Monday, August 2, 2010

Kid Stuff For Kids and Grown-Ups, Too (giveaway!)


Getting in touch with your inner child is easiest to do in summer. No one looks at you strangely if you go barefoot on the beach, play volleyball or badminton, or eat fried chicken with your fingers. It's as if the kid code-of-conduct is temporarily accepted as proper etiquette for adults.

Flying kites? Check.
Licking fingers after supper? Check.
Spraying others with the hose? Check.

And after all that fun, you can still sprint after the ice cream truck when you hear its siren call. Although in my house we don't do that. It's well known
by my older children that you might as well ask for a Porsche as ask for money to spend on the ice cream truck. My youngest son, though, hasn't quite caught on to that one.

The other day, hearing the tinny version of The Entertainer wending through the neighborhood, he asked his dad if he could get something from the truck. His dad, as cheap as me and twice as practical, said, "We don't need to buy anything from the ice cream truck. Your mom makes really good ice cream." He replied, "That's not the ice cream truck, Dad, that's the popsicle truck."

Well, was that a challenge, or what? I stepped up to the plate and hit a home run with these delicious treats that I modified from a Bon Appetite recipe. With fresh marionberries, local raw honey, and organic yogurt, I dare the popsicle truck guy to come up with anything as good!



Before I give you the recipe, I want to tell you about a giveaway I'm doing.

Way back in the mists of time, we bought an original Nintendo set. Yup, the old 8-bit dinosaur. The games weren't as smooth, sexy, or gory as they are now, but those were some of my very favorite games. My daughter is the Bubble Bobble queen, my son saved the princess, my husband got through all the levels of Tetris, and I ruled at Zelda.

My son-in-law has developed a game just for people like me. Simple, fun, easy to play, yet still challenging (I'm talking about the game here, not me). It's called Gumzoobo. The zoo is being invaded by robots and to fight off the invaders, the zoo animals have to chew gum and blow bubbles to capture and contain them. You get to choose which animal you play (they all have different strengths) and the game gets increasingly difficult with each level.



Fun, cheerful graphics, original music, and smashing sound effects are all part of the package. And the best thing is, you have a chance to get it for free! The SIL has given me two codes to pass along to two lucky winners. Just add "Gumzoobo" to your comment, if you'd like to be entered to win. If you mention this giveaway on Facebook or Twitter, come back and put in another entry! The game plays on Xbox live, so all you'll need is the code to download the game.

You can check out the game on the Official Webpage and you can download a free Windows trial version here. Try it, you'll love it!

Now, back to the recipe. Make the pops, play the game, and you'll feel like a kid again. Or still.

Marionberry Honey Pops
- adapted from Bon Appetite

(The original recipe calls for blackberries. I had marionberries, so I used those. Raspberries would also work.)

2/3 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
18 oz fresh Marionberries (3-1/2 to 3-3/4 cups)
1 cup plain organic yogurt
5 tsp honey
4 tsp fresh lemon juice


1- In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the water and sugar to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves. Transfer to a small bowl and chill until cold, about 1 hour.

2- Place berries in a blender or food processor. Puree until smooth. Pour the puree into a strainer set over a medium bowl. Press on the puree with a rubber spatula to extract as much juice as possible. Discard the seeds left in the strainer.

3- Measure 2 cups of the puree and place in a medium bowl (reserve any remaining puree for another use). Add chilled simple syrup, yogurt, honey, and lemon juice to puree; whisk to blend.

3- Spoon the mixture into popsicle molds. (I have very small kid-sized Tupperware molds, so I filled 11 and stored the rest of the mixture in the refrigerator, refilling the molds as the pops got eaten.) This will make approximately 10 pops if your molds are 1/3 to 1/2 cup capacity.

4- Cover with the top of the mold or plastic wrap with a stick inserted. Freeze until firm, at least 8 hours or overnight.

5- To unmold, dip the bottom of the mold briefly into hot water to loosen the pops. Serve immediately.

8 comments:

Jennifer Jo said...

Shucks. I thought you were going to be giving away those popsicle molds! I've been looking all over for them and can't find them anywhere (except for private, expensive businesses). The search continues...

Mrsblocko said...

We tell our daughter that when the ice cream man rings his bell, he's letting everyone know he's out of ice cream. Pretty evil, but it works for now.

scrambledhenfruit said...

We don't get the ice cream truck or the popsicle truck here, but those popsicles definitely look more inviting than any I've seen in the freezer case at the grocery! And they even sound like they're pretty good for you.
Gumzoobo sound fun- more like the old style games that my kids played when they were little! (which they've also resurrected and like to play now, btw.)

Melinda said...

Good luck with the game to SIL. Very clever of him.
Those popsicles look delicious! I love the recipe and think I may actually make my own since it doesn't require an ice cream machine.
I am going to see if I can get the game to post on my facebook page.
I have never played a computer game other than solitaire. Such a shocking confession, but totally true.

Elle said...

I remember the ice cream truck. We rarely had money for any but the few times we did I chose dreamscicles...orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream...still one of my favorite flavor combos. With blackberries starting to be everywhere in our yard and ripe, too, this is a fantastic recipe to have. Love the photos of your kids! As far as the game, I pass. Someone else would actually play it :) Great idea and hope it is successful!

Janelle said...

It's too late for your kids now, but I know someone who's never told their kids it's an ice cream truck. The kids think it's "the music truck." They just do their best to keep the kids inside when it comes along, so they don't learn the truth from the other neighborhood kids.

Homemade Heaven said...

I will let my inner child go, even though it's winter, for a chance to have one of those. So simple - just the way I like recipes to be.

Unknown said...

I'm too late for the giveaway :(

Those pops look delicious!!