be the best option for you. Apart from yogurt, you only need mango! So yes, this is another two-ingredient recipe! Huzzah! This again is made for my mini popsicles, so I suggest you double it to fit the larger, more traditional popsicle moulds.

Approx. 5 minutes prep, 4 hours freezing time.

Makes 4 mini popsicles

You will need:

1 tub of 175 g vanilla soy yogurt or coconut yogurt
1/2 cup of diced mango (you can use frozen if you don't have fresh!)

1. Layer your popsicle mould with mango and yogurt alternatively until you reach the top and all the mango and yogurt is gone.
2. Place in freezer for at least 4 hours. Serve!

These "nutella" popsicles are delicious, healthy, refined sugar free with a decadent chocolate coat covered in nuts. The only "unhealthy" thing about this recipe is the coconut oil in the chocolate, but what is wrong with a little coconut oil every now and then?

Makes approx. 4 mini popsicles, 10 minutes preparation, 4 hours freezer time.

You will need:

For the popsicles:

1 banana
1/2 cup of almond milk
2 tbsp vegan nutella (I used Mayvers) or you could make your own such as with this recipe.

For the chocolate topping:

1/4 cup melted coconut oil
3 tbsp cacao/cocoa
2 tbsp maple syrup

+ crushed nuts to top (I used walnuts, but hazelnuts would also be a great idea)

1. Combine ingredients for the popsicles in a blender until smooth. Pour into popsicle molds. Place in freezer.
2. If using popsicle sticks, add them to the molds after they have been in the freezer for an hour.
3. After the popsicles have set, combine ingredients for the chocolate in a bowl until combined. Prepare your crushed nuts.


4. Remove popsicles from moulds. Dip in chocolate in whatever way you like (I experimented with full dipping, half dipping, dipping at an angle etc), then sprinkle nuts on top of the chocolate before it sets. Place on baking paper, put in freezer for five minutes or more and serve.


Tip: if you want to cover the whole of the popsicle in chocolate, pour into a tall glass (one that is wide enough to fit the popsicle) and dip it in. It will allow you to coat the popsicle easily.

These banana pops are one of those easy go-to recipes that are great for a healthy snack or for party favours. You don't need any fancy equipment either, which means less cleaning up! I only used one banana, which makes two pops, but you can multiply the recipe depending on how many banana pops you want. Instead of the traditional chocolate coated banana pops, I decided to mix it up and use some left-over coconut yoghurt and top it with coconut flakes!

Makes 2 banana pops. Approx 5 minutes to make, and at least an hour in the freezer.

1 large banana
approx 2-4 tbsp vegan coconut yoghurt
approx 2 tbsp coconut flakes

You will also need: 2 paddle pop sticks

1. Peel your banana and cut into two, cutting off the ends.


2. Stick a paddle pop stick into each banana.


3. With a spoon, coat the banana with yoghurt, making sure the tips are also covered. It is best to place them on baking paper so they are easier to remove later.


4. Top with coconut flakes, pressing down so that they stick to the yoghurt.


5. Place banana pops in a freezer for at least an hour, serve!

Watermelon is probably my favourite fruit, and there are three ways that I love it: one, is just by itself, two is as a watermelon pizza (simply cutting watermelon into triangles and serving it with an assemblage of fruit on top: see photo below), and three: as popsicles. Now, these are the cheater's popsicles: you only need watermelon and Popsicle sticks. You can have them plain, or you can mix them up. Today I thought I would share three different ways you can serve these delicious popsicles, and they are great for hot summer days (or even winter: let's be honest, to any Sydney-siders we are getting 20 degrees Celsius + in the middle of winter!).


You will need:

A large slice of watermelon (try and aim for seedless), cut into triangles
Popsicle sticks for however many triangles you have

Toppings:

Blueberries
Edible flowers
1 banana + 2 tbsp almond milk combined in a blender or food processor.

1.  Cut your watermelon into reasonably thick slices/triangles. To insert the popsicle sticks you will need a knife to slice a hole though the watermelon skin. Insert sticks.

2. Blueberry popsicles: squish in blueberries (preferably frozen) into the watermelon flesh.
3. Flower popsicles: make sure they are edible flowers! Then stick the stem into the flesh of the watermelon.
4. Banana drizzle: combined 1 banana and 2 tbsp almond milk in a food processor until smooth. Drizzle over watermelon. You can add before you freeze it or after.
5. Place watermelon slices in freezer until frozen!

You will need:

1 cup almond milk
1/4 cup chia seeds
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence
handful of blueberries

1. Combine the milk, chia seeds, maple syrup and vanilla in a bowl. Hand whisk until combined. Cover with glad wrap and place in fridge for an hour so that the chia seeds expand.
2. When your mixture is pudding like, pour into popsicle moulds and mix in your blueberries. Place your sticks in the moulds and put in freezer for at least 4 hours.

Popsicles made from watermelon? My idea of heaven! I really just can't get enough of watermelon to be honest!

You will need:

1 cup of seedless watermelon
1/4 coconut water

Plus fruit to go in popsicle: I used
-handful of mango
-1 kiwi fruit
-handful of raspberries

1. Blend the watermelon and coconut water in a blender. When combined, pour through a sieve so you are left with watermelon juice.
2. Place your fruit in the popsicle moulds. I put mango at the bottom and sliced kiwi fruit which I pressed against the side of the mould.
3. Pour in the watermelon juice, top with raspberries and place your popsicle sticks in the mould.
4. Place in freezer for 4-6 hours!

Today I thought I would post something a little different today: my other love, namely popsicles. They are super easy to make: all you have to do is whip the ingredients, pour into moulds, place in your freezer and you're done. As simple as that. Today I will be doing simple homemade raspberry lemonade popsicles. P.S. You don't necessarily have to make this into popsicles: it tastes just fine as a normal drink!

You will need:
Juice of 1 - 2 lemons
1/4 of raspberries (plus more for decoration if desired)
3/4 cup of water
1 tbsp to 2 tbsp of maple syrup

Utensils:
A small sieve
A lemon juicer
A cup
Popsicle moulds

I used small popsicle moulds that made 4 mini popsicles. The amount made in this recipe will probably give you 2 large popsicles. Moreover, many of the ingredient amounts are variable: it really depends on what you want the popsicle to taste like e.g. if you like lemons a lot you might add more juice, and if you don't you might add less lemon juice and more maple syrup. Kapeesh?

1. Pour the water into a cup. Juice your lemon/s and add juice to water, then add maple syrup and stir. Check for taste: add more lemon juice if needed, or more maple syrup if needed.
2. Heat up your raspberries in the microwave so they are warm, juicy and squishy.
3. Place the sieve over the cup with lemonade. Pour in the raspberries to the sieve. Using a small spoon, squish the raspberries to get the juice out. Once most of the juice is in the lemonade, and mostly seeds remain in sieve: remove sieve and stir your mixture.
 If it tastes okay, pour into moulds. There is also the option to add some raspberries to the popsicles to make them super pretty!
4. Place in your freezer until frozen.