Family Faves (Breakfast Popsicles)

I tell my photography students that backgrounds are important. Like really important. And photographers really need to get into the habit of looking back there before you click the shutter.

Case in point...a bottle of wine in the background of the homemade popsicles. Someone call CPS now or the foster care system for the indication that I'm making the children popsicles with wine in them! We had a good giggle when we looked at it after the fact. Oh well. I promise the wine was neither for breakfast, for the popsicles, or for the children.

But let me tell you about their awesome goodness! Do you remember the popsicles from last summer? They were so delicious, but time consuming. And by "time consuming" I mean took more than 60 seconds to make cause really that's all the time I have to devote to popsicle making. As part of Operation Fatten-Up-the-Children Summer 2015, I just started to throw whatever into the blender. And whatever quickly turned into a go-to recipe pretty fast.

• ---1 can of coconut milk (Not coconut juice. Not coconut syrup. Not coconut cream. All of which come in a can that looks just like the one that coconut milk comes in and is probably on the shelf right next to purposefully confuse you. Been there. Done that. About $1 per can at the Asian market. About $3 a can at the local grocery store. We stock up on this stuff and use it a lot. Especially in curries which is a dinner staple at our house.)

• ---1 banana (You know that banana that's just a tiny bit too ripe, and yet it's still perfectly edible. Not that you'll ever be able to convince your kids of that. Because now nobody will touch it since it has fewer then 5 minuscule brown spots on it! And even though there's nothing wrong with it, it'll sit there in the fruit bowl until it's turned completely brown... then black. And it's just 1 of them so there's not even enough to make banana bread muffins either! you know that banana? Ya, that one.)

• ---1 or 2 containers of yogurt

• ---Whatever other fruit have on hand (strawberries, blueberries, mango, papaya, raspberries, a scoop or 2 of frozen oj concentrate, cherries, heck be brake and try avocado! Once you blend it all together they won't have a clue it was in there. You can put all sort of stuff in there and as long as they don't see you make them. Beets make the popsicles really pretty red. Carrots. Zucchini. Spinach. Kale. 1 Tb of wheat germ. A scoop of protein powder... you get the gist! and yes, I'm pretty sure frozen oj concentrate is a fruit because it's my blog and I can make it a fruit if I want to. Wine however is NOT a fruit.)

Blend it all up really really well. If you're lucky enough to have a VitaMix blender that has a motor the size of a small boat, then you're a lucky gal. Pour them into the mold, put in the sticks (I've forgotten that part a couple times!) and freeze. I bought this mold last summer, and it's holding up pretty well. And of course the mega box of popsicle sticks 'cause one can never have enough hand-crafted popsicle stick houses. I make all 10 of them, them take them out of the mold (run under hot water a bit to get them out), and store them in a gallon Ziplock bag in the freezer.
And aside from the fact that they're so fast and easy to make, the other great part is that littles love them! For breakfast. For lunch. For snack time. ANYTIME. They've been eating 2-3 a day, and I don't feel a bit guilty for it cause I know what's in them!
If anyone makes them, please let me know. I'd love to know how they turned out!